“Winnie! Please open the door,” Mazy called out again, freeing me from the memory. She couldn’t help me. She wouldn’t even believe me. Hell, I didn’t even believe me. But … then again.
Sluggishly, I uncurled myself from the position I had taken the moment I arrived back here sometime the afternoon before. I had been running, changing direction frequently to try to throw my pursuer off my trail. I knew it was stupid to come back here, but I had intended to grab the essentials and immediately run for the hills. Instead, once I arrived, whatever had kept me going all night and half the day ran out.
I made it across my too-small apartment. The living room-slash-kitchen-slash-dining room held one well-loved brown suede couch I’d found discarded on the sidewalk downstairs. It pointed at the secondhand TV. My bed filled the floor in my tiny bedroom, and all my clothes were shoved into the closet. At the very least I had the living combo room clean. A hysterical laugh bubbled up my throat.
My hand clutched the doorknob as I tried to calm the racking sobs tearing through me. The laughter had dissolved into tears, weeping that came at me with a force I couldn’t control. And the weirdest, saddest part of it all was I couldn’t stop wishing Quentin stood on the other side of the door. I didn’t know him at all, but the entire time I had been chased, I’d hoped he would appear.
When I opened the door, Mazy pulled me into her arms and held me close. Mazy was at least a foot taller than me. I was practically making out with her chest at the moment, but only her hug mattered. The foreign feeling that had started to grow in me over the past few days longed for this. Needed the comfort more than I did.
“Did he come here? Did he come after you?”
I stiffened in her arms. Did she know about the bear-man? How could she know? Was she in cahoots with Jimmy? Was she about to sell me out?
“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have gotten you drunk that night and asked such personal questions, but I was worried about you. You told me about your ex. Did he come here?”
I hesitated. She stroked my hair which was a tangled mess from all the running and the times I hid in the bushes. I knew I looked like a walking disaster. I didn’t recall telling her about him, but at the moment I couldn’t find it in me to be angry she tricked me. My bones felt heavy, my limbs weighed a ton. Exhaustion seeped in my blood. But the comfort of her hug kept away the fear.
“No, it was something entirely different. I’m not sure you will even believe me.”
I pulled away from her. Maybe she would because her eyes flashed the same way the man’s did before he changed into the bear. The giant, ugly grizzly bear with matted fur, a scarred up body, and an angry, hungry glare.
“Maybe we should get you cleaned up and then you can tell us.” Mazy turned a little so Derek became visible behind her. He paled at seeing me. I didn’t realize I looked that bad.
Mazy walked me to the bathroom. She helped me with running the water and getting it hot enough then retreated to the main room. As soon as she left, I undressed. Once in the shower, I hurried to get clean, feeling a little better knowing Mazy and Derek sat outside the door and I was no longer alone.
When I finished, I realized I didn’t have any clothes to change into. I didn’t want to go out in just a towel in front of my boss, so I went to the door and called for Mazy. She brought me some clothes from my disaster of a closet, and I dressed and joined them. Derek kept moving in his seat. Worry filled Mazy’s eyes once again when she saw me.
“We thought something terrible happened to you, Winnie.”
“Something terrible did happen.”
Derek moved again, his brows furled and his lips pressed down.
“What?” Mazy caught my attention again with her question.
So I told them about what had happened to me. I told them I saw Jimmy outside talking to the two men. How they talked about rare shifters. Then explained I’d had no idea what they meant until one of them morphed into a giant grizzly bear in front of me. When I finished, Mazy looked a little murderous, her hands tensed up into fists, and her cheeks got red. Derek was even paler than before.
“I don’t know what to do.” I didn’t want to reveal my suspicion they were like the men who chased me. I didn’t tell them Sammie, the goon, thought I was one of them, a shifter, either. Fear kept me quiet about those things. Mazy looked over at Derek who stared into the corner. The anticipation built, my hands started to shake as I waited for their reactions.
“Winnie, settle down.”
