The huge male shoved Kay through a door into a surgery room. She stumbled and crashed against a gurney; the male strapped to it made a gurgling noise. She gasped and stepped back. There were two other males also strapped to gurneys. They were breathing, but not awake. They looked like they’d been drugged.
“Why am I here?” she whimpered, eyeing the surgical instruments with more than a little trepidation.
The huge male lumbered into the room, slamming the door and glaring at her.
“You’re here to help us get these men into shape,” said an awfully familiar voice.
She spun to find the tall, skinny Dr. Froggett beaming at her. Ugh, he still looked like a lizard in a lab coat.
Previously, they had worked together on a shifter gene project, and she didn’t like him when she was a free woman, and she certainly didn’t like him now. There were always rumors about how he lost his last job before he came on board the project – namely that he was drugging and fondling female shifters who were being paid as test subjects. He had left the project they worked on after she did, gloating over the fact that he had a new, higher paying job. He even e-mailed her to gloat.
“Why? Why are you here?”
Froggett gave her his usual patronizing expression. “To apply our work on the shifter gene to the real world.”
“You kidnapped me!” she hissed.
He shrugged unconcernedly. “Sadly you weren’t interested in the benefits of the private sector.”
Her eyes flared. Some anonymous person had reached out to her by e-mail, claiming they wanted to give her a huge salary in order to continue the work they had been doing – she was no longer interested in that field.
“But why me? What do you want with me?”
“You were the one who first created the serum.”
“The serum?” she repeated dumbly.
The huge man let out a low rumble, hushing them both. She wasn’t the only one terrified of him.
“Enough talk. Just do as you’re told.”
Froggett smiled maliciously, and Kay’s fear grew even more.
*
“Are you okay, honey?” asked Lucie.
“Sure,” replied Avery, frowning a little at the sudden concern.
Lucie was always a sweetie, but her expression seemed overly concerned. Well, she was a little tired, but she could put that down to the antics of her sisters and a very raunchy dream featuring a sexy, caped crusader.
“Didn’t you hear?” asked Erin whose expression nearly matched Lucie’s concern.
Avery shrugged unconcernedly and took a sip of her sweet, sweet coffee – six sugars sweet. Not as sweet as Wolfman’s lips cooed her inner beast in delight. Yes, they had run into each other again a couple of nights ago. Their lips also ran into each other again. He did taste sweet; she would give him that.
Isis growled. “Wingus and Dingus are having a baby ‘us.”
“Huh?”
“Daryl and Meryl are having a baby,” explained Erin. “It’s all over the building.”
“Oh, well good for them,” muttered Avery before yawning.
She really couldn’t be bothered to dredge up any hate or even resentment about that. They were happy, and they were having a kid – good luck to them. Even her inner beast didn’t care.
“Want me to grab Bettina and put a hex on them?” offered Isis with a glint in her eye. “I can make her.”
Bettina was one of the more powerful witches at the SEA, and Avery doubted she would take much persuading – there were some nasty rumors about what Bettina had done to her own ex-boyfriends. But, Avery wasn’t very interested in revenge.
“Eh, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Avery whistled as she left the break room. Honestly, she didn’t care. She was too… happy. Wolfman made her happy. She hadn’t told anyone about her meetings with him. It was wise that she didn’t – technically his vigilante shenanigans were illegal, and if her bosses knew she was having regular contact with him, they might order her to arrest him.
Her friends probably wouldn’t understand her crush, and besides, she wasn’t ready to share the truth. She knew it was silly, but she couldn’t help herself, and it was just a little fun.
*
“Wolfman!”
“Avery,” he growled from his perch on the fire escape.
She threw open her living room window, and his eyes bulged at the skimpy shorts and vest combo she was wearing. He hadn’t seen this much naked flesh since a couple of weeks ago, and he got lost and ended up running through that gentlemen’s steam room. That had a lot of naked flesh on display – but unlike that incident, this was very pleasing to look at. His inner beast salivated – almost too pleasing.
He clambered through her window, nearly knocking his mask clear off as his ear caught on the window frame. Thankfully, her back was turned. Otherwise, she would have got an eyeful of his actual face.
“What are you doing here?” she breathed, her chest heaving.
“Ah…” As he watched the rhythmic rise and fall, he wasn’t quite sure anymore.
His wolf snarled at him. Right, yeah.
“I, ah chased down a mugger.”
“You did?”
“Yes - I fought him.”
Avery blinked at him. “Really?”
He tried to see if she was being sarcastic, but all he was getting was breathy shock and awe.
“I got the back bag, uh, he, ah, got away.”
The guy got in a lucky punch… or nine. Wolfman was expecting to be very puffy and sore tomorrow. Thankfully, his mom was out of town – so he didn’t have to explain himself to her, or why he would be walking around with a frozen bag of peas on his face.
Avery cupped his face, and he tried not to wince. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“I lost the woman it belongs to,” he admitted, “and it turns out her bag only contains her knitting and half a roll of mints… hardly seems worth the two miles I chased him.”
“Nonsense, crime is crime, and you’re a hero.”
“Well, I…”
Avery kissed him, and he moaned into her lush mouth. At first, he had started this hero thing because he wanted to help people, but now, he was starting to think he did it for kisses. They had met half a dozen times and each time she called him a hero and kissed him senseless – if it weren’t for his low rate of success of catching criminals or actually preventing crime, his ego would be sky high by now.
He settled his hands on her waist and pulled her a little closer. His wolf growled as her molten-hot body pressed against his. Even through twenty pounds of costume, he could feel the heat of her luscious body.
Slowly, reluctantly, he pulled away, enjoying the way she licked her lips, savoring his taste.
“I should go,” he murmured, reflecting that the costume was not really made with the intention of the wearer being super aroused. Things were getting a little tight down there.
“Yes,” she agreed, with a lazy smile on her face.
With a wrench, he removed his hands and strode to the window, and started to climb through. If he stayed a moment longer, there was always the possibility that he might start yammering about how Deep Space Nine was the best incarnation of Star Trek. He couldn’t afford to lose his mystique. Avery got a thrill out of kissing Wolfman – a mysterious caped crusader, not a complete nerd who ran a comic book store.
“Will I see you again?” she asked.
“You can count on – oof!”
The window closed on him, trapping his legs. He whimpered while Avery lifted it for him.
“You okay?”
“Yes, of course.” He scrunched up his face to stop the tears from falling.
She looked dubious. “You sure?”
“Of course,” he said a little more forcefully. “Nothing stops Wolfman in his duty.”
Avery beamed, and he felt like he could do anything in the world. Though, considering all the punishment he had taken that night, actually standing up seemed like a big ask at that moment.
He crouched by her window and waited patiently until she closed it, gave him a flirtatious finger wave and retreated to another room. Then he collapsed on the fire escape and started to crawl his way back home. His wolf mewled in pain, but he didn’t doubt that it was worth it.