The Billionaire Shifter's Curvy Match (Billionaire Shifters Club #1) (14 page)

A
t the end
of her shift, Lilah said good-bye to Carl and the other servers with a faint wave and a heavy heart. Her belief in Gavin’s love was wavering under the weight of unwelcome doubt and shame.

He’d ignored her. That night, while she served drinks, she’d watched him smile and chat with his guests. Gavin Stanton was the perfect host, an attractive businessman at the top of his field, fabulously rich and powerful. Respected, even feared. And then he’d left the gathering without a word, a secret smile, or even looking her way.

Had she been a fool?

She certainly felt like one.

Instead of heading straight to her room and her empty bed, she stepped out the back door of the kitchen into the crisp, dark night and inhaled the clean air into her lungs. In spite of herself, she manufactured excuses for him as she walked. The most convincing one was that he’d been warned to leave her alone or she’d be fired. But then why hadn’t he spoken to her? Sent a note? A discreet word through one of his handsome brothers?

Hugging her arms around herself, she turned down a narrow path that led around the building to the lake. The conference guests, visible inside through the panoramic windows, continued their networking and power plays.

Lilah was sick of them. Other than Webb, they’d been polite enough, even when they’d been filled to the gills with free top-shelf liquor. But Gavin had given them the attention she wanted. Comically and pathetically, she was
jealous
of them.

With a wry smile, she kicked a stone out of her way with her designer-clad toe and gazed up at the sky. The fresh air was just what she needed. The path forked off into the forest—to his house, to him—and she resolutely took the other one.

Through the trees, the lake was a black oval at the base of the mountains, quiet and shining in the moonlight, inviting her closer. She tightened her arms over her chest and strode on, determined to enjoy the beautiful Montana night, or at least witness it. If she didn’t get a chance to return—

If
. She bit her lip, fighting tears. She’d been so sure. She’d felt his love,
felt
it.

Her heel caught in a gap between the flagstones, sending her reeling. With a small cry, she reached out for balance, convinced she was going to fall flat on her face, but instead felt a warm, strong hand grab her elbow from behind.

Instead of gratitude, fear washed over her. She hadn’t wanted to fall, but the realization that a man had been so close, silently following her through the dark, triggered instinctive terror.

And then she realized it must be Gavin, her love, her One, and she turned with hope blooming in her chest only to see the leering face behind her was none other but Mason Webb.

“Careful,” he said in her ear, his breath foul with alcohol. His fingers slid over her elbow and clamped onto her upper arm. “Such a pretty girl all alone. You wouldn’t want to get hurt.”

“Mr. Webb,” Lilah said firmly, drawing away. “I’m fine now. Let me go.”

His voice became sickeningly tender. “What kind of man would that make me? Letting you run into danger again?” His second hand caught her other arm while the first moved over her shoulder. They roved and explored, clumsy but strong, eager.

She pivoted out of his arms, but he lunged forward and recaptured her.

“Let me go,” she repeated, more loudly, filling her lungs to scream. Years ago she’d learned to trust her instincts. Drunk and pathetic or not, Mason Webb was more dangerous than she’d thought. Stronger, too. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, giving her the strength to fight or run. “You’ll get kicked out of the club if you hurt me.”

“Who says I’m going to hurt you?” He tightened his arms around her shoulders while one leg stretched out behind her feet, knocking her off balance. When she staggered, he embraced her. “Careful. See? I’m helping. You don’t want to fall.”

“Don’t tell me what I want.” Heart racing, she elbowed him in the ribs and pulled away.

He grunted but then said with revolting pleasure, “I knew you’d be feisty.”

She kicked him in the shins, too unsteady in the heels on the flagstones to knee him in the crotch, and began to run. But only a heartbeat later, something—
his foot, he’s right behind me
—caught her ankles, and she felt herself falling, saw the ground coming up to meet her.

