Alphas on the Prowl (13 page)

“Nothing funny about a cat attack,” the instructor had boomed.

No shit, Sherlock
. Ryan frantically pushed at the lion’s massive chest. The fucker was crushing him with his weight. Ryan winced as his ribcage protested.

The cat let out another menacing snarl. Ryan froze, terror icing his veins. Security cameras had to be on! Where were Gus and Al with their guns?

The lion lowered his enormous head so the bottom of his mane brushed Ryan’s chin. Saliva glistened on his fangs and dripped onto Ryan’s check. He grimaced, wishing his hands were free so he could wipe it off. Christ, what huge teeth!

Something growled near the elevator bank. The cat hissed, turning his head and digging one of his big paws into Ryan’s chest, making it impossible to draw a deep breath. Black spots danced before Ryan’s eyes.

A gray blur knocked into the big cat’s side, driving him off Ryan’s body. Ryan curled into a defensive ball, trying not to scream at the stabbing pain in his battered ribcage. The cat and the gray blur rolled over and over on the cement, biting and snapping at each other.

The gray blur resolved into a huge wolf. God, that was right. He hadn’t let himself think about it much because of Hailey, but Emerson had hired wolf shifters to patrol the parking garage. Better than Al and Gus with guns. Those assholes were probably watching via video camera from the safety of the front desk. Worthless dicks.

Ryan lurched upright and dug his hands into his pockets. Keys. They had to be there somewhere. Yes! He closed his fingers around his key chain and pulled it free. Fumbling to isolate the BMW’s key, he staggered toward the car, keeping one eye on the fighting wolf and cat.

The cat was bigger, but the wolf knew what the hell he was doing. The cat bled from half a dozen wounds already, and one of them looked pretty bad. He looked more as if he were trying to get away than fight back.

Ryan didn’t wait to see what the hell happened. He jumped into his car and shoved the key into the ignition. He knew he ought to stay, but screw that, he wanted far away from that goddamn cat. And he definitely didn’t want to deal with a wolf. No way.

The BMW’s engine roared into life, and tires peeling, Ryan backed out of his parking slot, slewing the car to the right to avoid crushing the cat and wolf. Shaky with panicked rage, he wouldn’t have minded killing the cat, but the wolf was doing his job.

Ryan raced the car down three levels to the exit gate, barely pausing for the bar to raise before zooming into the street.

CHAPTER TWO

Ryan Campbell.
Hailey would have recognized that man’s scent anywhere, and it lingered all over the cat shifter who sat, handcuffed and in human form, on the dirty cement by the elevator bank. The security guards stood a few feet away, hands on guns, glaring at him.

The cat shifter in human form looked like a frigging model – most cats were gorgeous. Long tawny-blond hair, piercing green eyes, and the sheer arrogance radiating from his pores made Hailey grit her teeth. Why did some of them act like such assholes? The shifters had received a lukewarm enough reception from the humans as it was – the increasing criminal activity of certain felines was bound to have repercussions. Wolves labored hard at public relations while the damn cats sat back on their haunches and observed – most of them sneering. The last thing either side needed were renegade idiots like this stupid cat in front of her.

The cat shifter gave her a feral grin, and the guards tightened hands around their guns. If he shifted, they’d shoot him. Everyone knew it, but he ignored them as if they weren’t there.

“Council security’s on the way.” Hailey told him. Blood crusted in his nostrils, and more soaked through the cheap pair of coveralls the guards had brought him to wear. Hailey smiled. She’d thrashed him good, the vicious beast.

This cat shifter had bought himself a one-way ticket to jail. He’d be taken before the shifter council and his fate decided. Back to the cats for punishment – the worst-case scenario in Hailey’s mind because the cats would be too lenient – or to the wolves, who would imprison him for at least five years. The humans couldn’t contain him. No cat would refrain from shifting in a human prison. Not anymore.

