Chapter 20
Cecilia knew something was wrong the moment she was covered by a heavy blanket while Hank leapt from the bed. She’d barely gasped when she heard the door open and him growl, “Step one foot inside and you’re dead.”
She pushed her head out from under the cover to see Hank fully naked facing off with three men in loose sweats. She recognized two of them from the werewolf contingent who’d come to Mother’s house.
“We’ve come to speak with Dr. Lu,” the one she didn’t recognize said. His hands were held up in placating gesture and he appeared to be the leader.
“Polite people knock. They don’t pick the lock,” Hank said.
Meanwhile, one of the men behind the leader sniffed loudly and his lips curled in disgust. “He’s going to be a problem.”
Then the leader turned to her. “Dr. Lu, I’m Derek Sims, beta of the Detroit Wolves. We need to have a civil conversation. I apologize for how abrupt this seems, but we feel you’re in danger. There is urgency and it’s best if you come with us now.”
“She’s safe with me,” Hank growled.
“Dr. Lu—”
Cecilia sat up, holding the covers to her chest. “Dr. Lu needs to get dressed.”
“I’m afraid there’s too much danger—”
“Bullshit. Step outside, guard the door.” She held up her phone. “I’ve got police and bears on speed dial.” Then she rubbed her eyes. “And if you want a civil conversation, you can get me a large mocha at the Starbucks next door.”
Hank stiffened. “They use water—”
“I’ve been drinking it every day since I got here. I’m pretty sure I lack any shifter DNA, so I’m not at risk.” She turned back to the wolves. “Grab a couple water bottles, too. Thanks.”
The cranky werewolf bared his teeth. “We are not lapdogs, little girl. We do not—”
“You said civil conversation, right?” Cecilia interrupted. Her gaze hard on the leader. “Or was that a lie?”
“No lie,” he said with a slight dip to his head, though she could tell he was forcing himself to say it. “We will get the coffee—”
Hank interrupted. “Get Frappuccinos instead. The bottled ones with the seals intact.”
Cecilia looked at him. “You think they’d drug me?”
“They picked the lock here to surprise you.”
The leader growled. “Bears are overly suspicious. And we’re wasting time.”
Cecilia gestured them back. “Then go get the Fappuccinos and let me get dressed!”
The three werewolves backed away, their expressions showing varying degrees of anger. But they did as she ordered probably because Hank was there looking like he was about to go grizzly on them. Hank shut the door in their faces, then stood there vibrating tension while she scrambled out of bed.
She dressed quickly and cleaned up. She waited for Hank to do the same, but he remained at the door, standing tall in all his naked glory.
“You really think they’re the danger.”
He shrugged. “Wolves and bears in this city haven’t gotten along for generations. I don’t trust them.”
“I got that. But…um…don’t you want to get dressed?”
He shook his head. “Wolves are faster than bears, but in close quarters like this, I can do some pretty major damage.”
“I don’t want any damage to anyone.”
“I don’t want to either. But—”
“You don’t trust them. Great.” She sighed and pulled out her phone. “Give me five minutes to check my email and then…” Her voice trailed away as she thumbed into the data that she’d received last night. “Wow,” she breathed.
“What?” Anxiety burst through the word, but she waved at him to show that it was okay.
She kept reading. There was too much to process in five minutes, but the summary was pretty succinct.
“Cecilia—” he began, and she waved at him again, answering without looking up.
“The data that you guys sent earlier? A bunch of it came from a lab in Ann Arbor run by Dr. Sherilyn.”
“Yeah. Shifter lab at the University of Michigan. She’s an ocelot.”
“I sent her our data yesterday while we were waiting on Abby to…” Cecilia looked up. “An ocelot? Seriously?”
He shrugged. “We aren’t all dogs and bears.”
“Right.” Damn, there was so much to learn. The excitement of that nearly buried her annoyance at being woken up too damn early by rude werewolves. Then she was back in the data Dr. Sherilyn had sent. “She’s done some great work. Pretty clear how the body is effected by this Flu.”
Hank shifted, his body relaxing slightly in hope. “Can you stop it?”
“Too early to say—”
Heavy pounding on the door interrupted her words. She had to force herself to close up her phone and pay attention to the situation at hand. Hank looked at her, and she nodded. He pulled open the door, then jumped back quickly as he took up a protective stance in front of her.
The wolves sauntered in, their leader empty-handed but the other two carried hot coffee, Frappuccinos, and an assortment of muffins. Impressive. She hadn’t thought Starbucks had any bakery items left.
