“Why is it so important to you?”
That was easy. “Because the Colters killed our father, and I want to see justice.”
She glanced at Dante to see if he’d add anything. Wisely, his brother said nothing. She faced Trax again. “Why would they do that? Did he chase after them like you do?”
It was time to tell her. “Yes. You see my father was a werewolf, too. He dedicated his life to bringing the Colters under control, and in the end they got the best of him.”
She swallowed as if she didn’t want to make the connection. Her hand lifted as if she needed to balance.
Dante jumped up and guided her back to the sofa. “Let’s sit you down.”
She jerked her arm out of his grasp. “Stop patronizing me. Tell me what’s going on.” She flicked her gaze from one to the other.
Dante ran a hand down her arm. “What my brother is doing a bad job of saying is that we, too, are werewolves.”
Her knees buckled, but Dante caught her before she dropped to the ground. This time Liz let him guide her to the seat. Trax wanted to hug her, but his body wouldn’t move. Being with Liz was too good to be true.
“What do you mean you’re werewolves? Are you like Couch?”
Trax couldn’t stand the revulsion rippling across her face. “No. We are members of the Pack. We’re the good guys. We protect the humans from the likes of Couch.”
She shook her head as if to push out the thought. “You can shift into a wolf?”
From her question, she intended to walk out of their lives. His lungs tightened. He might as well make sure she was certain what they said was true. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on shifting. When he was prompted to fight or flee, changing took little effort, but to change for no reason took effort.
He thought of Liz’s naked tits and how perfect they were. His cock hardened and his need for her took over his brain. His claws extended and his bones cracked. Then his body hunched, and he shifted into a wolf.
Perhaps out of habit, he howled. She screamed.
#
This couldn’t be happening. Liz had only stated that she couldn’t take advantage of their hospitality any longer. She never expected them to claim they were werewolves. Blinking to make sure this wasn’t some parlor trick, the animal in front of her was definitely a wolf-like creature. Her heart refused to stop slamming against her ribs.
“Trax? Is that you?” Her voice cracked.
“Bro, stop it.” Dante draped his arm around her shoulder and drew her close.
She didn’t want to even think about the fact that he was a werewolf, too. Her vision blurred and fur spun. Human arms replaced the furry legs. Mesmerized by the transformation, she couldn’t look away. It was the same series of events when Couch’s men had charged away from her. His head appeared and the spinning ended. Trax was back to the way he was before.
“See? Are you willing to accept us this way?”
She jumped out of Dante’s grasp and edged toward the bedroom. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“You would have run sooner, and with Couch on the loose I didn’t want you harmed.”
It made some sense, but it was still a lame excuse. “I need to leave.”
Trax stepped forward, but Dante’s low growl appeared to stop him.
Dante turned to her. “I’ll drive you home.”
She shook her head and raced into Trax’s bedroom. As quickly as she could, she locked the door though she wouldn’t be surprised if they had some way to get in. She spotted her purse and searched for her phone. Once she turned it on, she dialed Chelsea.
“Oh my God, Liz, are you okay?”
“Yes and no. I need you to come get me. Please?”
“Sure, sweetie. Where are you?”
Where am I? “I don’t know.” She knew the general vicinity but hadn’t learned the roads.
“Check your GPS.”
Thank goodness Chelsea was so level-headed. “Okay. Give me a sec. While she stayed on the line, she pressed her GPS app and her location popped up. “I got it.” She gave Chelsea the directions. “Meet me in the alley behind Field’s Monitoring Services.”
“Will do.” Chelsea disconnected.
Her body vibrated with the need to hurry. How could she not have known what these men were? Here she thought she’d found the perfect men. They were fun loving—well one of them was—and kind, sexy, and trustworthy. Ha. Trustworthy. That was a joke.
She dragged her suitcase onto the bed and dumped her clothes and toiletries inside. Seconds later, she’d gathered her stuff. It would probably take her friend fifteen minutes to get here, but the sooner Liz got outside, the better she’d feel. She peeked out the door and when they spotted her, they stopped talking. From the way they were in each other’s faces, they disagreed about something.