Dade was an animal.
Her breath stuttered in her throat as the Keller brothers entered the room again. “You weren’t kidding?”
Dade flashed a frown as he grabbed a black duffle bag off a chair in the corner. “About what?”
“About being a bear?”
“No, I wasn’t kidding.” His voice sounded exhausted as he pulled out a pair of cutoff jeans and an oversize navy T-shirt with the Breckenridge fire department logo in the upper corner.
“Boone, turn around.”
His brother did, and Dade pulled the ties loose on the back of her hospital gown.
Quinn jerked away. “What are you doing?”
“Helping you undress.”
Snatching the clothes from his hand, she said, “I can dress myself.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.” She waited. “Turn around!”
Boone snorted a laugh from the other side of the room as Dade spun slowly to face the wall.
“Whose shirt is this?” It was large and fell around her knees. She tied it in a knot at her side so it wouldn’t cover the short, cutoff denim and brush her injured legs.
“The shirt is mine, and the cutoffs I borrowed from my future sister-in-law, Rory. Moira will have to bandage you up again before we go.”
The familiarity with which he spoke her name brought something foggy and green through her. “How do you know Moira?”
“She’s—” Dade threw one of the cameras a quick glance and turned around just as she was trying to get the shorts over the burn marks on her legs.
Dade stepped forward until he was flush with her, then pulled outward on the hems of her shorts as she eased them over her legs so the fabric didn’t touch her skin. Straightening, he whispered against her ear, “Moira is one of us.”
His lips brushed her sensitive earlobe, and a shudder shook her spine and landed in her shoulders. Embarrassed by how easily he drew a reaction from her body, she dipped her gaze to hide the blazing heat in her cheeks.
When he eased back, a cocky smile ghosted his lips. “You ready?”
She nodded, afraid if she spoke her voice would crack on the emotion of how not ready she was to face the crowd outside.
“Maybe I should go alone. If all those people are here because of something to do with you, maybe it would be better if I just snuck out a back door.”
The smile faded from his face. “They are at the back doors, too, and Quinn?”
“Yes?”
“They aren’t here for me and Boone. They’re here for you.”
****
Dade stepped into the sunlight and shoved his sunglasses over his eyes to cover the feral color that would no doubt be there until he got Quinn somewhere safer. She’d been wary of his touch earlier, but now, he wrapped his hand around her smaller one and led her through the first line of news reporters.
“Are you angry with what he’s done to you?” a woman called out, holding a microphone too close to Quinn’s face.
“Did you shift in the hospital?” another yelled.
“Don’t answer them,” Dade growled out, shoving his way through the crowd.
“Have you ever killed anyone?” That one was directed at him, and he sure as shit wasn’t admitting to his transgressions. All of his kills had been ordered by IESA or necessary when he’d served.
“Have you ever mauled a human while you were a bear?” another asked.
Microphones were everywhere, and he ducked and weaved until the crowd surged in so close there was no pathway toward the black SUV that was waiting.
“Boone,” he snarled.
“On it,” his brother said.
Quinn made a pained noise behind him as she was pushed by a reporter who’d been shoved into her. “Hey!” he yelled as Boone skirted around him to clear a path. “Back the fuck off! She’s hurt!”
“Dade,” Quinn said on a breath. Her soft gray eyes were wide and frightened and something inside of him snapped.
“The next person to touch her is going to lose a fucking limb. Back. Off.” He shoved a man who was being jostled into her and scooped Quinn up into his arms.
She buried her face against his chest as camera flashes surrounded them. Her arms went around his neck, and he held her closer as he made his way through the hole in the crowd Boone was unapologetically creating with his wide shoulders.
He settled her gently into the car, ignoring the clawing hands at his back. Boone took the front seat with a somber expression, and when the doors were closed, the driver honked and began to make his way forward.
“Quinn,” Dade said, drawing her attention from the masses outside the window. “This is Mason. His boss is a very powerful ally to shifters and has sent Mason to us as a bodyguard and driver when we need him.”