He held her up and shut off the water. Wrapping her in a towel, he carried her back to bed. Neither was willing to go anywhere until her heat passed.
* * *
After four days of non-stop sex and food, they’d finally made it out of Julia’s house Wednesday evening. Sophia’d had to take the rest of the week off to get over the…whatever was driving her body.
“You didn’t need to come with me you know,” she protested when Chase drove them to her lab.
“Yes, I did,” he said while holding the steering wheel in a death grip. They’d just left her house and were headed toward her lab in his black SUV.
When they arrived at her house, they found her front door open. Chase, the macho wolf, had made her sit in his car until he checked out her house and ensured there was no danger to her.
Her home office had been completely trashed. It had made her see red to know someone dared touch her stuff without her consent. Chase had called the sheriff, who happened to be a close friend, and told him about the break-in.
“So? Are you ever planning on telling me what you smelled in my house?” She demanded.
“Fine.” His tone was grim when he explained how he scented multiple hyena shifters in her house.
“What would they want with me?” Stunned that other shifters would tear her house apart, she turned to gape at Chase.
“I think someone found out about your research and knows what you can do.” His fingers flexed on the wheel.
“But…but I was careful with all my work. Every piece of paper I used was shredded and all my samples were stored in my private freezer or destroyed by my own hand.”
“Somehow someone found out, and now they want to get their hands on it. Don’t worry, love, I won’t let anyone lay a hand on you.” Determination lined his features.
She held back from smiling at his words for fear of offending him. He acted like she couldn’t defend herself, but didn’t Chase say she was shifter now? Well, then she would kick some shifter ass if she needed to.
God, she hoped she would need to so she could finally see what the whole turning into an animal was all about. Get ready bad guys, there was a new wolf-cat in town, and she was going to shred them to pieces first and ask questions later.
He parked in the back of the building. She noticed how few cars there were. It was after working hours, but most weekdays employees worked late into the night.
Once inside, they walked to her lab where she and Chase found no trace of any disturbance.
“Ew. What is that smell?” She wrinkled her noise in complaint at one of the not-so-fun shifter side effects, great sense of smell.
“Bleach and ammonia. Someone was in here.” Chase looked around all her equipment, but she had already explained she was extremely careful with her samples and never left anything out so there was nothing to find.
They turned to her secured freezer, and a low noise filled the air. It sounded like a laugh and a whine mixed together.
She scanned the inside of her lab but couldn’t see anyone in the large, dimly lit room. Chase tensed and moved to step between her and the lab entrance, giving her his back.
“What is it?” She whispered, unsure if she should be making any noise.
“Hyenas. They’re already in animal form. I need to shift. We can contact through our wolves. Stay back and don’t do anything to make me want to strangle you later, OK, sweetheart?”
Outraged she fisted her hands on her hips and glared at the broad expanse of his sexy back while he removed his T-shirt. She didn’t like how she was ready to drool at the sight of him shirtless.
She wished they weren’t in danger so she could have him fuck her on one of her lab tables in clear view of anyone that went by. She wanted to slap herself to stop the erotic visuals that kept filling her head. Focus woman! She was in danger of getting mauled in her lab, and all she could think of was getting fucked.
“You are one depraved, sick woman in need of mental help,” she whispered to herself.
“You can tell me all about it later—and whatever it was that made that delicious scent come out of you.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
She rolled her eyes and turned her back to him. She glanced around again and thought about what he had said earlier.
Wait a second, did he mean they could communicate via telepathy? She didn’t get a chance to ask because when she turned back to glare at his back, he’d already shifted into a large, black wolf.
She sucked in a sharp breath at the size of his animal. He had to be over six feet in length, with a massively muscular body surrounded by thick black fur, and paws as big as her face. OK, maybe not that big, but he was huge.
Her inner wolf howled with pride, and wicked thoughts of him going feral to protect her brought a fresh flood of arousal.