started buzzing in his pocket.
Nooooo! she wanted to scream, as he shifted back from her and reached for the phone. He grimaced as he read the text on the screen, and she knew that whatever it was, the news wasn’t good. He typed in a quick response, then shoved the phone back in his pocket, his beautiful gaze shadowed with worry as it locked with hers.
“Where are you parked?” he asked, looking down the mostly empty street, as if he would be able to tell her car just by looking at it.
“Why?” The cold wind howled around them, and she huddled deeper into her cheap coat. “Do y-you need a ride?” She normally wasn’t in the habit of offering rides to men she didn’t know, but this one...well, he’d saved her life. It was the least she could do for him, right? Especially when she’d only been a second away from shoving her tongue in his mouth. “Because I can drop you off somewhere if you need me to,” she added lamely, feeling like the world’s biggest dork.
He stabbed his fingers back through his short, caramel-colored hair, and released a sharp breath. Then he slid his dark gaze back to hers. “We need to talk, Skye. And this isn’t the place to do it.”
It didn’t make any sense, but something in his stark tone made her believe him. And with the belief came a churning sense of dread. “Why? What’s going on?”
“You and your friend, the one you live wi—”
“Wait!” she gasped, cutting him off. She grabbed his arm, and knew that at any other time, she’d be melting over how hard his muscles felt under her touch. But right now she was too worried to appreciate it. “How do you know that? Have you... Ohmygod, have you been watching me?”
“No. I’m one of the good guys, Skye. I swear,” he said in a deep voice that was low, urgent and full of conviction. “But you and Vivian, you’re both in trouble.”
“Trouble?” she whispered, covering her mouth with her fingers. “Oh, God. Does this have anything to do with Viv’s new job at that club? You’re not here to try to make her strip there, are you?”
His eyes went comically wide, and she would have laughed if she weren’t so freaked out. “No. You’ve got it all backward. My partner and I, we’re not here to cause trouble for the two of you, and we don’t have anything to do with the club where your friend works. We’re working on a criminal case, and we’re here to make sure that both you and Vivian stay safe.”
“What?” she breathed, thinking she had to have heard him wrong.
“Think...think of me and Max like bodyguards. Because that’s essentially what we are.” His chest lifted as he pulled in a deep breath, and then her freaking heart was in her throat as he took her hand in his, gave it a gentle squeeze, and told her, “Baby, I’m here to protect you.”
Glancing at his watch, Elliot swore under his breath. It’d taken a good ten minutes to persuade Skye to trust him enough to lead him to her car so they could head to her apartment. In the end, it was the PI license he always carried with him that had convinced her he was telling her the truth, and using it was definitely going to come back and bite him hard in the ass. The damn thing was a forgery, and based on the argument he’d heard between her and the cop, Skye Hewitt had a thing about cheats...and liars.
It felt all kinds of wrong to trick her that way, but what choice did he have? It sounded like Max had somehow lost track of Vivian, and he had a feeling this night was going to get a hell of a lot worse before it got better.
“Sorry, but it’s kind of a piece of crap,” she said, as they neared a beat-up-looking, powder-blue VW Beetle.
“Naw. It’s cute.”
“Thanks.” As she opened the driver-side door, she gave him a brief smile that damn near buckled his knees. “I thought so, too, when I bought her.”
Elliot waited until she’d climbed behind the wheel, then somehow managed to fold his six-three frame into the cramped confines of the car.
“Um, before we go,” she murmured, sounding adorably rattled as she watched him from the corner of her eye, “you should know that I carry a weapon in my purse. And I’m...I’m not afraid to use it.”
“That’s smart. You should always be ready to protect yourself. But I swear, Skye, you don’t need to worry about my intentions. I only want to help you.”
She gave him another brief, but strained smile. Then she started the engine, and he tried not to wince at how awful it sounded. Someone needed to put this poor car out of its misery.
“So, you aren’t nervous about letting a girl drive?” she asked, looking into her rearview mirror as she reversed out of the tight space. It was kind of a weird question, but he figured she was trying to keep herself from freaking out about what he’d told her, and he couldn’t help but think she was adorable.
“Nope, I’m not worried at all. I trust you not to wreck my body.”
She glanced his way, flicking a quick look over his torso, and he wanted to growl with satisfaction when he saw that she had that glazed look of lust in her pretty eyes again. Her smooth skin was flushed pink across her cheekbones, that full lower lip caught in her small white teeth, and he had to bite back a smile. She was so easy to read, it was like words on the page of a book that’d been written especially for him. Only for him.
There wasn’t much traffic in the town, since it was nearing eight, so they made their way easily onto the main road. She didn’t say anything for the first few blocks, and he was grateful that she wasn’t grilling him about what was going on, since he wasn’t sure what he was going to find once they reached her apartment. Max had just sent him another text, and all it had said was: It’s bad. Hurry!
And, yeah, there was definitely a part of him feeling like a total jackass for being so excited about finding his life-mate—and her turning out to be someone like Skye—when there was no telling what had happened to her best friend.
“Will you please tell me what’s going on?” she suddenly asked, exhaling a shaky breath. “I know you said your partner was making contact with Vivian, and that we’ll talk at the apartment. But I’m worried about her, and I know she won’t be able to call me if something goes wrong because my stupid cell phone is broken. The battery finally gave up today, and I didn’t have time to get it replaced before my shift.”
“Let’s just get to your place, and then Max and I can explain everything. It’s going to be a lot to take in.”
“You’re scaring me,” she whispered, chewing on that lower lip so hard he was worried she was going to break the skin.
Knowing it needed to be said, he murmured, “I’m sorry, but you need to be a little scared, because it will keep you sharp. But not of me, and not of Max. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep you both safe.”
It was dark inside the car, but his wolf’s eyes could see her clearly in the dim glow of the lights on her dash. Her brows were drawn into a deep V between her delicately shaped brows, her big eyes shadowed with concern and confusion. “So you’re here because you’re working some kind of case?” she asked him, taking the next right. “You and this Max guy?”
