by Sammie Joyce
“I can’t bring her in like this. I’ll look like some kind of pervert carrying in a naked woman. We just didn’t think she would change before we got her in,” he mumbled to himself. He took his jacket off and carefully wrapped her in it while he took her out of the cage. Holding her gently in his arms, he carried her to the backseat of the truck and Dimitri moved to the front seat with the other two, giving space for her to lie down.
Shane sat down and laid her next to him. He laid her head on his lap to use as a pillow and to help her warm up because she was still shivering, but the only clothes he had to give her was the coat of his back. She didn’t stir once, even from the move from the back of the truck to the cab itself. He knew her body was exhausted, especially since it was her first shift. She was going to have to get used to it. Most shifters slept for a long time after their first few shifts. It was normal. However, her age was a surprise. She should have had her first shift when she was a teenager. This was a question he was going to have to ask her when she woke up. Her parents should have taught her all she needed to know about who she was, as well as helped to train her. He knew they didn’t, and this job was now going to fall to him and his team, for all of their protection, including hers.
His body started to feel a little uncomfortable with her head resting on his lap. He shifted himself to make the ride a little easier for both of them. There was a huge part of him that wanted to run his fingers through her hair and let her know that everything was going to be alright. He felt that protective urge again, but it was more than that. Her being there was stirring up feelings he hadn’t felt for any woman for a really long time and it shocked him because he didn’t even know her at all.
But, one thing he did know was that he was going to find out who was after her and he would protect her at all costs.
8
Sarah rubbed her eyes. Her eyelids felt like they were glued shut because they were so heavy to open. She had been fighting to wake up for the past couple of hours but was so tired. Finally, after much coaxing, she was able to open them, only to be blinded by the light shining in through the window. She covered her eyes with her arms as she sat up and viewed her surroundings. She was lying alone in a bed and dressed in blue scrubs. She must be in a medical facility.
She jumped out of bed and felt all around her, searching for fur and other indications that she was still a rat. When the only type of hair she felt was on her head, she sighed in relief.
What happened to my clothes? And who dressed me? Where the hell am I? Questions raced in her mind. This whole ordeal was crazy. She had no idea what was happening to her and why. She just wanted to go home, crawl into bed and be surrounded by things that were familiar to her.
While she was thinking about familiar, she vaguely remembered a man who picked her up out of the rat cages, covered her in a jacket and bringing her inside the cab of a truck. He laid her on his lap and when he wasn’t looking, she opened up her eyes and stared into a familiar set of deep blue eyes that she had seen before. There were only two places she had seen those eyes before: in her dreams and on a bear the night her parents died. She had never been able to forget them. She knew that there was something about those eyes that drew her into them. They were so welcoming and loving that she never wanted to let them go. And this is why she needed to know that that was and what he wanted with her.
She slowly walked to the door of her room and peeked outside. Her face smacked into a brick wall knocking her backwards. She held her nose and wondered why the door would open up to a wall. After her head stopped swimming, she noticed that the wall was not actually a wall, but a man’s chest. She looked up and noticed a very serious man staring her in the face. He had no smile whatsoever, and his look was cold and calculating. She slowly backed up because he scared the daylights out of her.
“Umm, wh-where am I?” she stuttered. “What do you want with me?” she asked in fear as her whole body started to shake in fear.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay,” the man with the kind eyes said running in her direction and putting his hand on her shoulder. “No one is here to hurt you. We just want to help. That’s all,” he said with conviction.
Her body stopped shaking at the sound of his voice. She had no idea how anyone could have that kind of effect on her, but she knew she trusted him. The sound of his voice and his eyes drew her to him like before.
“I’m Shane.” The man pointed to himself. “And, this is Dimitri. He works with me. We will be the ones taking care of you until we figure all of this out.”
She nodded in agreement. She knew she could trust that he would protect her. The other one, not so much.
The girl from the bridge was standing over Shane’s bed. Rainwater dripped down her face. Her hair was plastered to her head, and she was shivering. She wasn’t dressed for the rain. She was dressed in a black negligee which clung to her body. He knew that he should grab her a towel and help her dry off, but she was so sexy the way that she was in that moment. He had a huge instinct to grab her and throw her onto the bed. She was far from the scared little girl that he had left in the forest on that fateful day.
She didn’t speak or say one word to him while she was standing there shivering. The things that his body was going through were more than just feelings. It was a tremendous need that he knew he would not be able to resist once he touched her. It was almost like an animalistic instinct that was calling out to both of them and they had no control over it.
Shane could feel himself growl softly and the girl reacted to that. Her body spoke and she crawled in bed beside him. He was beside himself and moved with an intensity that was almost familiar to him. In one swift motion, he was on top of her, his whole body suddenly hot- almost on fire - as if he was about to shift. Without a second thought, he bent down and kissed her hungrily. Her sweet lips tasted like berries and honey and with each kiss, he couldn’t get enough. His fingers yearned to touch her, and he grazed her cheek with his thumb, and it sent electricity throughout his whole body that was thrilling and scary all at the same time.
