Protected by Wolves [Shape-Shifter Clinic 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  The tenth floor was euphemistically called the gym, but it was designed as a place for wolves to exercise. A running track hugged the exterior walls of the building. From the outside, the floor seemed to have a balcony all the way around it. But the flooring surface was a rubberized all-weather running track, the glass of the balcony walls was opaque so no one could see inside, and at any hour of the day or night, anyone who stepped out onto the running track needed to look carefully first, as wolves ran around and around both in human and animal form, singly and in groups.

  Inside was a lap pool for swimming, a very well-equipped fitness center, and an obstacle course specifically designed to keep wolves fit.

  All the apartments in this building were inhabited by wolves, the businesses were owned and staffed by wolves, and even the stores were owned and managed by wolves. To get past the second floor required a special swipe card for the elevator. The stairs up from the stores stopped at the second floor and a second set, only accessible from another part of the building, went the rest of the way up. Entry to the tenth floor was by thumbprint only. Even wolves couldn’t use the facilities unless the Alpha had approved of them first.

  Mike’s apartment was on the sixth floor. He figured he’d climbed enough stairs for one day and took an elevator that went all the way up the building, swiping his card to enter it, and swiping it again to choose the sixth floor. Once he reached his apartment, he put a couple changes of clothing in his backpack, then picked up his laptop and phone and battery chargers in case this job took longer than a day or two.

  He rode down to the first floor and went into the sushi bar, ordering a bag of food to go and sipping coffee while he waited for his meal to be prepared.

  Mike checked his phone for messages, but there weren’t any. He’d sent all the photographs of the items in the punk’s wallet to the Alpha and knew security would be checking them out, but likely it was much too soon to hear anything back.

  I wish I knew what Ellie’s problem is, though. I get that Dr. Thorne is fighting his cousin to keep the shape-shifter clinic. I understand that his cousin George is not necessarily a nice man. But where the fuck does Ellie fit into the puzzle? It seems to me there’s a lot more going on in her life than just a couple punk kids trying to scare her.

  * * * *

  Rowan was hungry. It was very tempting to just send out for a pizza. Chances were Ellie was sound asleep and would never know, let alone smell it, especially if he didn’t pick a garlic-laden or very spicy item from the menu.

  But no. He was in charge, and she was under his care. His job was to ensure she was kept safe and comfortable and that included not doing anything that might upset her.

  He wondered what her problem was. She’d hadn’t seemed fazed when the punk kid tried to run her down. In fact, she’d acted extremely sensibly. He wasn’t sure any other female—other than Karen—would have coped as well as she’d done.

  Mike said she’d heard the kid on the stairs and been about to run when he’d stopped her. Now that was interesting. Were there often kids lying in wait in the stairwell? If so, why didn’t she take the elevator? Although Mike had said she seemed wary about using the elevator as well. I guess at least with the stairs she has a chance of escaping. In an elevator someone could block the door. The stairs give more options.

  What the hell kind of apartment building did she live in then? He’d better look into finding her safer long-term accommodation as well.

  Silently he made his way down the hall and listened outside her door. There was absolutely no sound at all. No radio, no television, no sleeping noises, no running water from the bathroom, not even any squeaks from the furniture if she’d been turning over in bed or fidgeting on a chair.

  Just as silently he walked back to the living room.

  Who are you, Ellie Roth? What secrets are you hiding from me? What are you? Shape-shifter or human? Cat or woman?

  She seemed so alone. So tiny and frail. Yet she’d proven several times over in a few brief hours that she was far from helpless. Life in a wolf pack was cooperative. The Alpha was the absolute authority for every member, and underneath him were a whole range of workers with different areas of responsibility, just like in any business. But again as in human society, there were interlocking networks as well. Families were cooperative, with friendship and relational links. Many families, but not all of them, lived and worked in the pack building in town, loosely known in the shape-shifter community as “Wolf Central.”

