Her Werewolf Hero

“I was kidding about the drink. Unless you want one?”

He shook his head.

“Can we stop at the truck stop?”

Her eyes pleaded, and Bron felt a twinge in his chest that he’d not felt in a long time. Compassion? Or perhaps just hunger. He hadn’t eaten and was hungry. Had to be hunger.

A human woman sat beside him. She was not a part of the mission. The heart wasn’t supposed to be beating. Nor was it supposed to be inside the chest of a pretty woman who had an insatiable curiosity for the paranormal realm and—that damned camera. She couldn’t be allowed to have such damning photographs of anything from the paranormal realm. Would she post them online? A million hits? That was something he must not risk.

“Yes, something to eat,” he muttered. “And a room for the night.”

“You honestly don’t think it’s safe for me to return to Thief River Falls?”

“Do you?”

She considered it a few seconds, drawing her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms about them as she shook her head. “No.”

He’d rent a room. She could sleep. And he could make sure all the photos she had taken were erased.

* * *

The truck stop sat before a small motel featuring fewer than ten rooms in the back lot near a sunflower field. The decor sported dark wood paneling and pine furniture with rough-cut carvings of grizzly bears on the headboards and the chair arms. Red-and-yellow plaid curtains matched the bedspreads. Kitschy country. Bron had seen the inside of enough motel rooms and hotels not to care anymore. As long as the bed was halfway comfortable and there was running water, he was satisfied.

Kisanthra had made a beeline to the bathroom as they entered the room, calling out that she wanted to freshen up and that might take a while so not to worry about her.

He wouldn’t worry about her. Unfortunately, their paths had crossed, and now he did have to deal with the situation. Find and seize? Unlikely.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Acquisitions. It was late, and the office was overseas, which put their time early in the morning, but dispatch, a 24/7 position, answered. He asked her to patch him through to the director’s messages and left a short one.

“The Purgatory Heart is in someone’s chest. Unable to seize. I await further instructions.”

If that didn’t get the point across he didn’t know what else would be required. The director would probably pull him from the mission. Bron had never taken an innocent life to gain an object he’d been assigned to retrieve. Not unless that life threatened him or others, that is. And in that case, it generally was not an innocent.

But could he leave the heart—and the woman—just like that?

Sitting on one of the two twin-size beds that had seen better days—probably better decades—and facing the bathroom door, he listened to the water splash in the sink. A vampire had almost sunk his fangs into her neck. Kisanthra Lewis was—and would be—pursued by every degenerate that could pick up on the universal vibrations. She was not safe. And while it wasn’t his job to play babysitter, he had inadvertently been the one to lead those aggressors to her.

He couldn’t walk away. He had to ensure she was safe. Yet how to do that? So long as her heart beat in her chest, he felt sure she’d be a target.

The director had said the heart had been grasped by a soul from Purgatory. How was that possible?

There were a lot of times he didn’t completely understand the nature or power of the items he had been ordered to retrieve. Didn’t matter. He had a job; he carried it out. He looked forward to the next mission and the next. He enjoyed the adventure, the quest and, oftentimes, the race for the prize. The satisfaction in completing a task that very few could. He did not require accolades, only another assignment. The next fix.

But never before in his nearly one hundred fifty years of working for Acquisitions had such a race to the prize involved ensuring the safety of a human woman. This was a twist he wasn’t sure how to handle. And even if he did, he didn’t want to.

He didn’t get involved with human women romantically. That way lay heartbreak. And unfathomable grief. He would never be forgiven for one moment of indiscretion with a human woman and the results that had followed. Nor did he deserve such forgiveness.

He hadn’t thought about that time for ages. Had been so involved in his work that he hadn’t afforded a moment for regret. And now, in the midst of a strange connection to this human woman, memory had chosen to bombard him with images of a sweet blond child, alone and...beyond hope. So precious and fragile.

That horrible, horrible day. It had been his fault! All because he’d chosen to dally with a human woman.

Pressing his hands to his temples and shaking his head, Bron shook away the image. The best thing he could do now was get Kizzy out of his life as quickly as possible. Because he didn’t need the grief of memory or the tease of her sexy scent. She was pretty and tough and independent. All things that attracted him to a woman.

But she had no fangs or wings or the ability to shift, so that made her dangerous to his very soul.

“I’ll take her home. Maybe Acquisitions can assign a watch to her for a few days.”

He couldn’t be responsible for her safety. Because he wasn’t capable or, rather, didn’t want to remain in such close proximity to her.

The bathroom door opened, and Kizzy wandered out, twisting her hair into a ponytail as she did. He hadn’t noticed if she’d worn makeup earlier, but now her face was clean and fresh. A sweet, fruity tease clung to her skin. More of that seductive perfume?

He quickly looked away, finding the remote on the nightstand to look busy.

“That felt good to wash my face and take a few minutes to regroup.” She wandered to the bed, where she’d dropped her camera bag.

Damn, he’d forgotten to go through the camera. Distracted by morbid memories. He’d wait until she fell asleep. Her focus was fixed on the LCD screen on the back of the camera.

“Wish I had a toothbrush, but a hand towel worked well enough. You want to use the bathroom? It’s all yours.”

“I will. I’m just going to, uh...”

She eyed him up and down, setting aside the camera. “Stand guard?”

He nodded.

She plopped onto the bed and toed off her red shoes. Reclining, she pushed back the coverlet and shoved down the sheets with her feet. Propping up the pillow, she sat back against it. “So, tell me about this Purgatory Heart.”

Bron exhaled and pulled the curtain back before the window. He didn’t want to do this. But she had a right to know. Maybe if he answered her questions now, that would put an end to them, and he could focus. And be done with her.

“I was commanded to retrieve the heart and return it to Acquisitions,” he offered. “That’s how my assignments work. I get an electronic dossier on the object, a location if available and off I go. I had no idea the Purgatory Heart would be inside someone’s chest. Nor do I believe the Director of Acquisitions knew that.”

At least, he hoped Ethan Pierce had not known such information. What kind of duplicity would that be if he’d been sent on such a task? No, Pierce had been the director for two centuries. He was solid and trustworthy.

She pressed her fingers over her breast. Feeling her heartbeats? “So I’ve got to keep one eye out for you and a big butcher knife? Not like I haven’t been through that before.”

He gaped at her.

“Not like that.” She swept a dismissive hand before her and yawned. “I mean, no man has ever come after me with a knife before. Without my permission. You know.” She shrugged and splayed out a hand. “I had open-heart surgery eight months ago. Got a nasty scar down my chest.” She lifted her shirt just enough so he could see a thick red scar vertically climbing her chest wall. “So I suppose, if when the time comes and you do intend to take out my heart, you can just use the ‘cut here’ line.”

“That’s...” He didn’t know what to say to that. She was too blasé about the possibility of such a hazard. Truly, her fear manifested strangely. “I won’t do that, Kisanthra.”

“You don’t sound very sure of yourself. I’m too tired to care right now. And hungry. But I think I’ll fall asleep before I can look up the diner’s number for takeout. So why were you tasked with finding my heart? Is it important? You said you retrieve objects of magical nature. I know this heart isn’t magical.”

“It’s a portal to Purgatory.”

She lifted her head from the pillow and gave him a wide-eyed assessment. Deep brown eyes that held such curiosity while at the same time managed to disturb him. Because her gaze compelled him to wonder about her. What made her tick? What did she see through those eyes when she held the camera before them?

Bron nodded in confirmation. How fucked was it to learn your heart could allow others access to Purgatory?