Adele, Claire - Guardian of Her Heart (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Claire Adele

  Soon, Mike heard the Grand Prix pull up and saw Derek and Juan get out. He signaled them.

  They joined him near the entry. He explained what happened.

  “Yeah, Melissa called us,” Derek said. “We were on the way when you gave us a buzz.”

  “Is Angie okay?” Juan asked.

  “Yeah, she’s doin’ all right, but she got slapped by one of the hoods.” Mike stepped aside as Juan rushed inside the building to find Angie. He turned back to Derek. “Did you see where those bastards went?”

  “Here’s the address.” He handed Mike a piece of paper with the street and number. “It’s Tito’s three-story apartment building on the northwest corner of Blackmore and Sunset.”

  Mike nodded. “I need you to take Melissa home and see that she stays there. She saw me shape-shift.”

  “Shit.” Derek stared at him.

  “I couldn’t control it this time,” Mike said.

  Juan rejoined Mike and Derek. “Angie insists she’s all right.”

  “Good. Let’s go.” Mike and Juan drove to the apartment building near downtown where Derek and Juan had followed the gang members earlier.

  Mike would surprise the hell out of the fuckin’ Hawks with their hands dirty in plenty of damning evidence.

  * * * *

  Melissa answered all the questions the police had for her. They’d just left on their way to the Hawks’ apartment. Please, God, let them rescue the women and any children held captive.

  She turned to Mike’s cousin, who had stayed by her side and offered pertinent information to the police. “Where’s Mike?”

  “Mike’s gone after the Hawks.”

  “By himself?” Oh, no. He shouldn’t confront them on his own.

  “Mike will explain everything when he gets back,” Derek said. “Don’t worry, he can handle things. He’s not alone. He has Juan with him.”

  “What if the police go to the wrong address? If you don’t go with me, I’ll go by myself.”

  “Mike doesn’t want you involved. He’s worried about your safety and wants me to keep you here.”

  “Too bad. It won’t hurt Mike to learn that I don’t have to be treated like I’m breakable. I’m capable of doing things on my own. I’ll go by myself if you don’t want to come with me.”

  “Shit. Mike will have my ass for this. Let’s go.”

  Melissa drove her van, breaking the speed limits. Derek directed her toward the street corner where the gang’s apartment was located.

  * * * *

  Mike stormed through the entry of the apartment building with Juan close behind him. Ignoring the surprised woman at the desk in the front parlor, Mike strode down the empty hall with Juan.

  Behind the first door Mike opened, a man lay on a table with a sheet barely covering him. He had his hands on a skimpily clad woman standing beside the table.

  She gave a little shriek and backed away. “Aye! Madre de Dios!” she cried, and crossed herself.

  The man slid off the table to his feet and turned his back to them as he rushed for his clothing on a chair nearby.

  The young woman’s surprised cry must have warned everyone in the building. They had no time to lose. Mike hurried down the hallway and opened every door, searching for Tito. Each room wreaked of cheap perfume and contained a man in some stage of coming on to another young woman. It was disturbing that the women and patrons ignored the shriek of the woman in the first room Mike had entered. This massage setting was a typical front for prostitution.

  Each client immediately scampered for his clothing. Soon, men, hastily dressed, ran out the door at the opposite end of the building.

  Mike knew it led to a parking lot where the patrons obviously left their cars during their visits.

  Women, dressed in skimpy clothing and high heels, ran from the massage rooms and down the hall in the opposite direction. They rounded a corner and disappeared. That must lead to their bedroom area.

  There were no stairs at this end of the hallway. Tito had to be on one of the floors above. Mike pulled his cell from its casing on his belt. He’d better alert the police for more man power.

  * * * *

  Melissa parked across the street and ran for the open doorway of the apartment building. Hurrying through the entry, she walked inside the front office.

  Where was Mike? Where were the police? They should have been here by now. A rumble of heavy footsteps sounded from the floor above. A shrill siren wailed nearby.

