Animal Attraction (6 page)

The photographer nodded. “Apparently, he must have been listening to his police scanner, too. He got here a little while after you and the professor went inside. He’s over there trying to charm one of the female cops into telling him something.”

Eliza turned her gaze in the direction Andy pointed. Sure enough, Nate was there talking to one of the female police officers, who, surprisingly enough, was smiling at the man. Apparently, he could be charming, even if he was a paranormal nut. Shaking her head, Eliza turned back to Andy to find the photographer holding out the car keys.

“I had to park down the street a little, but you can’t miss it,” he told her.

Taking the keys from Andy, Eliza told him good night, and then started down the street in the direction of the car. As she did so, she couldn’t resist glancing over at the house to see if Hunter was still standing outside, but to her disappointment, the handsome professor was nowhere in sight. She continued down the street to the car.

Stifling a yawn, Eliza used the keyless entry to unlock the door, and then climbed in. Starting the engine, she immediately turned on the heater, sighing as the warm air enveloped her.
How do people get used to living up here?
She put the car in gear.

She was just about to pull out onto the road when she noticed a man walking away from the house. Her brow furrowed as she recognized Hunter.
What is he doing?

As she watched, he crouched down and examined something on the ground, then got to his feet again. Rather than continue on his way, however, he stood where he was, looking first in one direction and then the other, as if trying to decide which way to go. After a moment, he started walking again, heading across the street toward the warehouses. A moment later, he disappeared around one of them.

Eliza’s frown deepened.
What had Hunter been looking at on the ground? More importantly, where was he going?
If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was trying to track the wolf. Which was ridiculous, of course.
There was no way he could track a wolf. And even if he could, what the heck was he planning on doing if he found the beast? Ask him to come along peacefully?

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Eliza turned off the car and grabbed her shoulder bag from the seat. Opening the door, she got out and dashed across the street. She didn’t really want Hunter to see her following him, but she knew that if she didn’t stick close, she’d lose sight of him down one of the dark back streets.

However, when she got to the corner of the building around which he had disappeared, Hunter was nowhere in sight.
Damn!
Frowning, she rounded the corner of the building and cautiously made her way down the street as quickly as she could. It was much darker back here than up by the main road, and Eliza’s hand tightened on the shoulder strap of her purse. Maybe she should call out Hunter’s name, but then quickly decided against it. She didn’t want him to know she was following him.

She walked for a couple blocks in what she hoped was the right direction, making several turns along the way. After a few moments, however, she realized that she had not only lost Hunter’s trail, but she was also unsure exactly which way she had come. All of the warehouses seemed to look alike in the dark, and there were no streetlights back here.

Suddenly, there was a sound behind her, like gravel crunching underfoot. Her heart leaping into her throat, Eliza whirled around, but there was nothing there. She held her breath, listening, but didn’t hear anything. Even so, she quickened her step. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she wanted to get there quickly. As she passed each building, she glanced down the street running between that one and the next, hoping to spot Hunter, but they were all deserted.
Where the heck had he gone?

Stopping, Eliza lifted her cold hands to her mouth and blew warm air on them. This was a waste of time. For all she knew, Hunter had already gone back to his SUV and was on his way home. Shaking her head at her stupidity, she turned to go back in the direction she’d come, only to stumble to an abrupt halt. There, standing no more than ten feet in front of her was the biggest wolf she had ever seen.

Oh crap.
The thing is absolutely huge!
He had to be twice as big as a normal wolf, maybe larger, with thick black fur and eyes as dark as night. As she watched, his lips curled back to show long, white teeth, and he let out a low snarl.

Tightening her grip on her purse, Eliza slowly began to back away. The wolf followed, his movements slow and deliberate as if he were just waiting for the right moment to attack. Well, she wasn’t going to stand there until he did. She might not be able to outrun the animal, but she was damn well going to give it her best shot. Taking a deep breath, she turned and ran as fast as she could.

Eliza had no idea where she was going, and she didn’t care. All she knew was that she had to get away from the wolf. The terror that surged through her was so complete she could barely make her feet work, but somehow she forced them to obey.

Though she jogged regularly back home in San Francisco, she doubted she would be fast enough to outrun a wolf for long. It didn’t help that the cold night air made it feel like her lungs were on fire. She kept telling herself that if she could make it back to the main street, then she would be safe. She darted a quick glance over her shoulder at the wolf still pursuing her, only to let out a cry when she suddenly tripped and lost her footing.

Eliza went down hard, the gravel digging into her palms as she broke her fall with her hands, but she ignored the discomfort, instead glancing over her shoulder to look for the wolf. She expected to find him in midair and ready to pounce on her, but instead he approached her slowly, his teeth bared in a snarl, that same low growl coming from deep in his throat. Her heart was beating so fast, she thought it might explode in her chest. She was done for; there was no way she was going to escape.

Then suddenly, a huge shape came hurtling out of the darkness to slam into the big, black wolf. The impact from the collision sent the black wolf tumbling across the gravel, and for a moment, Eliza couldn’t understand what was happening. Then she realized that a second wolf had arrived upon the scene. This one was gray and just as large as the first.

The black beast was up in a flash, and then the two wolves threw themselves at each other almost faster than she could see. But even in the darkness, she could make out the flash of teeth as they snapped and ripped at each other. The growls were deep and ferocious as they fought, rolling and tumbling across the ground. She couldn’t believe how fast and vicious the wolves were as they tried to rip each other apart.

Every instinct in Eliza told her that she should run while she had the chance, but she couldn’t seem to force her body to obey. Instead, she stayed where she was, waiting to see what would happen.

