Venice Heat (18 page)

“There’s security. How did you even get in here?”

Eiji appeared affronted. She had visions of him doing some ninja moves on the guards, and would have laughed if the situation weren’t serious, but what about the security system?

“As I said, I was not always a policeman, and even in my line of work, I have learned how to get around certain barriers.”

She studied his handsome face. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it.”

He took her hand, features becoming set. “Stay close. You will be free soon.”

In a short while, they were on the road, driving to who knew where. Shae clenched her jaw tight and crouched in her seat, at the same time taking peeks at the sky. On one hand, she willed the moon to come. On the other, she wished it would never appear. The dread knotting her stomach and making her feel like throwing up was the human side. The chomping at the bit, a sense of freedom coming soon, she knew had to be her wolf. Still, that wasn’t all the beast felt. She also craved Eiji. She actually wanted to be his mate, strained in a way that had Shae wanting to raise her chin and expose her neck to him. What the hell did that mean? Another bite? Hell no. She would not give in. Every fiber of her being pleaded for it.

“We’re almost there. Another five minutes,” he informed her.

She bunched her hands into fists on her thighs. “Where are we going, and how do you know about the place?”

“Marcus told me about it. He set it up.”

“Who?”

“He was Darryl’s second.”

Shae went cold. That guy had also challenged Eiji to be alpha of the pack now that Darryl was dead. “You shouldn’t trust him, Eiji. He wants to kill you.”

Eiji reached over and grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry. He doesn’t need to kill me anymore.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I gave him the position of alpha in exchange for helping me with you.”

She stared at him in silence.

“The others will be here soon.”

He turned onto a road that led deep into a wooded area. At the end of it, a small box home sat, nothing fancy, just serviceable. No vehicle stood outside, so she assumed the others hadn’t arrived yet.

Eiji stopped the car and turned to her. He took her hand. “Shae, I will help you to change and make sure you are safe. What you want to do after that is your choice. I told you, you can’t remain a rogue wolf. Men will try to take you, shifters of all kinds. The beast compels them to try to…” He searched for the word.

“Conquer me?”

“
Hai.
” His big, rough hand brushed her cheek, and her belly did somersaults. “I will stay with you and protect you.”

Her eyes widened. “Wait, you’re saying you’ll go wherever I want to go and just protect me, not be my mate. Just be there? From what you’re saying, you know how many fights you’d have to put up with? I mean, unless I stumble onto some place where there aren’t any shifters.”

He nodded.

“Eiji, why would you do that? Because you marked me? Look, I know it was an accident. It’s fine. You don’t have to throw your life away because of me. Hell, one life lost between us is enough.” Feeling sorry for herself was not a part of her nature, but she wallowed in it for a few moments, her head lowered, while she dealt with the emotions.

“You don’t understand.” He raised her chin. “Shae,
aishiteru
.”

She opened her mouth to ask what he’d just said when a ripping pain shot down her back. She screamed, but the pain didn’t let up for a second. Muscles spasmed at every inch of her body, and bones seemed to melt with a fiery heat that made her gag and sob. Eiji pulled so hard at the seat belt covering her chest, the fabric tore in two. He dragged her into his arms and kicked the driver-side door open. Metal ground against metal. Shae hardly noticed the door hanging at an odd angle as Eiji carried her up the steps to the house and shouldered his way inside. More pain blinded her, and spots danced before her eyes. Her head lolled on her neck, and she passed in and out of consciousness.

“Eiji.” She screamed his name, or thought she did. Her voice came from so far away, and her lover’s response didn’t seem close by either. She cried harder thinking he’d left her, but someone squeezed her hand. The sensation pierced the pain ravaging her being, but not by much.

“Listen to my voice, Shae. Hear me,” came Eiji’s commanding tone.

His voice seemed to tug at her soul. From the darkness and pain, he was a beacon, and she followed, reaching out to him. Somewhere behind the blindness, a light shone. Eiji stood there, at first a man and then a beautiful white wolf.

He spoke, but she didn’t see his mouth move. She heard his words in her head. Was this real, or had she fallen into a dream?

“Shift, Shae.”

“I can’t. It hurts.”