  Derek took hold of her arm. “You’re gettin’ out of here before all hell breaks loose.”

  “No. I’m going to see if the kidnapped women and children need help.” She couldn’t abide the thought of leaving for her own safety if the women and children were in harm’s way. “I have to make sure they’re all right. Their lives could be threatened if there’s gunfire. I can’t fail them.”

  She removed his hand from her arm and hurried across the office and through a doorway that led to a long, shadowed hall.

  “Argh!”

  She heard Derek cry out and turned as he fell to the floor. He didn’t move.

  A dark form grabbed her arm. Tito! In the dim light, his dark eyes revealed wild fear and desperation. He hauled her behind him into a bedroom. She yanked against his hold. She couldn’t get free and he wouldn’t let go, his grip on her arm painful. He locked the door and barred it.

  Panic threatened to take her. There must be such bars for all the room doors. The overwhelming smell of cheap perfume made her feel nauseated and claustrophobic. She scrambled to stay on her feet as Tito yanked her across the room to a door in the corner.

  He threw it open and revealed a narrow stairway. If he took her up those stairs, she’d be in bigger trouble than she was now. She yanked against his grip.

  He jerked her after him. “You want to come with me on your feet or on your back?” he demanded, his voice a rasping snarl. His dark eyes glittered, cold and merciless.

  He pulled her behind him up several flights to a metal door. There was no landing. He unlocked the door with a key on a jangling chain of keys he took from his pocket.

  The door opened outward. Sunlight streamed in. She squinted her eyes against the glare. He jerked her outside onto the roof and locked the door.

  The apartment building had several stories. There was no way she could jump without seriously or possibly critically injuring herself from the fall…if she did manage to jerk free from Tito.

  She wished Mike would find her this moment. Even though his shape-shifting had shocked her, she needed him to rescue her, now.

  Chapter Seven

  Mike ran back along the second-story hallway and down the stairs with Juan on his heels. A man’s cry had come from below.

  Derek sat on the main floor near the bottom of the stairs, rubbing his head.

  “What happened? You okay?” Mike knelt at his cousin’s side.

  “I’ll be fine. Just saw stars for a moment when someone hit me from behind.”

  “What are you doing here? I needed you to stay with Melissa at the center.”

  “I tried, but you know how hardheaded she can be. She insisted we come here and help rescue the women and children. She threatened to come by herself if I didn’t go along with her.”

  “Shit. Where is she?”

  Derek looked around. “Whoever hit me must have taken her.”

  “Fuck. Tito must have her.” The door to the room beside them was closed. Mike had left it open when the occupants had run out. He tried the doorknob. Locked. Maybe Tito took Melissa in there. “Let’s break this open.”

  Sirens shrilled loudly outside. He and Juan kicked the door repeatedly until the bottom panel splintered. He groped inside for the lock and found the bar across the door. He tossed it off and opened the door.

  Across the room was another door. He hadn’t thought much about it before. Where did it lead? He ran for it and opened it to reveal a narrow stairway leading upward. Tito must have taken Melissa up those stairs.

/>   “God, I hope we find Melissa fast.” He started up the stairs, his heart pounding with fear for her. If that bastard hurt her, Mike would rip him apart with his bare hands.

  They reached a metal door. He tried the handle but it was locked. “Hell.” He didn’t have time to fool with the metal door. “The fire escape.”

  He brushed past his partners and raced back down the stairs and through the building to the outside fire escape. He glanced up and saw Tito running across a metal bridge from this building to the top of the apartment house next door. He pulled Melissa along behind him.

  Mike raced for the fire escape of the other building. When he reached it, he started up. His heart plummeted at the sight that met him. Tito stood at the top of the fire escape, Melissa in front of him for protection.

  Tito started down and stopped after a few steps. “Try to stop me and she dies,” he shouted. He moved slowly to the first landing.

