Her Wild Hero

“Don’t move, Ms. Halliwell.”


His voice was a slow, sibilant whisper in her ear, and for some strange reason, her body obeyed his command without any conscious thought on her part. She bit back a hiss as the fog cleared and forced her head to start working again. She transferred her weight to her toes, ready to spring sideways.

“Stop that,” he ordered in that same eerie whisper, and she froze again. This time, he didn’t give her time to gather herself before he continued. “I have no desire to shoot you or your partner.”

Was it just her imagination or had the man said partner with just a bit too much emphasis?

“Then what are you going to do?” she demanded.

“Warn you.”

That cold voice didn’t reassure her at all. Many people would consider a bullet in the back a very effective warning.

The man chuckled softly. “I don’t have much time. Your partner is racing around to this side of the block as we speak, so I’ll be brief. Trust John, or you’ll get him killed. And though you don’t understand it yet, he’s the only thing keeping you and the other shifters alive right now.”

Ivy frowned. That didn’t come across as the warning she’d expected. It didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense, either. She turned her head ever so slightly, trying to get a glimpse of the man holding her at gunpoint.

The pressure against her back increased, and she immediately jerked her head around to face the window again. Down the street, boots pounded the pavement, getting closer. Landon. The shifter heard it, too, and turned his head toward the sound, allowing her to see his reflection in the dark glass for the first time. Unfortunately, the street lamp that illuminated the window also wreathed his face in shadows. Her eyes shifted to pick up more light.

He must have sensed her gaze on him because he turned his head slightly to look at her. And in that moment, she saw his face—dark blond hair, angled brows, high cheekbones, an aquiline nose—and his eyes.

Ivy’s breath froze. She’d never seen eyes like this on any man—or any shifter. They were a wash of orange and yellow that shown clear, even in the dim reflection of the window. But while the color was shocking enough, the pupils made shivers run up and down her spine. They were cold, black, and partially slitted. Not like her own cat’s eyes, but more like a lizard’s. It was the freakiest thing she’d ever seen.

She had no idea how long they held eye contact like that, but then the man blinked, and she involuntarily jerked away. Maybe blinked wasn’t the right word. But what did you call it when an inner set of thin, clear lids closed over the eyes from side to side?

The shifter laughed softly. “Trust John, Ms. Halliwell. Everything depends on him.”

Behind her, the air fluttered, then the reflection in the window was gone.

Ivy was still standing there staring up at the roof when Landon ran up to her.

“What happened?” he asked.

She didn’t move. Any thought of trying to follow the shifter fled her mind the second she’d seen him scale the wall. He covered two stories in less than five seconds. She didn’t want to think about how easily a man like that could get around a city like this. She and Landon would never even get close to him unless he wanted them to. And that was exactly what had happened. He’d let them follow him, then split them up, letting her move right past him without her ever seeing or smelling him just so he could give her a warning she didn’t understand.

“Ivy?” Landon took her arm, gently turning her to face him. “What is it? What did you see?”

“I have no idea,” she said.

***

Kendra hadn’t seen or heard from Declan since they’d gotten back two days ago. She’d called, texted, emailed, even gone to his apartment, but no luck. He was avoiding her. If it was any other guy, she would have thought he regretted sleeping with her. But her gut told her there was more to it than that.

He wouldn’t be able to avoid her forever. Tonight, everyone was meeting at Ivy and Landon’s apartment so the couple could fill them in on the strange shifter they’d run into when they followed John the night before. So far, Clayne and Danica had arrived. So had Tate, Gavin, and Brent. Derek and Angelo would have been there too, but the two Special Forces soldiers were already on their way to Tajikistan with the rest of their team. The only one who hadn’t shown up yet was Declan.

Maybe he was just running late.

Or maybe he really was planning on avoiding her forever.

She’d be damned if she’d let him.

She picked up her glass of iced tea and walked over to where Tate was talking to Clayne by the sliding glass door that led out onto the terrace. They stopped in mid-conversation to greet her with, “Hey.”

“Hey,” she said. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“You weren’t. We were just talking shop.” Tate took a swig of beer from the bottle in his hand. “What’s up?”