Guardian of Her Heart (8 page)

The dirt
-
bag struggled against his hold. “You’re nothing but a puny little rich boy.”

“Shut your mouth before I do it for you,” Mike growled.

Tito continued to struggle. “Your mother prostituted her body for drugs!”

“Damn you! Shut the fuck up!” Pain stabbed Mike’s heart.

“Your crackhead dad didn’t buy ’em for her. How do you think she got her fix?”

Fury threatened Mike’s control. “You’re responsible for her death.” He slammed the drug dealer against the cement walk.

“Fuck you! She killed herself when your dad kept her from gettin’ drugs. I know. The drugs were delivered to the house by one of my gang.”

Mike reeled from the shock of the criminal’s words. “You have no proof.”

Suddenly, Tito pulled a knife. “When my man made his last visit to your home to deliver her drugs, she was already dead. Not even the fire department rescue squad could revive her.”

“Damn you to hell!” Mike grabbed Tito’s wrist and slammed it against the cement. The knife clattered from Tito’s hand. Tito screamed and grabbed his wrist. It was probably broken.

Mike wanted to beat him to a pulp. The compulsion to change raced through him like an electrical charge. His body burned with the fury of the beast as he shifted.

“Mike!” Melissa yelled from the Haven’s doorway.

The car’s motor roared.

He looked up as a wolf form jumped from the car and sprang at him.

Mike scrambled from Tito and met the dark-furred werewolf, bared fangs closing in a choke hold on the animal’s neck.

There was nothing he could do now. Melissa would know. The vision of him changing would horrify her forever. He’d have to let Tito go this time.

The werewolf morphed to his human form. Mike released him. The bleeding thug dragged Tito to his feet and hurried into the car, hauling the gang leader along. They slammed the door and sped down the street as Mike returned to his human form.

Although shaken from what he’d been told about his parents, Mike noted the license plate number on the front of the vehicle. He’d get Tito next time.

Mike turned toward the Haven’s front entry. Melissa no longer stood there. He raced inside the center. Was she all right? How much had she seen?

He found her waiting inside the entry. “How badly did he hurt you?” Panting, he fought for air, desperate for her to be all right.

“I’m fine. Just a little bruise on my arm. I was afraid they’d kill you. I still don’t believe what I saw. Your body changed as you held Tito down. Unless I’ve completely lost it and I‘m seeing things, you took on the shape of a wolf.”

“You haven’t lost it.” What he’d dreaded had to be faced now. “I should have told you before. I’m sorry I didn’t. I never meant for you to see that I’m a shape shifter, a wolf, just like my father. It doesn’t happen often, but tonight I couldn’t prevent it.”

She stared at him, her beautiful eyes wide and revealing her shock.

He released the breath he held and shook his head. “I’m going after them and bringing them in.”

She started to reach for his arm, but didn’t touch him. “I plan to follow them on my own to their apartment building and meet the police there. The police will provide protection. Women and children are probably being held there. I need to help them.”

“Melissa, please don’t. Go home. I’m taking Tito and his gang down now.”

“No. I don’t want you hurt, or worse. The police should handle this. Then they can rescue the innocent victims at last.”

Mike paused at her words. Maybe she wouldn’t hate him. He also didn’t want to make things worse for anyone held captive by Tito.

“All right. I’ll call the police.” First, he needed to send a heads up to Derek. When his cousin answered, Mike said, “I need you to follow the gang leader and his two cronies.”

“We’re on it,” Derek said and hung up.

Mike called the police and continued to stand watch at the Haven until they arrived.

Melissa met the two men at the front door and brought them inside the office.

Soon, Mike heard the Grand Prix pull up and saw Derek and Juan get out. He signaled them.

They joined him near the entry. He explained what happened.

“Yeah, Melissa called us,” Derek said. “We were on the way when you gave us a buzz.”

“Is Angie okay?” Juan asked.

“Yeah, she’s doin’ all right, but she got slapped by one of the hoods.” Mike stepped aside as Juan rushed inside the building to find Angie. He turned back to Derek. “Did you see where those bastards went?”

“Here’s the address.” He handed Mike a piece of paper with the street and number. “It’s Tito’s three-story apartment building on the northwest corner of Blackmore and Sunset.”

Mike nodded. “I need you to take Melissa home and see that she stays there. She saw me shape-shift.”

“Shit.” Derek stared at him.

“I couldn’t control it this time,” Mike said.

Juan rejoined Mike and Derek. “Angie insists she’s all right.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Mike and Juan drove to the apartment building near downtown where Derek and Juan had followed the gang members earlier.

Mike would surprise the hell out of the fuckin’ Hawks with their hands dirty in plenty of damning evidence.

* * * *

Melissa answered all the questions the police had for her. They’d just left on their way to the Hawks’ apartment. Please, God, let them rescue the women and any children held captive.