Cleaning up messes like this made Hailey feel useful, but she still resented most cats’ attitudes. She took a weary breath, abruptly aware her head ached. Damn cat had bashed her with his big, stupid paw. She ought to go take an aspirin, but first she needed to hand off the cat to council security. And think about the ramifications of the fact she’d just saved
Ryan Campbell’s
ass.

What the hell was
he
doing here in San Francisco, working at Emerson? Last Hailey had seen him was five years ago back East in college. Western Civ. They’d sat together to talk and compare notes during the lecture. Met for coffee beforehand. Studied together at the library. She remembered walking through the rain with him, wishing he’d take her hand. Stealing looks at him from beneath her lashes. Waiting.

After months of slowly building sexual tension, he’d asked her out. And like a dumbass she told him about being a wolf shifter. The look on his face would haunt her forever. Fear. As if he expected she would turn into a wolf and rip his throat out. If only he’d understood wolves were sworn to protect. Nothing truly had changed by coming out into the open. Wolves and humans had been involved in relationships for millennia. Until recently, the humans had never known they were paired with shifters. So what? It didn’t mean they were loved any less.

Hailey shook her head angrily. To hell with Ryan Campbell. Yet he wouldn’t leave her thoughts. Damn him.

Flashing lights heralded the arrival of council security.
Good. A distraction.

After council security, the cat shifter, and the human guards left, Hailey remained in the parking garage with the intention to strip off her clothes and shift back into wolf. She still had several hours left of work.

Wait. What lurked in the corner? She strode over to investigate. A roller bag. After unzipping it, she discovered a laptop. The front pocket yielded up a wallet. Bringing it to her nose, she inhaled. She didn’t have to flip it open to find identification.
Ryan Campbell.

She opened the wallet anyway so she could stare at the photo on his driver’s license. Still the same. Freaking gorgeous. The most beautiful man she’d ever seen. Thick dark hair, incredible gray-blue eyes, and that mouth. She’d waited months to feel that mouth against hers, only to have her hopes dashed by his cowardice. He smiled at the camera, and if she hadn’t known what a bastard he was, she would have been charmed. So open. Friendly. Charismatic. All lies.

She stuffed the wallet back into the pocket, breathing hard. Why did he still have such power over her? She’d moved on years ago. Okay. She’d conducted a series of failed relationships with other wolf shifters because they’d never measured up to Ryan, but damn it, Ryan was a dick. She couldn’t wait around forever trying to find somebody like him because he was a freaking jerk. She didn’t want to be with a jerk.

“Screw this,” she muttered. She should bring the laptop to the guards, but she hesitated. No. She would return it to Ryan herself. Confront him. Look him straight in the eye and demand acknowledgment. The way he’d looked right through her five years ago had stung. His gaze slid around and through her, never at her. She’d stood in front of his desk for five excruciating minutes one class, waiting for him to say something. People had stared at them both, some of them snickering behind hands, but Ryan had never looked up from his book. What kind of person did that to somebody else? Somebody who’d trusted him? Spent time with him? Cared about him? A jerk, that was what kind. A total and complete prick.

Armed with his laptop and wallet, he couldn’t ignore her now. Not if he wanted his stuff back.

Smiling, Hailey wheeled the roller bag to her small Toyota and stowed it in the trunk. No BMW for her. Ryan had obviously succeeded at life with his executive job, designer suit and fancy car, but she hadn’t done so badly for herself. So she drove a used car and had two roommates, but she was happy, damn it. And protecting people like she was supposed to. Not treating everyone like crap the way he did.

CHAPTER THREE

Ryan stood at the sink, gulping the last of his second cup of coffee, when the front doorbell rang. Damn. Who could that be? He would be late for soccer practice.

After dumping his mug in the sink, Ryan left the kitchen and limped across the living room, trying to ignore his protesting ribs. Maybe he ought to rethink soccer practice, but what was he supposed to do? Tell his teammates
Yeah, don’t mind me. I got flattened by a giant lion shifter last night at work.
Too many questions. Screw that. He’d just plead a hangover and sit on the sidelines. The important thing was to get the hell out of the house and do something other than sit around on his ass all day.