She reached closer to his kisses to the point where they were both devouring each other and his sharp teeth broke the skin on her lips.
He thought she was going to stop at the taste of her own blood but it only made her kiss him harder. His hands moved down from her face and down her body. Caressing every aspect of her skin that was covered in clothing. He was smoldering, sweat dripping down his brow. He needed to take his clothes off. He didn’t want to stop kissing her. He tore his shirt off of his body so that he could feel her breath against his skin. Her hands touched the soft red-brown hair that covered his chest and he growled under his breath. Her touch was soft and gentle. He moaned when she pulled on it and his body was yearning to taste her and see what else her skin tasted like.
But as soon as he moved his lips away from hers, she got up from the bed and shook her head. He watched her in confusion as she walked to the door of the bedroom, turned toward him with a sad face and then shifted into a rat and ran out the door. He screamed out for her. The separation felt like someone was stabbing his heart.
Shane catapulted out of bed, sweat dripping down his brow. His screams filled the room.
9
Dimitri heard Shane enter the office in silence. He had heard the screams coming from his bedroom, and he wondered why he never told him about his nightmares. He knew that he would be able to help him get to the root of his problems, but Shane was adamant about keeping this one secret to himself, even if it was causing him major distress. Dimitri didn’t really understand it. However, he would respect it.
“Good morning, boss,” he said. “I just brewed a pot of coffee.”
Shane nodded his head in acknowledgment and walked into the small kitchen to pour himself a cup.
Dimitri could smell the steam coming off of the cup as the bear came back into the room and sat down beside him.
“Have you found anything out yet?” the bear asked him.
“Act
ually, I have. You’re going to find this to be pretty interesting.”
The bear scooted closer to the vampire, looking over his shoulder as the information was given to him.
Dimitri continued, “So, after researching most of the night, while you and the other two slept, I came across something very interesting. I knew that I had seen that man in the white coat before and I realized that I had seen him at the diner twice. I saw him outside the diner, in the crowd when we first walked up, and I saw him in my vision. He had been watching Sarah while she was experiencing the beginning of the change and he had a weird smile on his face. I searched the local news for any pictures that were taken at the scene last night and there was one. I caught his face in the background and I was able to use that photo and search it in our database, which came up with a match almost instantaneously.” He paused for effect.
“Good work. What did you find?” Shane asked without missing a beat.
“The man is known as Dr. Ranson and he is kind of like a mad, evil scientist. He has been studying shifter genetics for nearly thirty years and has shown an interest in Sarah for a really long time. He has tons of information on her about her birth parents, her adopted parents who died in a tragic accident and tons of information on why she is so important. He basically wanted to get her in a lab and use her as a lab rat to study her – no pun intended. If we hadn’t of gotten to her when we did, Lord knows what would have happened to her.”
The vampire could feel the heat rising off of the bear and knew that he had struck a nerve, but he didn’t know why.
“Is everything okay, boss?”
“No, it’s not. Bastards like him piss me off. They think that shifters are some sort of alien species where they can research our genetics in a lab and treat us like we are less than human. No one deserves that, and we are going to have to ensure her safety from this crazy lunatic. We have no idea what he is capable of,” Shane retorted.
“Oh yes, we do. It’s all right in front of me,” Dimitri said.
“Do we know his location?” he asked.
Dimitri pulled it up on the computer screen.
“I need to dispatch a team to 104 Meadowlark Lane. The man we are looking for is known as Dr. Ranson. Be careful because he is a little crazy and we know that he and others with him are heavily armed. These are the men that were chasing after the shifter we brought in last night. It’s best if we don’t leave any evidence,” the bear said to the dispatch operator as he hung up the phone. “I think that you and I are probably the only two creatures that can help keep her safe. So, that is exactly what we are going to do.” He sat back in his chair and continued to drink his coffee.
Dimitri was a little bit worried about the bear. Something smelled off and different and he couldn’t place it. He just didn’t want to pry. He had learned a long time ago, that if the bear wanted to talk or to tell him anything, he would. So, the best thing he could do was wait until he told him what he needed to tell him.
Shane walked out of the kitchen holding another cup of coffee. “I’m going to check on Sarah and see how she’s doing,” he said as he left the room.
The vampire wanted to know what he was up to.
Sarah threw her feet over the bed again and stretched. She had fallen asleep again after the man had left her room yesterday. She had no idea why she was so tired. Her body felt like she had been hit by a truck. Was she hit by a truck? They hadn’t given her any information yesterday, besides telling her that they were here to help and that she needed her rest, which was infuriating. After the rude introductions and her nose hurting from slamming her face into the tall man’s chest, she decided that she was going to leave. She didn’t need their help. She had been fine this long on her own and she wasn’t going to need them now. She knew how to protect herself. Well to an extent.