I had started to pace at one point; I wasn’t even sure when. I didn’t think I could settle down. The shower had woken my body and telling them the whole insane story made me feel agitated. I sat down only to stand up again.
“Winnie,” Mazy called.
I rubbed my hands over my face and sat back down feeling a little more ready to listen to Mazy. I needed answers. Answers would give me clarity. I knew what she was going to say. Mazy scooted to sit on the edge of my couch. I settled on my one barstool. Mazy took a deep breath.
“There really is no other way to say this. Winnie, you are a shifter like that man, well, not exactly like him. I don’t know what your animal is. Only you can tell us that. Perhaps a wolf shifter or another kind with a good nose could tell you, but Derek and I knew you were a shifter when we met you. Other shifters can usually feel the same energy, and shifters have a distinct smell.”
The tips of my fingers became numb. My mouth dried out, and I don’t think I blinked for an entire minute. Mazy stood up and came over by me. She squatted down so she and I were eye level, but it didn’t help the overwhelming nerves racking my body.
“I can’t believe Jimmy helped men like that. There are terrible human beings and there are terrible shifters. But there are so many good ones out there, too. What I want to know is, how you didn’t know what you are. Unless you’re a latent, which means you must have met your mate and awoken your animal. Latent shifters can only start shifting after they meet their mate.”
Mazy kept talking, but her words started to garble together. The rushing in my ears blocked everything out. I was staring off into space when movement caught my eye. Derek budged in his seat again. My breathing changed. Something was off about him. The hairs on the back of my neck rose again.
Something in the back of my head told me to run. I twisted my neck and shook my head trying to ignore the feeling, but it was too strong to ignore. It rolled down my shoulders. Mazy was still talking, mostly to herself. But Derek …
His eyes met mine and I understood. My stomach plummeted to my feet. All the blood drained from my cheeks. He stood, his lips pressed together as if determined to do what had to be done now.
“I’m so sorry you had to get dragged into all this. I am even sorrier you had to drag Mazy into it, too. This is your fault.” Slowly, Derek raised his hand. In his grasp was a shiny black gun. I had never seen one in person, but the barrel was shaped different from the ones in the TV shows. Sleeker, maybe not as heavy to carry around. Mazy’s brows bunched together when she turned to look at Derek.
My blood froze with my fear, while her face flushed red. Without any warning, her body shrank in size. Her gorgeous red hair shortened and became coarser. A small creature with short red hair and red eyes replaced Mazy. Her tail was long, fluffy, and ringed with black fur. Sharp nails sprang from her toes, and she pulled back her lips to reveal small but sharp teeth.
Derek snarled and pointed the gun at her. I didn’t even stop to think. Before he could pull the trigger, I launched out of my seat and threw myself at him. He was caught off guard and fell with me on top of him. I didn’t have much experience in fighting people. I had always been more of a lover than a fighter. Derek snapped his teeth at me. He gripped my hips in a too-tight hold and rolled me off him. In the process, he smacked my head against the floor, causing my vision to blur.
Blinking a couple hundred times finally cleared my vision, and I stared into the barrel of his gun. I put my hands up. My heart was seconds from j
umping ship and leaving without me. Derek’s lips pulled back from his teeth which grew as I watched. I squirmed away from him.
A small bundle of fur let out a hoarse hiss as it flew up at the arm holding the gun. Derek roared in pain as Mazy’s teeth sank into his flesh. He dropped the gun. I crab-crawled backward then twisted around and started to get on my knees when a hand wrapped around my ankle. He pulled my leg hard, catching me off balance. My chin slammed onto the hard floor of my apartment. My mouth snapped shut, and I was thankful my tongue was out of the way.
Looking over my shoulder, I tried to shake my leg free. I was so close to the door. I couldn’t see Mazy anywhere. I feared Derek had hurt her in some way, but I needed to get out of his hold.