“How’d you get those?” she asked as her nose twitched. She might not be a shifter, but she sure as hell could smell baked goods.
“We have a wolf who bakes. These are hers.”
Wonderful! Except she now realized that Hank wouldn’t want her to eat them.
Possible poison or whatever. So with a sigh, she gestured to the table.
Everyone gathered and sat, except for Hank.
He stood beside her bristling and naked.
It was actually pretty sexy, but she didn’t let herself focus on that.
Instead, she grabbed a bottled Frappuccino and twisted it open, feeling for the pop to prove it hadn’t been tampered with. It popped, she drank, and it tasted wonderful. She leaned back in her chair.
“Okay. Civilized conversation. What’s going on?”
“Good morning, Dr. Lu. Our alpha promised that we would answer your questions. We are here to do that.”
She frowned. “I thought the meeting was tonight.”
“It is. We are here to take you to where we gather so you can—”
She held up her hand. “Stop. I’m not going anywhere with you right now. There’s too much going on.”
The werewolf arched a brow. “You are in significant danger.”
That phrase ought to terrify her, but honestly, she’d been too amped up from adrenaline these last days to get worked up. “Really? From what?”
“Hybrids are everywhere, the water is tainted, and as a scientist who knows about shifters, you are a valuable person.”
She nodded and looked at each of the werewolves in turn.
“Sounds really scary,” she deadpanned. “That’s why I’ve got a guard with me here.
” She glanced at Hank. “And I spend the rest of my time at the hospital.” She took another sip of her drink.
Damn it was good. “But you’re here now, I’ve got some questions—”
“We want to offer you a job, Dr. Lu.”
She blinked and stared at her drink. Had they drugged her? They couldn’t possibly be offering her a job. “I work for the CDC.”
“But you’re aware of shifters now. Surely, you realize that there is a limit to the type of research you can do—and report—to the ignorant.”
He meant to the world at large, to all those people who are not in on the secret. “Yeah, well, that’s a discussion for another day. Right now, I have a flu to stop and—”
“We can help you with that. We have a lab with scientists who are in the know.”
“Like Dr. Sherilyn?”
All three werewolves curled their lip in disgust, but it was the beta who spoke. “Cats are notoriously isolationist. They don’t share, and she is outside the city right now. We have a lab inside. Surely you want to meet the scientist who has already isolated—”
“It’s the twenty-first century, guys. Give me their email addresses. We don’t need to communicate in person.”
Mr. Sims’s expression flattened out. “This information is highly sensitive. We value our people’s safety above all things. We do not share—”
“Then I think you’re the ones being isolationist. Scientists share data.
It’s what we do.” Truthfully, that was a bit of a lie.
Researchers could be as territorial as anyone, but she wasn’t going to go to some secret lab with these people.
Not even with Hank tagging along for protection.
She didn’t know if it was his paranoia creeping into her or the fact that she had juicy data sitting on her phone from the supposedly territorial Dr. Sherilyn.
Either way she had plenty to work on without visiting some secret lab with guys who picked her lock while she was sleeping.
Which meant she was done with this conversation.
“Look guys, this has been fun and all—”
The werewolves attacked.
The speed of it was so startling that Cecilia kept talking while it was going on. “—but I’ve got a ton of work— Eep!”
One werewolf jumped across the table, wrapped an arm around her chest, and hauled her backward. The other two shifted in the blink of an eye. Suddenly wolves were leaping out of their clothing, and as they jumped forward, Hank tripled in size.
The table was knocked aside, banging hard into her knees.
She was already screaming, but the bastard’s meaty fist was on her mouth, muffling everything she did.
She tried to bite down. She tried to kick and claw, but she hadn’t the strength or the leverage.
And pretty soon she was pinned against a muscular human chest.
Meanwhile in front of her was a battle too dizzying for her to follow.
She saw Hank, big and black in the center of the room.
His claws were huge and he fought with precision as wolves came at him from every side.
He’d told her wolves were fast, but she hadn’t processed what that meant.
They were constantly in motion, leaping at him, taking a swipe or a bite, then landing out of his reach.
Two of them worked together to keep Hank from doing anything but defending himself.
Or so she thought. Until he connected one of his razor-sharp claws with a wolf. She heard the canine yelp and blood spurted in the air, but she couldn’t see more. The other one was still coming at him, and there was definitely blood on Hank’s face and torso. His? Theirs?