I stifled the urge to reach over and slap him. To be honest, I was so shocked, I was rooted to my seat.
“Yes, I liked you the minute I saw you … as a business, and a sexual partner, mmm,” Cal leaned in. “Let’s not beat around the bush. From what I understand, you werewomen are horny all the time. I’d love to fuck your brains out and experience it for myself. I may not be a wereman, but I bet I can give them a run for their money. Todd, a pizza manager and Dave, a jobless jerk? Come on Beverly, why bother? I can satisfy you sexually and make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.”
Cal’s eyes grew dreamy. “I can see so many applications for werewolves—soldiers of fortune, prostitutes, messengers, drug runners … and the parts, like cows, werewolf parts have enormous commercial viability. The fur could be used in insulation, the teeth for…”
“You are kidding, right?” I was appalled. The man had to be nuts.
Something in me just snapped at that moment. Without thinking, my inner wolf took over. My bones grew and crunched as I collapsed into myself and transitioned into my wolf.
“Aaarrrrgh…” I snarled at Cal, snapping my head back and baring my incisors.
I didn’t know what I planned to do next, but I figured I’d start by scaring the shit out of him.
His eyes widened, but he didn’t miss a beat. In seconds, a man ran in holding a gun and I realized it was that bastard, Jerry Mars Jr. He must have been by the door listening the whole time!
“Change back now!” Jerry demanded, waving the gun at me.
As a wolf I could claw and bite a man to death, but I was no match for a bullet. I reluctantly changed back, pulling my shredded clothes on as best I could.
“Take the bitch away,” Cal said. “Get her out of my sight. Perhaps I will turn her into one of our test prostitutes. Lock her up!”
“Wha…! You can’t just lock me up!”
“I can do whatever I want. Margaret Redson will help make sure you disappear quietly without a trace if that is what I want. Jerry, throw her in the cell with her friends. Maybe she will eventually come around!”
I gasped as Jerry led me away. My friends? Were Dave and Todd here?
As Jerry led me through a labyrinth of hallways, I tried to get my bearings. If anything had happened to them, I’d…
Jerry yanked one of the doors open halfway down the hall and roughly pulled me in. In the room was a large, metal cage, and inside were my two hunks, Dave and Todd. Jerry shoved me inside, slamming the door and locking it. As he left the room, the two men rushed towards me, encircling me in their arms.
“How … when did you get here?” I asked them.
They both started talking at once. “Beverly, why didn’t you tell me Todd couldn’t drive with you? I would never have let you come here by yourself!”
“You should have told me Dave had an interview, Beverly,” Todd said, shaking his head.
“Sorry, I just thought it would be ok.”
“After my interview I called Todd to see how it was going and I couldn’t believe you came here without us. We drove up here as fast as we could,” Dave added gloomily, “but they threw us in here as soon as we arrived.”
“How was the interview?” I asked.
Dave brushed off the question. “Later on that, we have to get out of here.”
“What are we going to do?” I knew that in our wolves we could kick down most doors, but these were metal bars.
“No worries. We just got here and I was telling Dave—we got this.” Todd reached in his pocket and pulled out the army knife Kristen had sent him. Dave and I watched tensely, hoping that no one would come back to the room. I breathed a sigh of relief when Todd had the metal door unlocked with a few twists and turns. We left the cage and tried the knob on the room door, but Jerry had locked that also.
Dave transitioned into his muscular, wiry grey wolf and knocked the door down in one fell swoop—but Jerry was standing outside guarding the door! I could see the look of surprise on his face as we raced in the opposite direction, and I heard him scream for more guards to chase after us.
“Run Beverly, faster!” Todd screamed. I’d already removed my red heels and was clutching them to my chest. I was running like a bat out of hell. My bare feet were in pain as they bound along the hard floor. Those patent pumps had looked super cute in the store, but I sure wished I was wearing athletic shoes now.
We made our way out of the house and across the grass. Dave was speeding along in his wolf, and Todd and I followed as fast as we could in our human forms.
“There’s the car!” Todd yelled. He practically dove into the driver’s seat of the car as I jumped into the passenger side. Dave growled as he leapt into the back seat, shaking his fur.
“Drive, Todd! Drive!” I cried.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a few burly bodyguard types running across the lawn towards us. “They’re coming! Go Todd, go!”