She turned to Mike’s cousin, who had stayed by her side and offered pertinent information to the police. “Where’s Mike?”

“Mike’s gone after the Hawks.”

“By himself?”
Oh, no
.
He shouldn’t confront them on his own.

“Mike will explain everything when he gets back,” Derek said. “Don’t worry, he can handle things. He’s not alone. He has Juan with him.”

“What if the police go to the wrong address? If you don’t go with me, I’ll go by myself.”

“Mike doesn’t want you involved. He’s worried about your safety and wants me to keep you here.”

“Too bad. It won’t hurt Mike to learn that I don’t have to be treated like I’m breakable. I’m capable of doing things on my own. I’ll go by myself if you don’t want to come with me.”

“Shit. Mike will have my ass for this. Let’s go.”

Melissa drove her van, breaking the speed limits. Derek directed her toward the street corner where the gang’s apartment was located.

* * * *

Mike stormed through the entry of the apartment building with Juan close behind him. Ignoring the surprised woman at the desk in the front parlor, Mike strode down the empty hall with Juan.

Behind the first door Mike opened, a man lay on a table with a sheet barely covering him. He had his hands on a skimpily clad woman standing beside the table.

She gave a little shriek and backed away. “
Aye! Madre de Dios!
” she cried, and crossed herself.

The man slid off the table to his feet and turned his back to them as he rushed for his clothing on a chair nearby.

The young woman’s surprised cry must have warned everyone in the building. They had no time to lose. Mike hurried down the hallway and opened every door, searching for Tito. Each room wreaked of cheap perfume and contained a man in some stage of coming on to another young woman. It was disturbing that the women and patrons ignored the shriek of the woman in the first room Mike had entered. This massage setting was a typical front for prostitution.

Each client immediately scampered for his clothing. Soon, men, hastily dressed, ran out the door at the opposite end of the building.

Mike knew it led to a parking lot where the patrons obviously left their cars during their visits.

Women, dressed in skimpy clothing and high heels, ran from the massage rooms and down the hall in the opposite direction. They rounded a corner and disappeared. That must lead to their bedroom area.

There were no stairs at this end of the hallway. Tito had to be on one of the floors above. Mike pulled his cell from its casing on his belt. He’d better alert the police for more man power.

* * * *

Melissa parked across the street and ran for the open doorway of the apartment building. Hurrying through the entry, she walked inside the front office.

Where was Mike? Where were the police? They should have been here by now. A rumble of heavy footsteps sounded from the floor above. A shrill siren wailed nearby.

Derek took hold of her arm. “You’re gettin’ out of here before all hell breaks loose.”

“No. I’m going to see if the kidnapped women and children need help.” She couldn’t abide the thought of leaving for her own safety if the women and children were in harm’s way. “I have to make sure they’re all right. Their lives could be threatened if there’s gunfire. I can’t fail them.”

She removed his hand from her arm and hurried across the office and through a doorway that led to a long, shadowed hall.

“Argh!”

She heard Derek cry out and turned as he fell to the floor. He didn’t move.

A dark form grabbed her arm. Tito! In the dim light, his dark eyes revealed wild fear and desperation. He hauled her behind him into a bedroom. She yanked against his hold. She couldn’t get free and he wouldn’t let go, his grip on her arm painful. He locked the door and barred it.

Panic threatened to take her. There must be such bars for all the room doors. The overwhelming smell of cheap perfume made her feel nauseated and claustrophobic. She scrambled to stay on her feet as Tito yanked her across the room to a door in the corner.

He threw it open and revealed a narrow stairway. If he took her up those stairs, she’d be in bigger trouble than she was now. She yanked against his grip.

He jerked her after him. “You want to come with me on your feet or on your back?” he demanded, his voice a rasping snarl. His dark eyes glittered, cold and merciless.

He pulled her behind him up several flights to a metal door. There was no landing. He unlocked the door with a key on a jangling chain of keys he took from his pocket.

The door opened outward. Sunlight streamed in. She squinted her eyes against the glare. He jerked her outside onto the roof and locked the door.

The apartment building had several stories. There was no way she could jump without seriously or possibly critically injuring herself from the fall…if she did manage to jerk free from Tito.

She wished Mike would find her this moment. Even though his shape-shifting had shocked her, she needed him to rescue her, now.

Chapter Seven

Mike ran back along the second-story hallway and down the stairs with Juan on his heels. A man’s cry had come from below.

Derek sat on the main floor near the bottom of the stairs, rubbing his head.

“What happened? You okay?” Mike knelt at his cousin’s side.

“I’ll be fine. Just saw stars for a moment when someone hit me from behind.”

“What are you doing here? I needed you to stay with Melissa at the center.”