“This is your fault, Winnie! She didn’t have to be involved. They just wanted you!” he spat at me. Tears filled my eyes as I clawed at the floor trying to get a grip. He kept pulling me back and closer to him. The gun had been knocked from his hand, and I was scared what he would do to shut me up now. Would he strangle me? Oh, God, what a horrible way to go.
I wouldn’t. I continued to fight. I let out a small squeak before he got a good yank and straddled me.
There was a loud crash. I flinched and brought my hands up to protect my face and neck. My heart pounded in my chest. God, the bear has come back. Derek’s weight sat heavy on my pelvis until a gust of wind flew over me.
I shook my head a couple of times.
No way.
A white Siberian tiger straddled a prone Derek.
Chapter 6
Quentin
My tail twitched. The bastard who dare touch my mate lay beneath me, snapping his tiny teeth.
I roared, showing off the dagger-sized teeth in my own mouth.
I had made it about twenty feet away before I turned back around. I stood outside and listened to the story for a bit. She was a latent. She had met her mate. And her scent finally came to me untainted by the club. Suddenly I knew what my tiger had been trying to tell me for the past couple of days. The untamed, wily Winifred was my mate. Mine.
When I opened the door, all hell had broken loose. My tiger had been urging me back, but I couldn’t let the beast control the man all the time. I needed time to process this. My mate wasn’t a purebred like I had expected to mate with. I didn’t even know what she was. She was latent and would eventually shift because of her mate—because of me.
When I heard the struggle in the room, I shifted then clawed my way through the door.
Once inside I saw red. Derek straddled my mate, his eyes full of murderous intent. He would die before he ever touched my mate again. Once I soared over her and knocked Derek off, he struggled under my weight.
My lips twitched, my teeth eager to meet flesh. The single thing holding me back was Winifred didn’t know about our world. She might not understand what he had tried to do was punishable by death. We might not be officially mated yet, but she was still mine.
My ears crooked backward when I heard Winifred moving around. I didn’t want to take my eyes off Derek though. My large paws covered his shoulders; he wasn’t going anywhere as long as I continued to hold him down, but I still worried about any tricks he might have up his sleeve. He must not have been an impressive animal if he didn’t shift forms. Then again, not many animals could take me on.
My tiger would only hold back for so long—now, standing over an enemy that would attack my mate, I understood Dominic’s love for using his claws. I struggled with the need to kill him and my concern about scaring Winifred.
I’d had enough waiting. I batted his head with my paw and it snapped backward, knocking him out. It would give me enough time to decide what needed to be done with him while my eye was on Winifred who huddled close to a little ball of fur. A low growled slipped from my throat. Did she have a pet Derek had hurt? I even felt protective of her pets?
“Mazy?” Winifred picked up the small mongoose in her hands and held her close. Mazy’s small chest moved in a steady rhythm. She’d probably passed out, but Winifred’s eyes were open wide. I took a step forward and her head snapped upward.
Winifred curled herself around the unconscious Mazy and watched me with both fear and awe. I wasn’t sure if she knew who I was or if she was just staring at a white Siberian tiger in her tiny living room. These living quarters were really unfit for her. I snorted, shaking my head.
“I’m not sure who you are. You took out Derek, so you’re probably not with him, but I also don’t trust you.”
She did, though. Her legs had been tense and curled close up while Derek was conscious, but were now loosened and stretched out. Her tight protective hold on Mazy loosened a little. She didn’t trust me, but her animal did.
I couldn’t speak in this body. I turned to make sure Derek was still out cold then padded into her bedroom, not wanting to frighten her until she understood what we were, what she was, too. It smelled just like her, a mixture of sweet caramel and salt. I wanted to lie down and take a nap in her scent. Instead, I let the shift overtake me once again. I grabbed her sheet from her bed and wrapped it around my waist. My initial shift had been so unexpected, I’d shredded my clothes. This would have to do for now.
I returned to the living room. Winifred, halfway out the door, still held Mazy cradled in her arms. I stomped over to her and, hooking my arm around her waist, pulled her back into the apartment. I would have to call Dominic and Lucas. This was a mess I couldn’t clean up by myself.