  A much larger pack lived on land an hour or so out of town, and there were a lot of links between the two packs which tended to work together on larger projects. It was the larger pack which had asked them to provide some manpower for Oscar. Rowan and Mike had volunteered to help because they knew him and wanted the clinic to succeed. Most of the wolves from both packs had attended school together, and the two groups had blended to a certain extent with so many cross-pack friendships developing.

  “It’s starting to look as if you need all the assistance you can get, Oscar, if these punks today are associated with your cousin George. And what is it with that man anyway? What’s his problem?”

  And what about the other humans who worked for Oscar? Were punks or George’s men attacking them as well? Almost, Rowan wanted to text Oscar and find out, but that might stress the doctor unnecessarily. He’d just have to be patient and wait until tomorrow to find out.

  Rowan shook his head. He couldn’t work out if there were two different problems here or just one. Were the punks Ellie’s problem or Oscar’s? Only time would tell. Meanwhile he’d do as he’d promised. Keep her safe.

  “Tomorrow we’ll start looking for a new apartment for her, too.”

  * * * *

  By six the next morning, Ellie was showered and dressed. She was feeling happy and relaxed, having used the herbal bodywash and played with Kitten. His antics always lifted her spirits.

  She picked him up and said, “I’ll be going to work soon, the same as usual. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to leave you in this room. Tonight I’ll have a good look around and see if it’s safe for you to have the entire apartment to play in tomorrow, okay? But right now, I don’t know if there might be dangerous, sharp things lying around to hurt you.”

  She set out water and food for him and shut the roll of toilet paper in a drawer. That was something he would enjoy playing with, and she didn’t plan on spending her night picking up shreds of paper from all over the bedroom.

  She closed the lid of the suitcase and left the T-shirt she’d slept in on her pillow in case he missed her, then picked up her purse and left the room.

  Mike was sitting in the living room, his bare feet resting on the coffee table, the television switched to a news channel with the sound down very low.

  “I’m going to work now,” she said and kept walking.

  “Wait.”

  Inside, Ellie sighed. She’d had a feeling it wouldn’t be quite that easy to escape.

  She stood right beside the apartment door, ready to leave.

  “It’s not even seven o’clock yet. Why are you leaving so early?”

  “It’s a long commute, and there’ll be a lot of traffic. Rush hour’s already starting.”

  “Okay, give me five minutes and I’ll come with you.”

  “I’ll be all right in my car.”

  “Come on, Ellie. You know we’re supposed to protect you.”

  “Fine. You can follow me then.”

  She watched as he shoved his bare feet into his shoes, ignoring the socks lying on the floor. He snatched up his phone and the car keys and followed her out of the door. She let him enter the elevator first, although since it worked with a swipe card she wasn’t expecting any trouble.

  He stayed close to her all the way to her car, and she knew he’d be looking in the backseat, as she always did, before she got in. Then he raced to the next parking space and jumped into Rowan’s sister’s car and followed her.

  The journey out to the clinic w
as uneventful, and as soon as she was in her own office, seated at her desk, she breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. She knew Dr. Thorne was worried about the way his cousin George was acting, threatening to hurt people if Oscar didn’t just give him the property, but she also knew greedy people were never happy. As soon as Oscar gave George the clinic, likely he’d start coveting something else and demanding that, too.

  “Never give in to a bully,” she reminded herself, thinking of her own family, then deliberately wiped them from her thoughts. No. She’d made her own life. It might not be anything very exciting but it was hers and she was happy.

  Was she happy? Really? Ellie paused. She liked her job very much. She wasn’t trained for anything, but spreadsheets and words came naturally to her, and she derived pure pleasure from having everything neat and orderly. Besides, she loved that this clinic helped shape-shifters be themselves and fulfill their potential. She’d fought so hard to be herself, to be accepted for who and what she was, that she couldn’t deny that power and freedom to other people as well.