As fast as the attack had started, it was over. With a loud yelp, the black wolf turned tail and took off running down one of the alleys. The gray wolf made as if to follow, but then stopped. Eliza tensed as the animal slowly turned toward her. Just because he had chased the black wolf off didn’t mean he wasn’t planning on making a late night snack of her himself. But as he turned to look at her, she didn’t see ferocity in his gleaming, yellow eyes. Instead, he seemed to be regarding her with what could only be called interest. She had no idea how, but she knew that the gray wolf would not harm her.

As the wolf stood staring at her, his breath coming out frosty in the cold, night air, she realized that he hadn’t come out of the encounter unscathed. Blood ran down his shoulder and matted his thick fur. The wound looked deep, and she had to fight the urge to see for herself how badly he was injured. What was she thinking? It wasn’t too bright to go poking and prodding a wounded animal, especially a wild one, even if he had just saved her bacon.

The wolf stood and stared at her for several long moments more before abruptly turning and loping off in the direction the other wolf had gone.

Still too stunned to move, Eliza stayed where she was for a few moments. Then her adrenaline kicked in again and she scrambled to her feet to run through the maze of streets back to the car. Luckily, she found her way there without getting herself too turned around in the warren of warehouses. Once at the car, she wasted no time getting inside, but rather than starting it right away, she just sat there, tightly gripping the steering wheel in her trembling hands.
My God.
She’d almost been killed back there.
If that gray wolf hadn’t come along when he did…

Abruptly, a thought struck her.
Hunter!
He could still be out there with those wolves. Fighting the urge to get out and search for him on foot, Eliza started the car and slowly drove around the streets between the warehouses looking for him. To her dismay, however, there was no sign of him. Maybe he had already gone back to the crime scene. She hoped.

But when she drove by the place where he’d parked the SUV earlier, it wasn’t there. He must have gone home. She let out a sigh of relief. She wondered for a moment if she should stop and tell the police at the house about the wolves she’d seen. While that may have been the logical thing to do, though, she wasn’t feeling very logical right then. All she really wanted was to be with Hunter.

When Eliza got to Hunter’s house and saw that the driveway was empty, her first thought was that he wasn’t there, but then realized that he’d probably parked in the garage like he had when she’d been with him. Grabbing her purse from the seat, she got out of the car and hurried up to the front door to ring the doorbell. As she waited for him to answer, she nervously glanced over her shoulder into the darkness. She felt her heart race as panic started to set in again. She was just about to press the little glowing orange button again when light suddenly bathed the front porch. A moment later, the door opened and she was gazing up into Hunter’s golden brown eyes.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Eliza threw herself into his arms.
Thank God, he really is okay.
All her fears and anxiety melted away as she felt his strong arms wrap around her. She’d never felt so safe before.

“Eliza! Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Still holding onto his shoulders, she reluctantly took a little step back so that she could answer. But the sight of him made the words catch in her throat. His hair was slightly damp as if he’d just taken a shower, she noticed, and his clothes looked like he’d just been in the act of throwing them on when she’d rung the doorbell. He hadn’t even bothered to button up his shirt, and his broad, muscular chest was exposed to her view. Damn, there should be a law against him coming to the door dressed like that.

“Eliza, what happened?” he prompted when she didn’t say anything. “I thought you were going back to the hotel.”

“I-I was going to,” she stammered, dragging her gaze away from his bare chest to look up into his gold eyes. They were equally as mesmerizing as his chest, however, and it took her a moment to collect her thoughts. “But… Well…I saw you walking off toward the warehouses near the house where that poor man was attacked. I didn’t know what you were doing, so I followed you…”

His brow furrowed. “You followed me? Why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I thought you were tracking the wolf or something, and I got a little worried.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “Tracking the wolf? How would I do that? Just because I study them for a living doesn’t mean I can track them, Eliza.”

Eliza felt her face color. “I know. It seems silly now. I mean, of course there’s no way you could track a wolf.” She swallowed hard. “Anyway, I lost sight of you back in those warehouses, and then, out of nowhere, a huge wolf jumped out at me!”

“What? Oh my God! Were you attacked? Are you okay?” Taking a little step back, he immediately started to check her over.

“I’m okay,” she said, hastening to reassure him. “The wolf didn’t actually attack me. But only because he didn’t get the chance. Believe it or not, another wolf showed up and chased the first one off. I was afraid that he was going to finish what the other one started, but he just stood there staring at me for a couple of seconds, then walked away. That’s strange, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is,” Hunter agreed. “But thank God you weren’t hurt.”

Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her again. Despite how good it felt, she couldn’t stop the little shiver that ran through her when she thought about just how badly she could have been injured.

“You’re trembling,” Hunter said softly. “Why don’t we get you upstairs? A hot shower will make you feel a lot better.”

That sounded heavenly. As he took her hand and led her up the stairs to his bedroom, she tried to push the whole episode with the wolves to the back of her mind. That was a lot easier said than done.

Once in the adjoining master bathroom, she gave him a shy smile. “I’d feel a lot better if you’d join me,” she said softly.

He gently ran the back of his hand over her cheek. “I could definitely do that,” he said. “Let’s get you of these clothes and into the shower.”

As Hunter turned on the water, Eliza began to take off her clothes. After getting the temperature set right, he moved to help her. She waited patiently while he lifted her shirt over her head and undid the clasp of her bra. Hunter would have turned his attention to her jeans next, but she slipped her hands inside his shirt to push it off his shoulders and down his well-muscled arms.