Chapter 2
Outside the diner, Tank sat in his truck, his hand on the keys dangling from the ignition.
He was supposed to be driving away. Any second now, he was going to turn the key, start his truck, and get rolling.
But all he could see were wide blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, and hair that would have been curly if she had the chance to wash it on the regular.
All he could feel was that sweet, wild kiss, with the sexy bite on the end of it. What the fuck was that about?
The weird thing was, he remembered her. He’d seen her in the convenience store out by the highway, a week ago. He’d noticed her because of those eyes, beautiful but ringed with dark circles like she hadn’t slept in a week. And her scent—she’d smelled wrong. Off, somehow. He’d watched her as she moved nonchalantly through the store, leaning casually against various displays.
He’d been pretty sure she was stealing, though she was good enough at it that he didn’t actually see her put anything in her pockets. Anyway, it wasn’t like he was going to rat her out. It wasn’t his business what she did, and there was a time when he’d been down and out himself. When nothing mattered but survival, and the regular rules didn’t apply. You did what you had to.
That was why he’d paid for her lunch. He’d seen the panic in her eyes when she got the bill.
Tank suddenly realized he was standing in the street next to his truck.
The fuck was going on? The grizzly bear inside him was humming, and he was about to shut his truck door and walk back in the diner.
Don’t get involved, he told himself. She’s clearly crazy. Kissing some stranger, and eating like a starving animal.
She needs help, his bear said.
Screw that, Tank replied. I bought her lunch. That’s enough. You know what happened the last time we tried to save a woman we thought needed our help.
Capture. Torture. And only sheer dumb luck had saved him, even if it wasn’t soon enough. He’d been broken, his bear fucked up beyond repair, but at least they were free.
There was no way he was jeopardizing that for anyone. Especially a little human thief who was likely to draw attention from the cops. That was the last thing their crew needed. They’d all been wrecked by humans who knew too much about shifters, whose only thought was to use and exploit them. Flying under the radar was the only way they would survive.
He got back in his truck, trying not to think about how desperate and hungry the woman looked, and how warm and soft her lips were when she kissed him.
How she needed someone to take care of her. Give her a safe place to sleep and make sure she was fed. Hold her when she felt sad or scared. Make love to her and make her feel cherished.
Fuck it all, he was standing in the street again.
His bear was straining to find her scent. The sweet, delicious fragrance underneath that strange scent of wrongness she had.
She’s sick, he told his bear. We can’t take care of a sick human. And we sure as shit can’t bring a human out to the compound.
His bear whined, and Tank’s stomach contracted in pain.
Fuck it all twice. Tank slammed his truck door much harder than was necessary, and walked back into the diner, pointing toward the rest room when Anna, the waitress, asked if he forgot something.
Tank strode between the tables, just barely keeping himself from growling. He needed to get his truckload of lumber back to the compound. He needed to pick up groceries for Jasmin, the jaguar shifter who did most of the cooking for the crew. He needed to smack the shit out of Xander, the panther shifter who kept stealing his construction supplies instead of asking Flynn, their alpha, to buy his own damn lumber and nails for him.
He didn’t have time for this.
He stood outside the ladies’ room door, inhaling deeply. She wasn’t in there anymore. As he’d expected, her scent led out the back door at the other end of the hallway.
Tank followed the trail out into the back lot by the dumpsters, wrinkling his nose at the stench of garbage. It was harder to follow her scent here, but he picked it up again by the delivery entrance.
He tracked her down a small side street, then over a few blocks toward the edge of town. Across a vacant lot, and around the used-car lot. Behind some houses, through a copse of trees…
The scent was growing fresher—he was moving faster than she was. He came out of the trees onto the edge of a weedy parking lot. He knew where he was now. The old abandoned service station just outside of town—he’d passed it dozens of times. The pumps had been removed and the building was boarded up.
The woman was standing by the side of the abandoned building. As he watched from the shadow of the trees, she glanced surreptitiously around, then moved one of the boards on a side window. It swung aside, and she climbed through the window and let the board drop so it covered the opening once more.
What the hell?
Tank jogged across the parking lot to the window she’d disappeared through. Slowly, carefully, he moved the board aside, trying not to make a noise. The window had been broken out underneath the wooden cover.
Tank eyed the opening dubiously. It was going to be a tight squeeze, getting in there—this was not an opening built for grizzly shifters.
Was it worth the trouble? What was he planning on saying to her when he got inside?
Are you sick? What was he going to do if she was?
Do you need help? Obviously she did—she looked like she was homeless and hungry. That didn’t mean he was the one who was supposed to help her.
Why did you kiss me? Because she was a crazy woman.
Why won’t my bear let me leave you? That was the million-dollar question, and the one he really didn’t want an answer to.
It was also the one he couldn’t ask—not just because she wouldn’t have an answer either, but because how the hell was he supposed to explain to her that he had a damn grizzly bear inside him? A monster bear, who would probably claw her to pieces if he decided to come out. And Tank was no longer in the position where he could control him.
This was such a damn stupid idea.
Tank threw one leg over the windowsill and squeezed himself through, mentally cursing the whole way.