Grimacing, he looked through the peephole on his door.

A tall blond woman stood on the doorstep, her hair in a ponytail. When she looked up, his breath caught in his throat, and for a moment he wasn’t sure if might be dreaming.
Hailey Green!
She hadn’t changed a bit since college. He could see the sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Freckles he’d once fantasized about kissing – light, sweet kisses before he moved his lips to her mouth and sank into her, tasting her, teasing her with his tongue until she moaned his name.

He froze, aware of his cock, hard as stone in his shorts. Goddamn. Stop thinking shit like that!

She knocked again, impatience hardening her mouth. What was she doing here?

He saw his roller bag on the step beside her and frowned at it. How’d she get that? Hell, he’d left it in the garage last night, hadn’t he? The dots connected, creating instant sense.
She’d
been the huge gray wolf who had saved him from the cat last night. Christ.

“Damn it,” she muttered. He heard her, muffled through the door. She looked directly through the peephole as if she could possibly see anything. A crafty, bad-tempered smile flitted across her lips. “I know you’re standing there, Ryan, I can smell you. And hear you mouth-breathing. Open the door. Don’t you dare ignore me.”

Wincing, he fumbled with the locks. Hailey Green. Holy shit.

***

Standing on Ryan’s doorstep, listening to him breathe and obviously
think
about letting her in roused all the feelings of worthlessness and humiliation she’d suffered at his hands five years ago. Damn him. If he didn’t open his door, she’d take his laptop apart with her bare hands and stomp on the pieces. Cast his wallet down the storm drain. She’d done him a favor bringing this stuff to him – the least he could do was open the door.

When the door did swing open and he stood there looking at her, her heart lurched, and all the spit in her mouth dried up. Devastating as ever. Not only had his gorgeous face remained breathtaking, but he’d obviously started working out after college. He wore a pair of snug shorts revealing muscular legs and a t-shirt that emphasized the tautness of his arms and chest. The t-shirt read
The Sharks
across the front. He caught her looking and grinned anxiously.

“It’s the name of my soccer team. Kinda lame, huh?”

“Don’t ask me,” Hailey said. “People taking animal names for their sports teams has always baffled me.”

He winced. “I’ll bet.” They stared at each other for a suspended moment. Hailey heard his heart racing. Was the man nervous? So he should be.

“It was you last night, obviously.” He hung onto the edge of the door until his knuckles turned white. “You were the wolf who attacked the cat.”

She scowled. “Yeah. Thanks for sticking around to make sure I was all right, by the way. Ungrateful jerk.” She muttered the last two words, but by the way the tips of his ears reddened, he heard her.

“I panicked,” he admitted. “All I could think about was getting the hell out of there.” He gestured toward his roller bag. “As you might have guessed, since I left everything behind.”

“For future reference?” Hailey said. “Somebody risks their life to save you? Stick around after to make sure they’re okay. It’s the decent thing to do. The compassionate one. But then again, I forget; you don’t give a shit about things like decency and compassion, do you?”

He took a deep, miserable breath. Remorse and mortification were written all across his gorgeous face, and his blue-gray eyes gleamed with mute appeal. Hailey didn’t blink. No way was she going to fall for this stricken guilt shit. The man remained nothing but a liar and a jerk. She didn’t even know what the hell she was doing here. She should be home in the shower before falling into bed. She swallowed and cursed the rush of dampness between her legs when she pictured her bed. And Ryan in it with her. On top of her. Thrusting into her.

It took all her will power not to turn and run away before he could read the lust in her expression. She had to be betraying herself. A wolf shifter would have sensed her arousal by now and been full of himself over it. Thank God, Ryan was only human.

“Are you all right?” he asked, rousing her out of her uncomfortable fantasies. She stared at him.

“It’s a little late to ask now.”
Dickhead
, she added in mentally.