  Mike glanced at the parking area. A Hummer, stripped of chrome and painted a dull black with dark-tinted windows, waited there. He had to stop Tito before he locked Melissa inside it.

  When Mike started up the first flight, Tito yelled, “Get out of my way or I’ll push her over the side.”

  Mike met Melissa’s gaze. She was scared. Horrified and sickened, Mike remembered how his mother had been found in the rocks at the base of their home on the mountain. She’d fallen several stories and the impact had killed her. He couldn’t let that happen to Melissa.

  He stepped off the fire escape. “All right. I’m out of your way. Release her. She has no part in this.”

  Tito looked crazed. How could Mike get her out of this? He had to find a way.

  A policeman appeared above them on the roof of the first building. “Stop right there! Release the woman and drop your weapon.”

  Tito twisted around and looked up.

  In that split second, Mike bounded up the metal stairs. “Melissa, get down,” he shouted.

  The clang of metal sounded like death charging down on them. He kept his gaze on her as he rounded the first landing.

  “Mike!” She struggled against the gangster’s hold.

  Tito snarled with an animalistic rage and shoved her over the metal railing.

  “No!” Mike yelled. His heart slammed in his chest. His legs seemed to move in slow motion.

  Melissa screamed.

  The nightmare of losing his mother threatened him. Melissa grabbed for a handhold. As he raced to stop her fall, her hands hit metal and finally gripped two metal railings. She cried out as her body stopped in midair and hit the metal railing supports.

  He had to get to her before she fell. “Hold on!” He bounded up the second flight. She dangled, holding on to the rusty metal. He reached over the railing and grasped her arms. A painful jab in his side made him freeze. Tito’s gun. Goddamn it.

  “Don’t move,” Tito rasped.

  “Put the weapon down and your hands up,” the policeman above ordered.

  At the same moment, Mike heard a gun go off. He waited for pain to slice through him. Instead, Tito’s gun scraped down Mike’s side as Tito dropped in a heap on the landing. Mike glanced at him. The policeman’s shot had gone through the outlaw’s neck at the base of his skull. Tito was finished.

  “Mike! Are you all right?” Melissa cried.

  “Yeah. I’ve got you.” Mike pulled her up and helped her onto the safety of the iron stairs. He wrapped her in his arms. They both shook.

  “Are you all right?” he whispered, his face buried in her silken hair against the side of her warm neck.

  “Yes. I’m fine now. I’m sorry. I almost got you killed.”

  “Me? No,” he exclaimed. “I was scared to death he’d kill you for spite. Thank God you’re safe.” He continued to hold her. He would hate for her to see what had happened to Tito.

  Several policemen joined them. “You two okay?” one asked.

  “Yes,” they said together.

  Mike looked into Melissa’s beautiful eyes and kissed her soft lips. He needed to get her away from here before she noticed the change in Tito’s body. With one arm around her, he helped her down the top flight of stairs.

  It was pure luck and some great skill that allowed the cop to fire that shot. It kept Tito from shooting Mike and killing Melissa in the process. They were both lucky to be alive.

  Juan joined them on the next flight of stairs. “Do you two need me for anything else?”

  “No,” Mike said. “I imagine the police will want some sort of report from us right away.”

  “If I’m not needed, I’m going to check on the Haven and everyone there.”

  It was obvious Juan was anxious to check on Melissa’s assistant, Angie, who had captured his heart.

  Mike hugged Melissa. “I wish I never had to let go of you ever again.”

  She hugged him back and brushed his lips across her velvet cheek.

  * * * *

  The last police report was finished. Mike couldn’t wait to exit the Police Department and take Melissa home. He needed to know if she’d let him hold her in his arms all night-or ever again. Right now, he needed to get her out of this place before another cop commented on the wolf-like features of Tito’s face after he’d been shot dead.

  Mike had watched her reaction to the cop’s remark. She’d obviously heard him but hadn’t asked about it.

