leash and chained the beast.
Even now, the wolf inside him demanded he return to her, carry her kicking and screaming to his den and bind them together. Never before had his wolf-self made its desires known like this. Before, it was either because of hunger, or self-preservation, but not for mating. Still, Matthias wasn’t a rash man, and he wouldn’t allow the beast inside to rule him. He may change into an animal, but he wasn’t, nor ever would be, an animal.
Yet, he found himself making his way back to the motel.
As he rounded the corner, he came to a stop. Outside Lilian’s door stood two men he didn’t recognize. Dressed in suits, one of them fiddled with the doorknob. Matthias growled low in his throat and pushed forward with every intention of knocking their heads together.
As he approached, one of the men turned, lifted a pistol and fired at him. A high-pitched, phewt sound was followed by the whine of a bullet as it whizzed by. Matthias dodged back behind the corner.
Enough!
Matthias took a deep breath and charged around the corner, toward the men. He went for the one with the pistol who kept firing at him. When the burn of a bullet pierced his right shoulder, Matthias jerked and gave a loud roar. His muscles stretched, bones snapped and popped as his body shifted forms. By the time he had shifted to his war form, he reached the pistol-wielding agent, and Matthias swiped at the agent with a huge paw tipped with razor sharp claws. Flesh tore and blood spilt as the man screamed and dropped the pistol. The second agent spun around to face the battle. Lilian’s door flew open and the agent went flying into the parking lot.
Matthias spun toward the third form before he realized it was Lilian, and gave a soft huffing sound. The second agent got to his feet and as he drew his weapon, she made a swiping motion with a sweep of her arm. The man’s pistol went flying out of his hand and toward her.
Matthias swung a paw at the pistol and knocked it out of the way so it clattered to the pavement. He looked at her and growled. She narrowed her eyes at him, her silver gaze slashing at him in anger, but she turned her attention to the agents, who were trying to escape. One clutched his arm to his chest and ran in a not-so-steady manner. The other just ran, leaving his partner to make his own way.
Matthias started to give chase, but she stopped him.
“No, leave them be!”
He paused and looked back at her, ears perked.
She stared at him, a surprised look on her face, as if she’d just realized what he was, what he looked like. When he took a step toward her, she jerked back, so he stopped.
“Matthias, I hope?”
He nodded his huge head and took another step toward her. Again, she jerked back and he stopped.
“This is very weird,” she said. “Can you, umm, change back, please?”
Matthias huffed and closed his eyes as he concentrated. His form changed and shifted, and he groaned as his wound burned. When he resumed his human form, he staggered. Right away, she wrapped an arm around his waist.
“You’re hurt.” He could hear the worry in her voice.
“It’ll heal soon enough,” he replied, as he tried to shrug off the pain.
“Come inside.” She looked around. “I only hope no one saw anything.”
“They won’t remember it.”
Matthias let her help him inside her motel room. He could have easily walked inside without her help, but with her worrying he was going to milk it for all its worth.
“What do you mean no one will remember?” She helped him to sit on the edge of the bed.
“If we’re seen in our war form, unless they’re special in some way, not human, they won’t remember.”
“How convenient.” She hurried to the bathroom. “Don’t move. I’ll get a towel.”
Matthias waited until Lilian left the room to smile. He hadn’t wanted her to think he was amused by her concern. Not so much the concern, but it had been her bossiness which tickled him. Her bossiness and lack of fear of him, despite knowing he turned into an eight-foot monster with teeth the size of her fingers. She also seemed to have forgotten about her aversion to the sight of blood. Because of her worry for him? He grinned.
He removed his ruined shirt, and flexed the muscles of his chest. Matthias winced as the muscles pulled at the wound, but he knew it was already knitting. Within minutes, his body would eject the bullet on its own. Lupine’s wounds healed from the inside out, to push out any foreign objects like bullets.
Lilian made a tsking sound as she came out and saw him. “Stop messing with it.” She used a warm, wet washcloth to clean around the wound.
“Lilian, I’m fine. It’ll heal. There won’t even be a scar in a couple of days.” He watched her as she fussed over him.
She looked at him and he could see the worry in her eyes.
“What if it gets infected?”
“Unless the wound was made with silver, it won’t get infected. We’re hard to kill.” Matthias smiled at her, but sobered to ask, “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
Lilian shook her head and looked away to finish cleaning the blood from the wound.
“I’m fine. They didn’t get the chance to do anything.”
“You can’t stay here.” Matthias reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his cellphone. “They know where to find you and it’s hardly safe here.”
“I won’t be safe anywhere. They’ll just track me down and try again.”
He dialed his phone and lifted it to his ear, giving her a frown. “I know of one place.”
She looked at him and shook her head. “Oh, no. I won’t go to your place.”
Lilian stood, but he grabbed her wrist. He spoke into his phone, in Roman Latin, the language of his people, and soon hung up.
“What did you just do?” she asked.
“Called for a ride. I know how much you dislike my motorcycle, so I called for the truck.”
“I’m not going home with you, Matthias.”
“Yes, you are.”
Matthias watched as her cheeks went pink with her growing anger and her silver eyes darkened to a stormy gray. Did she know how desirable she was when she looked like that?
“Like hell I am!” She tugged her wrist free from his grasp.
“What are you afraid of?” he asked. “If you’re worried I’ll try something, well, I probably will, but we won’t be alone. I have my pack there. If it’ll make you feel any better, you can have a chaperone.”
Lilian narrowed her eyes at him.
“Honest. I have family. My mother.”
Her eyes flared open wide. “And here I thought you crawled out from under a rock.”
“Funny.”
She smiled. “I thought so and the answer’s still no.”
His acute sense of hearing picked up the sound of the truck engine as it pulled up. Matthias stood up, grabbed his shirt, and walked to the door. When he opened it, he turned back to look at her. She was standing where he left her, frowning.
“Come here,” he said. He kept his voice soft and gentle.
“Why?” She stared at him with suspicion.
“You have to lock the door behind me,” he said as he quirked a brow at her.
Lilian scowled as she walked over to him and the door.
“Do