  On the one hand she relished the silence and freedom in being alone. Her own person, with her own private space, not constantly being regarded as the family failure. And she wasn’t really alone. She had Kitten, who could always make her smile with his playful ways. But yes, at times she was lonely. There were days when she wished there was a special someone for her. A man who wouldn’t see her as a failure but as a person in her own right, a woman worth loving. Someone like Mike or Rowan. Two such delicious-looking men, strong, powerful, caring. Of course, the fact that they were wolves meant they’d never accept her, never see her as more than a job to be completed as quickly as possible. But maybe, someday, she would meet a man who…

  Meet a man? How? I work with shape-shifters. I live in an apartment where I have to be on guard all the time. Where will I meet a nice man?

  Ellie picked up her iPad and scrolled through her bookmarks. Just last night she’d found a couple of possible places she could move to. She needed to use her lunch break to find out more about those apartments, to see if they were better than where she was living at the moment.

  She copied the addresses onto her notepad, then put her own worries out of her mind and concentrated on her work. Work freed her from the real world and let her dive into a world where everything could be fixed with the correct keystrokes.

  Ellie’s morning went so well that at lunch time she was actually hungry. The only problem was, she hadn’t brought any food with her, and she didn’t want to spend fifteen minutes driving through traffic to the nearest grocery store. It was much easier just to stay at her desk and research apartments.

  The company owning one apartment building seemed to be teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, so that was no help to her, but the other one looked all right. Of course, it could be infested with cockroaches or rats. Unfortunately, she’d learned from past experience that it didn’t matter how clean she kept her own apartment. If the building had vermin they’d spread into her apartment no matter how much she cleaned. However, she thought she might drive past the building tonight on the way home and look at it.

  For a moment she wondered what Mike and Rowan would think about that. “Well, they’ll just have to follow me and be patient.”

  * * * *

  Mike’s day hadn’t improved after he’d gone racing after Ellie at dawn. First, he’d gotten a blister on his heel from not taking the time to put his socks on before slamming his feet into his shoes. But he’d worried she’d walk off without him if he took too long to get ready.

  By the time he’d seen her safely through the gates of Thorne House Clinic and bought antiseptic powder and Band-Aids for his heel, Rowan was calling his cell phone, demanding to know where he and the car were.

  He went back to the apartment to pick up his socks, and Rowan, and then they fetched their own cars, returning Karen’s car to her, then finally they reported to their Alpha.

  “What do you mean you don’t know whether or not she’s human?” asked the Alpha.

  “Just that, sir. She refused to tell us.”

  The Alpha scratched his chin. “I suppose if I ask Oscar he’ll claim physician’s privilege. All right, Garden Acres has two apartments available. Take her there this afternoon and tell her to choose one. The other two unmarried human women can share the other one temporarily. I’ll tell Sam, who’s keeping watch over them. It seems she’s the current target though, as nothing has happened to anyone else. Of course, that situation could change in a nanosecond, but for now, you’re to stay with the Roth woman whenever she’s not safe at the clinic. What time is she taking her lunch break?”

  “Lunch break, sir?” asked Rowan.

  “Yes, lunch break. You know the meal you eat in the middle of a working day?”

  Mike’s stomach rumbled audibly. He hadn’t had breakfast yet and now the Alpha was talking about lunch.

  The Alpha grinned at Mike, then frowned as Rowan said, “I don’t know, sir.”

  “Might I suggest you find out fast? It’s after eleven now, and if she takes an early lunch you’ll be lucky to arrive back at Thorne House before she leaves.”

  Rowan was already pressing buttons on his phone as they left the Alpha’s office. Mike was thinking guiltily that he wasn’t the only person who hadn’t eaten breakfast. Ellie had gone straight from her bedroom to her work without stopping for take-out on the way. Likely she’d be even hungrier than him because she hadn’t eaten dinner last night. Oh shit, he hoped they weren’t going to get there too late.