  He needed to tell her about the secret he’d kept all his life, but not in the police station. He helped her into his Jag and joined her. “How are you holding up with all this?”

  “I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

  “You sure you don’t need to see a doctor about bruises and pulled muscles? Just to be sure.”

  “No. I’ll probably feel it more tomorrow, but I only have a couple strained muscles in my arms and shoulders. I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.”

  Mike glanced at her, looking for signs of fatigue and depression. “I hated for you to see that place. The condition of the rooms where the women were kept. It must have been jarring to you.”

  Hopefully, she wasn’t suffering from the shock of the brutal violence Tito dished out. That could take longer to get over and be as emotionally damaging as physical injury.

  “I’m used to hearing stories about fights, sometimes physical abuse, between parents at the crisis center. I’m so relieved there were no children kept there and that all the women held by the gang are now being cared for by the appropriate agencies. They said their families had been contacted as well. It won’t be an easy thing for them to come to terms with or for their families either. I hope their loved ones welcome them home with open arms and give them the support they’ll need to overcome the horrible experience. What about you? Are you handling all of this?”

  “Yeah, as long as you’re safe. I’m glad Tito can’t hurt anyone else. He told me before, things about my mom and dad that I never knew.” He shook his head. “He even told me that my mother bought drugs from him.”

  “Oh, Mike.” Melissa curved her hand over his arm. She’d always known something was different with Mike. A haunted look in his eyes and his quiet fierceness kept her wondering all these years what he suffered from. Even so, something about him had always drawn her to him. She was relieved to know what he’d already told her about his life, but evidently, there was much more.

  She couldn’t fix this for him. She’d have to let him come to terms with it himself. She wanted to know about the shape-shifting.

  His inner strength pulled her like a magnet. When she thought of the violence he had taken part in, she couldn’t overlook it.

  “I would never let myself be caught up in an abusive relationship,” she said softly.

  He turned the car into her driveway and shut off the ignition. Closing his hand over hers, he said, “I want to tell you something. First, you’ve always been the light in my life. I would never treat you, or anyone, the way my father treated my mother.

  “I need you, Melissa. I’m not whole without you. I
hope you want to stay beside me as we work toward our mutual goals of helping and protecting others.”

  “I love you, Mike. That hasn’t changed. I’m here for you.”

  “I love you so much it hurts, Melissa. But I’ll understand if you don’t want to see me ever again now that you know about my father and my mom. There’s something else I need to explain to you.”

  “What is it?”

  “Do you remember the remark made by the cop about Tito after he was killed?”

  “He said Tito’s face resembled a wolf’s.” She gazed at Mike, her eyes wide.

  “Well,” Mike began and paused, groping for the right words. “Tito was also a shape-shifter.”

  “Both of you?”

  Her voice held doubt. He wasn’t surprised. “Yeah, wolf-like. Some would have called him and his gang a pack. Like a wolf pack.”

  “I’d never believed in shape-shifters until I saw you change. I’d always thought that was just a myth.”

  “It’s not. It’s true. I know that because my father was a werewolf, just like his father, and so am I.”

  “Oh.” Her voice sounded shaky. “You’re definitely not making all this up.”

  “No. Sad to say, I’m not.”

  “It’s hard to believe.”

  How could he convince her? “Do you remember the big black dog that charged me while I held Tito down on the sidewalk in front of Haven?”

  “Yes. I was scared he’d attack you.”

  “He’s a werewolf. One of Tito’s gang. Actually, Tito’s pack.”

  He watched her as she digested that.

  She nodded. “The dog disappeared when Tito’s other pal helped Tito into the car.” She paused a moment. “Where did the dog go?”

  “The werewolf morphed back into the guy who helped Tito into the car. I tried to block the sight from you.”

  “You succeeded. I didn’t see where the ‘dog’ went. How often do you change into a werewolf?”

  “Not often.”

  “When?”

  “I morphed to my werewolf side recently at the Haven when Tito dropped by one evening as we were getting ready to leave.”