He got her order and started the truck.
Thirty minutes later, he was smelling a lot better and loading Rocky back into the truck with his dinner dish and dog food. He’d already called in the pizza order to Millonzi’s and just had to swing by and pick it up on his way to Faye’s. He’d also brought an overnight bag. It might be presumptuous of him, but Adam didn’t plan on leaving her alone much until he was sure the pack wasn’t going to come after her. So she was just going to have to get used to his company. And he was bringing Rocky to soften the blow.
By the time he got to Faye’s RV, it had been a good hour since he’d texted her. Pulling up alongside her car, he noticed another truck parked up along the back end.
His hackles rose on the back of his neck when Rocky growled from the bed of the truck. Something was wrong.
Leaving the pizza in the truck, Adam ordered Rocky to stay where he was and jogged up to Faye’s door. He could hear noises coming from inside, and his heart rose into his throat. “Faye!”
The door was locked when he tried it, but the sound of something smashing to the floor spurred him into action.
With a low growl, he yanked the door open, breaking the lock in the process. He was expecting to find one or more of the pack in there and he was terrified that they’d hurt her, that he’d gotten there too late, so he was already beginning to shift when he stormed inside.
What he hadn’t expected to find was Jeff’s large body on top of Faye’s. He had her pinned to the couch, one hand over her mouth and the other tearing open her red flannel shirt, exposing her bare breasts as she pummeled him with her fists and tried to buck him off, her screams muffled by his large hand.
Her blue eyes were huge and terrified as they found his.
With a roar of rage, Adam shifted, the change coming on so hard and fast, he barely felt the pain. He crossed the small space with one push of his powerful back legs, jaws snapping as he threw himself into Jeff, knocking him off of Faye and into the table behind him, which broke and crumbled to the floor with their combined weight.
Jeff bared his teeth, his dark eyes flashing yellow. Adam narrowed his eyes. There was no fucking way he just saw what he thought he just saw. And yet, he didn’t seem all that surprised to have a giant wolf on top of him.
But that was impossible. Adam could scent another shifter half a mile away. And this guy smelled human. Like an angry human, but human, nonetheless.
“You can’t keep me away from her,” he spit in Adam’s face. “Faye was mine long before you ever came along. And she’ll be mine again as soon as I take you out of the equation.”
Adam snarled. The fuck he would. A human was no match for a shifter.
Shock shot through him as the bones in Jeff’s face shifted beneath his skin, and at first, Adam thought it was just a trick of the light. But no, it wasn’t. Jeff bared his teeth, the supernatural light behind his eyes sputtering to life again, stronger this time. His hands, pressed against Adam’s chest in an attempt to keep his jaws away from his throat, elongated.
Just then, another section of the table gave way, sending them both tumbling to the floor. Adam slammed into the cabinets and quickly scrambled to his feet, ready to launch himself at this asshole again. But he stopped and watched as something he’d never seen happen before took place right before his eyes.
Falling to his hands and knees, Jeff’s back con-caved and then arched, his shifting bones and muscles stretching his skin to the point that it should have torn open and healed again in a new form. Except it didn’t. It stopped there.
Half changed, Jeff rose to his full height. He appeared to have grown an inch or two, and he was bigger, bulkier, the bones in his cheeks and jaw more prominent. He bared his teeth, and Adam saw they’d grown too.
Son of a bitch.
He glanced over at Faye. She’d pulled herself into a ball on the corner of the couch and now sat watching them, the scent of her fear sour and tears flowing down her cheeks. He needed to move this fight somewhere else, where she wouldn’t get hurt.
Turning, Adam ran back outside through the broken door, heading east to the open land near Faye’s RV park. Jeff—half shifted—followed right on his heels. Fire burned across Adam’s back, Jeff’s claws ripping right through his clothes to the skin beneath. Adam cursed, and decided they’d gone far enough. He skidded to a halt, turning to face the threat behind him.
Jeff hit him with the force of a freight train, his jaws open and going for his throat. But Adam knocked him away and followed him to the ground.
Snarls and snapping teeth ripped through the night air as they fought. And this wasn’t just a fight for dominance. Adam was fighting for his life. The winner would get the girl. He had no time to wonder why he hadn’t known what Jeff was. Or how he could only shift halfway. He was too busy trying to stay out of reach of Jeff’s longer arm span. In this form, the guy was freaky strong. Stronger than Adam even. He couldn’t let him get his arms around him, because he was pretty sure the guy would be able to crush his internal organs with one good squeeze.
And if that happened, no one would be around to protect Faye. He would do what he had to do to protect her and everyone else in this town. And worry about the consequences later.
And then, out of the corner of his eye, Adam saw a flash of steel in the moonlight.
Son of a bitch.
Chapter 9
Faye
Faye sat on the couch with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring out the open door.
There was no way in hell she’d just seen what she thought she had.