She sighed and fell back onto the bed. A loud rap at the door made her jump and the man with the kind eyes, and sexy smile entered the room holding a cup of coffee.
“I thought you might be thirsty,” he said to her.
She gladly accepted the cup and downed it. The warm liquid burned her throat as it went down.
“Thank you,” she said to him while handing him back the cup.
He set it down on the table alongside his and grabbed a chair to sit down.
“I hope that you slept well,” he said to her.
She noticed a touch of nervousness in his voice. “I did, thank you.” Enough of the formalities, her head screamed, I just want to know why I’m here. What’s going on and what happened to me last night. Why would anyone tell me? However, her demeanor didn’t change and for the most part, she remained calm on the outside while she was falling apart on the inside.
The man continued to observe her which gave her a weird feeling. There was no way she was going to be able to figure out how to escape with him sitting there and staring at her intensely. The look he gave her made her feel like he wanted to eat her alive or devour her. It was an intense hunger that radiated all around her, and the thought alone should have scared her. But there was a huge part of her that wanted him to. She could feel her body start to burn and wondered if she was blushing. And then she started to shiver.
“Are you cold?” he asked her sweetly.
“No, not at all. Maybe it’s just a reaction to what happened yesterday,” she said.
“Maybe.”
He seemed to be a man of few words and she liked that. But she needed to focus on getting out of here and not on how he made her feel. She knew that the only way she was going to escape was by getting out of this room. She had to create a diversion or something. And then it hit her. Well, the rumbling of her stomach did. He must have heard it too because he gave her a look.
“I’m sorry, where are my manners? Are you hungry?” he asked her.
“Very,” she said. “My stomach feels like it’s going to devour itself. Can we go into the kitchen? I really need to get out of this room. I’m starting to feel claustrophobic.”
“Yeah, that would be fine,” he said. He stood up from the chair, opened the secured door and let her out of the room.
She followed behind him, fully observing her surroundings. The exit door was down the hall all the way to the left. She would have to run really fast to get out that door. She wondered if she would be able to shift into a rat again and run before they could catch her. The only problem was that she had no idea how she had changed into the rat in the first place. There was still a part of her that kept telling herself that it was a dream and that wasn’t really what happened at all.
The rest of the building was full of offices and computers. They walked around the computers and into a small kitchen that had a small refrigerator, a sink, a table, and a microwave. No stove or oven to preoccupy him with cooking her a big meal. She had seen stairs opposite the hallway and wondered what was up there. Maybe more rooms to house their “Special guests”.
A note was plastered on the front of the fridge.
Went out to scrounge for some food. Will be back in a few. Dimitri.
Great! Now what was she going to do? “Do you have anything to snack on?” she asked him. “I’m famished and I don’t think I can wait until he gets back.”
The man looked at her. “He won’t be gone that long, but I can look and see what we have here,” he said. He opened the fridge and the lights in the place went out.
“Did you hit the light switch?” she asked him.
“No. No one plays with the lights around here. Come stand behind me,” he said.
There was something in his voice that made her do what he said without question. This man was a trained killer, protector and she would rather be behind him any day if it meant saving her life.
Shane had just stuck his head into the fridge when the lights went out. Immediately he knew that something was wrong. Why did Dimitri choose now to go out and get something to eat? He didn’t even eat. He was a vampire, for crying out loud! He knew he was trying to be nice, but they we
re the only two in the building with Sarah, and now this had happened. Dimitri would have been able to detect people around the perimeter quicker than anyone else.
The only thing that Shane could think of was the fact that these men had found them first and he was going to do whatever he had to do to protect Sarah from them. He wondered who her birth parents truly were, and who she was if the men wanted her that bad. She had to be something special to the shifter species.
“Okay, we’re going to have to get out of here. There’s a man who is looking for you so he can study your genetic makeup and we can’t let him get his hands on you.”
“Why?” she asked.
“We don’t have time for that right now. I will tell you later. Right now, we need to leave quickly and you have to trust me. Those flight instincts are normal Sarah. But they’re only going to get you killed in this situation. I know this building like the back of my hand. I can get you out of here, and to someplace safe.”
“Where?” she asked.
“The one place they will be foolish enough to go. My house,” he said as he put his arm behind him for quiet. The one place he had never taken any woman before.
10
Sarah leaned forward and she sweetly kissed Shane's lips. He tasted sweet and his lips were soft, warm and moist. The sensation of such a kiss sent a pleasant shiver down her spine. Shane sat up, leaning onto his right elbow as he looked up at her and into her eyes. Sarah felt like he was looking into her soul as their eyes connected. Gently, he reached out with his hand and brushed her hair from her face. It made her flush, it made her feel warm with desire for the man in front of her.