  Rowan heaved a sigh of relief. “Ambrielle said Ellie is working through lunch. She said it was no use her giving me Ellie’s cell phone number because she refuses to answer it unless she’s expecting the person to call her and they’re in her address book.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.”

  Mike’s heart lurched and he felt a little ill. Only it wasn’t from his empty stomach, it was fear for Ellie. “That means there’s someone she doesn’t trust. Someone who she thinks might find out her cell phone number and she’s not prepared to risk talking to them. That’s a huge thing, never to answer any call from an unknown number.”

  “You’re right. I’d better text Ambrielle and give her our numbers in case we ever need to contact Ellie.”

  “But will Ellie put them in her contacts?” asked Mike.

  “That’s the million-dollar question.”

  “Let’s get some lunch. All this talk about food is making me hungry. I didn’t get breakfast yet.”

  “Neither did I. At least the apartment at Garden Acres will have a kitchen. We can take Ellie there via the grocery store and get some food for tonight as well.”

  “Right after we eat.”

  Rowan stared at Mike and they both grinned. They knew each other so well. Mike knew they’d be checking the apartment for a lot more than a microwave oven. He wanted to know there’d be a safe place to park her car and that the apartment itself was safe. But he couldn’t imagine the Alpha sending them anywhere dangerous. Well, he could, but not when they were supposed to be protecting a woman.

  “She seems such a little thing, but she has plenty of courage. I don’t understand her at all, but I admire her inner strength,” said Mike.

  “Especially as it seems she has other problems as well. Not just punks who hate Oscar after her,” added Rowan.

  On and off the rest of the afternoon Mike found his mind returning to Ellie. Her big gray eyes hidden behind those glasses. Her straight, shiny brown hair that she used to hide her face. Her tiny, slender body, yet with a hint of round breasts as she’d clutched her kitten to her chest. But overall her internal strength that enabled her to carry on when things were going wrong around her. I like her and want to get to know her better. And if someone is hurting her they’ll have to answer to me from now on.

  * * * *

  Rowan had been very careful about how he’d parked his car. He didn’t want Ellie to fe
el like he was confining her or confronting her, but he didn’t plan to get arrested for speeding or dangerous driving if she tried to escape from them and he had to catch her up, either. So he’d left his car facing the exit, but in the driveway. That way, if she refused to talk to them and started driving away, he’d be right behind her.

  Damn the woman. Why did she have to be so secretive? Why couldn’t she be open and scream at him if he was doing or saying something she didn’t like? Hell, he always knew when Karen was mad at him, even though sometimes he couldn’t figure out why she was angry. He smiled. Yeah well, what was that saying, “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus”? Sometimes he thought Karen was more likely from Neptune or Pluto there was so much about her he couldn’t fathom. And Ellie Roth was right there with her.

  Oh well. He looked forward to getting to know her better. She was much more interesting than someone he could read like a book.

  He leaned his shoulders back against the wall of the barn, watching the back door of the clinic. The staff parking lot was this side of the building and most of the staff used this door, or so Ambrielle had said. However, Mike was watching the front door of the building in case Ellie exited from there.

  He and Mike had decided they’d suggest going for food first though. Either take-out, a meal, or at least a grocery store visit. It was no wonder she was so thin. She’d had no dinner, no breakfast, and as far as they knew, no lunch either. Although he supposed she may have had some food sent in. Anyway, they needed to eat at some stage, so putting that first made sense.

  If he hadn’t been watching the door, he’d never have noticed her. She came out silently and shut the door almost as quietly behind her, unlike most of the other people who had exited in loudly chattering groups and let the door slam behind them.

  “Ellie?” He spoke quietly, not wanting to startle her. She stopped and looked up at him, flipping the hair from her face. She was serious, her mouth a straight line. Oh shit. I hope I haven’t annoyed her. “Mike and I are here to escort you wherever you want to go. We thought food shopping first, then to look at some apartments.”