He made a hard right around the side of the porch and headed toward a doggy door, pushing his way through into a utility room she’d somehow missed in her explorations.
Derrick set her by the washer, laying her on a towel he knocked off the shelf with a paw. His shift back was rapid and blurry, leaving him standing naked in the middle of the floor. Then his hands were tucking the towel around her, stroking her spine. “Are you okay?” he asked in a tone so sweet, so tender, her shift was almost thwarted.
The crunch of her bone and the modification of her muscles happened easily this time, far more easily than it ever had before, leaving her sprawled on the floor beside him.
Derrick hauled her against his chest, and she buried her nose in it, unashamed that she was freaked out. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. One minute we were running—and FYI, you were right. That was pretty great. The next, some guy grabbed me.” Had it been one of Escobar’s minions? He had them. She knew he did. Still, she was almost positive it wasn’t Escobar.
Derrick stroked her hair, pulling the towel around her. “Did you see him?”
Martine scoffed. “No. I was too busy trying to scalp him. Did you?”
He brushed the wet hair from her eyes. “No. You got a little behind me in your freedom journey there, so I thought I’d let you enjoy it. Next thing I know, you’re not behind me anymore but I can hear you howling like you’re being skinned alive. So I doubled back to get you.”
To rescue her. God, he was so damn chivalrous and this close to irresistible, she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from saying so.
“Okay, look. I know we said no personal stuff, no questions, but I’m not going to stand by and let someone hurt you, Martine. Clear? This has happened twice now, and I’ve damned well kept my mouth shut, but this isn’t some coincidence. So either explain or—”
“Or?” When she asked the question, her voice wavered and her pulse raced. Would he kick her out into the cold and risk dying for the kicking? She struggled with that notion, and it wasn’t just because she had nowhere to go…
“Or we’re going to have to rethink this arrangement. Maybe keep someone with you twenty-four seven. I don’t know. I just know I deserve an explanation.”
Her heart melted into a puddle of goo. He wouldn’t kick her out. But that was only because she had what he needed, right? She looked up at him, searching his face, trying to read it, knowing now was the time to tell him everything.
Derrick’s eyes were soft when he asked, “Are you in some kind of trouble with someone? If you’ll just tell me what the hell it is, maybe I can help? I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
She shook her head, pushing away from him and pulling the towel over her chest. “You can’t help me, Derrick. No one can help me.” Unless he knew someone who could break a spell.
He cocked a suspicious eyebrow. “Why don’t you tell me what the problem is and let me decide?”
She gulped, fighting an irrational need to sob. “I’m afraid to put you or your family in danger.”
“You’re already in danger. The danger is here in Cedar Glen. The point is moot, Martine.”
Her stomach muscles clenched. “Do you want me to go somewhere else and wait out the full moon?”
“No!” he yelled, his mouth becoming a thin line of anger. For all the yelling everyone said he did, this was the first time he’d yelled at her. “I’m not just doing this because you’re my ticket to living, Martine. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
She put a hand on his chest, pressing it against the place where his heartbeat drummed. “And I don’t want to see you or anyone in your family hurt because of me. So, yes, we have to talk.”
He pulled her to her feet and popped the utility room door open. “First we put some clothes on, then we talk. And I mean that, Martine. I want to help. You just have to let me.”
She followed him down the hall, watching his completely naked, utterly delicious ass until she came to her room, veering off into it to grab one of the nightgowns JC had loaned her and throwing it over her head. Blowing out a pent-up breath, she headed back toward the living room where Derrick had already begun to build a fire.
Slipping to the couch, she sat, her heart racing as she waited.
It was go big or go home.
Derrick turned to look at her, his muscled arms crossing over his chest. “So the full story. I’d like to hear it. Who are you and what’s going on in your life that you’re disappearing into thin air and people are trying to snatch you from the woods?”