The two wolves stepped closer to me and began to circle, their gazes entirely focused on me. They didn’t even blink. One was behind me at all times, one in front, even as I whirled and twisted to try and plot an escape route.
I snapped at the one in front of me, the clap of my jaws coming together, echoing down the street, but the one behind me nipped at my tail. I turned at the distraction and the one in front leaped forward.
I recovered myself at the last moment, dodging out of the way and landing on my side on the asphalt. I squirmed from my position and wriggled back to my feet, the movement explosive enough that I was able to ignore any pain caused by my landing.
I just had to escape.
And I couldn’t show any weakness.
I bared my teeth again, forcing out a rough snarl.
The one behind me, pushed me forward, against the one in front, and like a pinball, I ricocheted off him, landing against the wall of the nearest building.
The two wolves approached me, and saliva dripped from the teeth of the one to my right. I shrank back, automatically making myself small when I wanted to make myself big enough to scare them away.
But I couldn’t win this one through brute strength. I had to wait for the right opportunity.
The one to the left smiled, an evil stretch of his lips that revealed his sharp teeth. “Next time you receive an offer for Gold Moon,” he said. “Accept it.”
I stiffened my joints, standing without shaking as they issued their warning. They stalked closer, almost nose to nose with me, staring into my eyes as if to ensure I’d heard them.
Any humans in the vicinity would have heard random howls and grunts when he’d spoken, but I understood every word.
I didn’t trust my voice, not even that of my wolf, so I nodded to show I’d understood. It wasn’t a nod of agreement, but they didn’t know that.
“She’s so pretty,” the second wolf crooned, and advanced closer.
But a light flickered on a few doors down, and something flew through the air toward us. Glass smashed against the sidewalk a few feet away and the two wolves turned and ran off. “For God’s sake, Leon, have you seen the size of the strays roaming the streets there days?” More glass smashed, closer to me this time. “Go on, now. Get away. Get!”
I turned and ran in the direction of my apartment, pausing only to grab my purse awkwardly in my jaws. The shattered glass on the sidewalk cut into my paw-pads, but I was running away, and that wasn’t something I was sure I’d be able to do when the two men had become wolves.
It was a time to be thankful for small mercies.
I shifted back into myself behind a dumpster in the alley by my home. I hadn’t needed to run far, but I was shaky and everything ached. My hand shook as I put my key in my lock, and I pushed quickly inside before slamming my door closed. I almost melted to the floor in my tiled entryway as all the adrenaline left my system, leaving only fear and pain and shock.
I didn’t even have anger to draw on yet. Vulnerability overshadowed that.
I sucked in a breath as a sob built in my chest and pushed out through my mouth in a raw, harsh sound that echoed in the quiet of my home.
Dad had died such a short time ago and I’d been plunged straight into the drama at his company. Not to mention an unexpected entanglement with Patrick…and now I’d been accosted on the street. I wasn’t safe. How had all of this become my life?
I laid my cheek against the cool tile. I had so much to figure out. It was one thing to have all the records to go through while not knowing who to trust, another thing to have Apex on my heels and adding extra pressure Ireallydidn’t need, and it was something else entirely to be stalked and attacked by shifters I didn’t know in the dead of night.
Which offer were they even talking about? The offer I’d already had — the lowball offer Patrick had said I could consider trying to get him to increase. Or an offer they thought was going to be made? Patrick hadn’t given any indication that he’d be revising his offer on his own.
Maybe there really was something in Gold Moon that Apex wanted? That pair of goons could have belonged to Patrick. He’d left the bar early, after all.
My thoughts ran wildly through my head. Was this how takeovers happened? Had things truly turned hostile? I was so sick of not having any of the answers to any of my questions.
But my heart hurt. Even if he felt nothing for me, we’d had sex. He’s been inside my body. It seemed impossible that he’d send people to threaten me into taking his offer.
I didn’t understand it. Maybe he just wasn’t a man used to takingnofor an answer.
I lay on the tile for a little while longer, until I stopped thinking and allowed my anger to take over.
I was fucking grieving still. Grieving my dad, and I’d been attacked. They could have hurt me. Worse could have happened. How would Mom have coped if I’d been killed and she lost me as well?
Surely it could only have been Patrick. He was the only one who knew if another offer was going to be made, he’d left the bar early…he’d lulled me into a false sense of security.