“Help!” she shouted as she hit the flagstones. “Help!” Pain shooting through her knees and palms, she rolled to one side and raised her legs to kick, to scream bloody murder, to fight.

She was losing already.

Lilah closed her eyes and thought the word, focusing on it like an electromagnetic impulse, her whole soul concentrated, calling out to Gavin the only way she knew how as Webb’s hands ravaged her.

HELP.

“You don’t need help,” he said, plucking a shoe from her foot and lifting it to his face with a smile. After a disgusting, elaborate inhalation, he said, “You have me.”

She stabbed the other heel into his shin. “Get away from me.”

With more grace than a drunk loser should have, he swerved out of her reach and tackled her on the ground.

“You’ll regret this.” She thrashed in his arms, moving her leg back to crush his balls. “I’ll tell everyone. I’ll
kill
you, you bastard.”

“No, killing him will be my job,” said a voice behind her. Gavin.

Her soul soared. He’d heard her.

Mine
.

With her back on the cold flagstones, Lilah watched Mason Webb jump to his feet and approach Gavin. “It’s not what it looks like,” he said calmly, as if he thought he could talk his way out assaulting her, one man to another. “She fell and I—”

Gavin’s right hook shut him up, snapping Webb’s head back and drawing the rest of his body with it.

Then Gavin strode past Webb’s crumpled body and knelt at Lilah’s side.“Are you all right?” His hands rapidly explored her face, her neck, her torso, her legs. “You’re bleeding.”

Shaking her head, Lilah said, “I’m fine,” and started to get to her feet.

Gavin gripped her leg. Something changed in his voice, something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

“
You’re bleeding
.”

“I scraped my knee when I fell.” She didn’t like how that exempted her attacker, so she added, “When Mr. Webb here knocked me down.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Webb said, rubbing his jaw. “The young lady lost her balance. Is it a crime to lend a helping hand these days?”

“
She’s bleeding
.” Gavin’s voice was a growl.

Lilah stared at him, and her heart stopped beating.

Were those...were his teeth...
elongating
?

She reached up and touched his face, squinting in the dark to see...

Coarse, wiry hair. And his eyes. Something was wrong...

Gavin pushed away from her and advanced on Webb, who had begun to babble, his eyes so wide she could see the whites all the way around his iris as he took in Gavin, whose shoulders broadened as his torso stretched like taffy, seams splitting on his clothes, his ears...pulling up?

Was that fur? And oh, my God, his eyes. His legs.

All four of them.

“She fell. Ask her, she’ll tell you. Tell him, Lilah, for God’s sake, Mr. Stanton, Gavin, Gav, she fell and I was help—”

Gavin was gone. Now there was fur and yellow eyes and flashing teeth and the deep-throated growl of an animal, an ancient predator, a killer.

But she’d heard his voice.

Mine.

The figure that loped away from Lilah and knocked Webb to the ground was not that of a man. His forepaws struck Webb’s chest with a dull snap, as if Lilah could hear Webb’s ribs cracking. Gavin had transformed into a silvery beast, his powerful legs moving with muscled swiftness, an animal on a mission.

On the hunt.

The screams from Webb’s throat turned into a gurgling mess as the writhing bodies—one human, one lupine—became a blur in the shadows of the woods.

She froze, unable to believe what she was witnessing in the shaft of moonlight that fell through the trees.

A huge gray wolf shaking off the last tattered remains of suit cloth. A wolf where Gavin had been. A wolf attacking Webb, growling and snarling, his jaws—sharp-toothed jaws—snapping at the screaming man’s throat.

And then another wolf was there. And this one launched itself at the first one—
at Gavin
, she thought in terror, struggling to reconcile everything—while other men rushed over to Webb and dragged him into the woods. She saw a sweatshirt, a beard, and realized one of the men was Edward.

The wolves rolled together, fighting with their teeth and claws, making horrifying, feral noises as they battled.

A large hand rested on her shoulder, spooking her. She jumped.