Winifred squeaked when I grabbed her. She looked up at me, her eyes going wider than before.
“Quinn …”
“Quentin.”
“What are you?” Then it hit her. I could see the recognition in her eyes.
“You’re one of them, too?” She swayed. I used her elbow to lead her to her couch. She sat down, her eyes flicking to Derek. More than before, I wish I had just killed him.
“Give me a second.”
I grabbed Derek by the ankles, dragged him to the bathroom, and left him there. This time, Winifred thankfully had not moved, but she had placed Mazy on the cushion next to her.
“So you are a shifter, too.”
“Yes.”
“How did you know to come? How did you know we needed your help? Are you with them? Or are you—”
“No, before you ask too many questions, I have to make a phone call. Two phone calls.”
Winifred’s lips pressed together. I knew she was dying to ask more questions, but hoped those could wait. For the moment, I needed Dominic and Lucas here. I made the phone calls and both said they would be over in ten minutes flat. I had to use Winifred’s landline, and luckily I had memorized their numbers from long ago. When I turned back around, Winifred was curled up on the foul suede couch, asleep.
Mazy had shifted back and lay next to her naked. While shifters didn’t mind nudity, I didn’t like the idea of a naked woman in the same room as my mate. She might not know she was my mate, but her animal did, and I didn’t want her getting the wrong idea. I went back into Winifred’s room and grabbed blankets from the foot of her bed then returned to wrap Mazy in those.
I picked up Winifred, placed her in the center of her too-small bed, and walked back out of the room. Winifred’s far too small and messy apartment was even more of a disaster now. Wood splinters coated the floor from my attacks. The debris from Derek’s attack before I arrived included an overturned nightstand. The drawer had been knocked out scattering papers and other miscellaneous junk. A barstool had been knocked backward and hit the dishes piled on the counter. I shook my head.
It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be staying here anymore. It was unfit for my mate. I shook my head. It didn’t look like she had anything personal on the walls, no pictures in frames on the end tables or even in her room if I recalled. It wasn’t the time to wonder about her family, but I did. I was interested about her past.
A low whistle sounded behind me. Lucas ducked under what was left of the door, his eyebrow with the piercing lifted. He c
rossed his arms and nodded leisurely. His broad shoulders hardly fit through the opening.
“She’s got a nice place.”
I remained silent.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” He flashed his trademark lopsided smile. I didn’t fall for his antics like Dominic and most women did.
“Mazy is on the couch, unconscious. I think the manager of Dominic’s knocked her out while she was in her animal form.”
Lucas became all business at the mention of Mazy, as I’d thought he would. There was something about her that got him acting like a proper male. His back straightened, and his lopsided smile slipped down to a serious frown. He walked with purpose to her side and gently pressed his lips to her forehead. I watched with rapt attention. Gestures of affection had been far and few between in my house. My parents had taught me to be the tiger I needed to be in society, but love wasn’t tossed around. I had met Lucas’s family once when we had a job in New Orleans, and they had affection to share. While we were there, his mother had tried to kiss me multiple times and I managed to dodge most of her attempts.
But, watching Lucas now, I wondered if I should have done the same with Winifred. Should I have gone back in there and pressed a secret kiss to her forehead? For the first time in my life I felt self-conscious. It wasn’t something I was used to nor did I want to become accustomed to it.
A few moments later, Dominic stomped through the doorway, knocking those thoughts from my head.
“What the fuck?”
His hair was in disarray, and he hadn’t even bothered to zip up his pants. The man had no shame. Eden was tucked under his arm, held protectively to his side, whether he wanted to admit it or not. She looked around at the messy apartment then at me.
“Doesn’t seem like your style.”
Dominic snorted.
“It’s not my apartment.”
“So get us up to speed. What the hell is going on?”
Hired: Mercenary Shifters (Mercenaries for Hire Book 2) Page 3