“You can. Let me help you.”

Again, the pull, and a gentle, vibrant energy, surrounded her. Eiji’s power eased her suffering. He invaded her mind, but not in a bad way. He chased the demons away and reached out. She took a tentative step forward—whether mentally or physically, she wasn’t sure. He appeared closer, still sitting in the middle of a meadow. Weren’t they in a house? The wolf raised his nose and howled to the sky, where the moon shone bright. The sound echoed through her head and heart, but then something inside her whined to do the same. She shrank back, ashamed.

“That’s too weird. I can’t do it.”

He howled again, and her wolf croaked a small sound so pitiful she wished she could laugh.

“Shae, come here!”

She was all of a sudden in front of the white wolf, on her knees and naked. She put her hands up over her breasts.
“How did we get out here?”

“The pain is gone, isn’t it?”

She blinked at him, but he spoke the truth. She didn’t hurt, and the confusion had cleared. Still, this place, she knew now they were in her mind together. They hadn’t left the house. She felt the couch beneath her, which Eiji had laid her on.

The white wolf nudged her shoulder. She rubbed his head and scratched his ears. He whined, but when he stretched his nose to the moon the third time, she joined him. The sound that rose from her throat matched his, and the human melted away. In reality, she opened her eyes. She sat on the couch, her dress in a crumpled pile beneath her. Brown fur coated her body.

“Damn! I’m a wolf!”

“Hai.”

She looked over to realize Eiji was in his wolf form too, and he’d just spoken in her mind.

“How?”

“I can’t explain the mysteries of why we are the way we are. Do you want to run before they come?”

“They?”
She remembered he’d said the pack would come and was surprised they hadn’t arrived, but a sudden urge came over her at his words.
“Run.”

Eiji took off through the open door, and she bounded behind him. Outside in the dark of night, their paws ate up the ground. Shae’s heart pounded, and her muscles grew warm. She dragged in deep breaths as she moved, and all of it felt so good she never wanted to stop. Eiji darted around trees and over fallen limbs. She matched every step, luxuriating in chasing him, in just being with him.

“Eiji.”

She hadn’t meant to make him stop, but he did, on a dime, and faced her. He padded over on silent paws to where she stood. His nose touched hers, and they nuzzled their faces together, unable to express themselves as humans would. She remembered the words he’d spoken in the car just before she started the change, but hesitated to ask him to translate. What if it didn’t mean what she suspected it did? And what if it did?

“Eiji, I—”

“They’re here.”

He moved around her and fell into a jog. She had no choice but to follow. When they were close to the house, Eiji stopped running and blocked her path.

“Wait here.”

He disappeared into the house and returned as a man wearing only pants. He carried her dress, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she shifted. “Whoa, I didn’t even think of it. Or I did and just changed.” Her words echoed loud over the quiet night.

Eiji smiled. “You will get used to it.”

She dressed. “So they’re here?”

“Yes. Are you ready?”

She pulled in a deep breath, blew it out, and then nodded. “
Hai
.”

He smirked at her use of his language, and together they entered the house.

Chapter Twelve

Shae stepped from the trees behind Eiji and noted the cars lining the drive. The others stretched out all over the living room, lounging as if they owned the place. Then again, maybe they did. Marcus sat in an armchair like the big dog on campus, with a woman perched on either side of him. He encircled their waists, hands low on their bellies, inches from their apexes. Shae tried not to gag and turned her head.

“So you got her here on time,” Marcus said. “Good. Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

Shae glanced at Eiji. He nodded. “Thank you for the invitation to your pack.”

“In other words, you’re turning me down?”

While they spoke, Shae scanned the faces of the others. The women seemed less confrontational with her with Darryl gone, or was it because she was fully one of them? One or two of the men stared her down, unblinking. Their gazes shifted every now and then to Eiji, and she didn’t miss the back-and-forth emotion between lust and caution. One of them moved as if to stand, but Eiji made a small noise in his throat. Marcus laughed, and so did one of the other men.

“Don’t try, man,” Marcus warned the guy. “He’s marked her. I’m guessing he’ll rip your throat out if you even try, and I’m not going to stop him. He’s in his rights.”