“Lilah,” Derry said, lifting her from the ground as if she were a fifteen-pound stray on the streets of Boston. “Time to go.”

“What’s happening?” She wriggled in his arms, furious to be manhandled again. “Let me go.”

A massive oak tree of a man, Derry easily overpowered her, hauling her away from the others into the woods. “I’m bringing you to Edward’s house where you’ll be safe.” Gravitas made his voice low. Soothing.

But uncompromising.

She was grateful he wasn’t flirting the way he usually did. Under the circumstances, she would’ve lost it completely. “Bring me back! Gavin—tell me what’s happening. I don’t understand!”

“Asher is helping Gavin regain his control,” Derry said. His large strides quickly ate up the ground, and soon she could barely hear the growls of the fighting wolves anymore. “Neither will be seriously hurt, don’t worry.”

“Asher’s a—” She couldn’t say it. The shock caught up to her in a rush, and she sagged into Derry’s arms. “Of course he is. You too, I suppose.”

“Not quite,” he said. “But it’s not for me to explain to you.”

She laughed without humor. “I guess Gavin felt the same way.”

“Are you all right? I saw blood.”

“I’m great. Totally great,” she said.

Yeah, right.

There had always been something lurking in the shadows of their relationship, a secret she could almost taste. But Lilah would never in a million years have guessed the guy was secretly a wolf.

Because who the heck would ever consider
that
? A secret kid, messed up finances, a foot fetish, even an obsession with My Little Pony—
those
secrets Lilah could wrap her head around.

Being told, “Hey, babe, I’m a werewolf” wasn’t at the top of her list of Things Guys Don’t Tell You Until It’s Too Late.

Nobody’s perfect, right? Even Gavin. Especially Gavin.

He’d never trusted her enough to tell her. He’d let her love him, brought her here to his family, and never told her, never hinted.

But she’d known—something. She’d known he wasn’t part of the world she knew. She’d known their love wasn’t either.

“I want to go home,” she said, drowning in the nightmare. “I want to go home and never come back.”

Derry nodded his huge, shaggy head. “As you wish,” he said with a sigh.

* * *

T
he push
of fur and muscle, bone and tooth, was all Gavin had become. Fighting for freedom, he twisted against the familiar wolf’s body, his four powerful legs artful in fighting for space, his mouth fighting for blood.

He was nothing but dark light, blood racing through his legs and neck, muscles charged and instinct his only guide. The pull of teeth on his chest, yanking at his fur but not breaking skin, told him this was no predator as they rolled against saplings and old oaks, backbones halting against thick, jagged rocks.

Yet.

Lilah Lilah Lilah
.

He sprang to his feet, mouth open, making no sound. The scent of the wolf against him, smeared into his fur, was his kin. Asher’s eyes met his, fierce and aglow in the inky darkness of the thatch of forest. Gavin did not break the gaze, breathing through it, refusing to back down.

Her blood. He smelled it, mixed with Derry’s scent, the odor maddening as his ears twitched to catch the direction of her movement.

Asher growled in warning as Gavin took one step away, not turning his head.

Blood.
Her
blood. Webb had attacked her. But the quicksilver taste against his tongue was Webb’s own blood. His mouth was full of it. The bastard had hurt her—meant to
take
her—and he’d paid.

Would pay more.

Bloodlust filled him and he took his eyes off Asher to watch Edward and the others pulling Webb’s body into the obscure bush. A mindless need to sink fangs into throat and drain the life force from the weaselly man fought with the shred of rational mind he possessed.

An impulse stronger than love surged through his muscles, his breath quickening. He needed to find Webb. Kill him.

Make sure he could never hurt Lilah again.

Lilah Lilah Lilah.

The growl of warning that came from Asher was clear, but Gavin ignored it, taking three steps toward the shuffling crowd as a groan of pain lifted into the air and caught his attention. His paws picked up the vibration of Webb’s pain. Webb was alive. Instinct prevailed. Gavin lunged.