Shae’s eyes widened. Were they serious?

“She’s not his mate,” was the snapped reply. “She’s fair game.”

“Fair game to fight for,” Marcus corrected. He turned back to Eiji. “That reminds me. I wanted to say I’m sorry about your cousin.”

Eiji’s hands closed into fists at his sides, and a vein pulsed in his right temple. “Did he kill her?”

“Not like you think.” Marcus sighed and sat straighter. He pushed the girls away, and they stood with reluctance. The man was going to enjoy being alpha too much. She hoped he’d make better decisions than the bastard who’d bit her. From what she saw, Marcus’s head had already begun to swell. “She claimed to be a part of a pack where she came from. We are somewhat new in the area, so we didn’t know for sure. Darryl didn’t see a man around her, so he figured she was fair game. She said she’d fight him for the right to stay free.”

Shae’s mouth fell open. This was what Eiji had been telling her all along. A woman couldn’t be a rogue, or she would find men coming at her constantly trying to make her submit. She ground her teeth in anger, and from the expression on Eiji’s face, he didn’t appreciate how Darryl had gone after her either.

“He accepted this?” Eiji asked.

“Yeah, he did. She wanted to fight him. He let her. He knew he would win, and when he had her down, she should have given up and let him take her.”

“The hell she should!”

All eyes turned to Shae at her outburst. She folded her arms over her chest and dared them to challenge her. No one seemed to care one way or another about what she thought, even the women. The two men who’d eyed her earlier still did.

“She pushed him until he hurt her too much. She could have recovered with his help, but Darryl didn’t want to. He commanded us to stay out of it.”

Shae hated every one of them. “And y’all obeyed, even with a woman dying right before your eyes.” If she had the weapons now, she’d kill them without a second thought. “I don’t care if I am a shifter. I’ll never understand your ways. Ever!”

“There are methods to help you understand.”

Marcus’s mild reply sent shivers of dread racing up and down her back. She knew she couldn’t stay in this area without protection. Either her family would find and kill her or these people would. She’d be reduced to fighting for her life just like Izumi. The sad thing was, the woman must have thought herself safe with no shifters in the area, at least none who wanted to dominate her. Then Darryl and his crew rolled into town. She wondered, with her training and her new ability to smell a person coming, would she have an edge? Could she go wherever she wanted? Maybe not without learning more about being what she was now.

Eiji cut across her thoughts. “I can’t join your pack. I’m staying with Shae to protect her.”

He’d said as much already, but hearing it again, seeing him admit before these men who viewed women as lesser than themselves that he wouldn’t force her to be his mate, blew her mind. The women looked up at Eiji, and Shae thought she saw a flash of longing in their eyes before they masked it.

“She’s got you whipped, man,” one of the guys called out laughing.

“Thank you for your help. We are leaving.” Eiji gave a slight bow. Anyone observing such a solid build, the stoic expression, and calm self-assurance would not classify Eiji as weak, and she loved him all the more.

No one barred him from taking her hand and leading her out of the house. They approached the car, and Shae climbed across the driver seat to the other side while Eiji tried repairing the damage he’d done earlier. She was tired, and she guessed he was too, but staying would be dangerous.

He settled behind the steering wheel. “Where do you want to go?”

She peered across at him. “Really?”

“I said I won’t leave you, and I won’t.”

She chewed her lip. Admitting how she felt would take a huge leap of faith. “Let’s go somewhere we can clean up and rest. Is that okay?”

“
Hai.
”

* * * *

Shae dropped the dress from her shoulders and let it slide down her frame until it crumpled on the floor in a soft pile. She stepped out of it and bent to fling the offending material onto a chair. She’d had enough of that dress and couldn’t wait to shower and slip into the new things Eiji had bought.

While she stood in front of the mirror, he stepped up behind her, his hungry gaze on her breasts. A shimmer of a voice in her head whispered,
“Ours,”
but she couldn’t determine if her inner wolf had said the words or Eiji’s. Could they even speak into each other’s minds anymore, or was that a skill only for her first change? Since the woods, she’d heard nothing of Eiji in her head, and for such a short-lived thing, her mind felt empty without him.