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Shanna rubbed her brow In the distance, she heard honking cars and the wail of an ambulance siren No need for those in the afterlife She was definitely still alive But where?

She opened her eyes and beheld a night sky, stars partially hidden with ainst her cheek She looked to her right A rooftop? She was stretched out on patio furniture How did she get here? She looked to her left

Hiht her here, and he was coet off the chaise lounge and gasped when the flimsy furniture started to tip

"Careful" He was there irabbed her arms How did he reach her so quickly?

The pain in her head dropped a few degrees colder His grip on her was firo"

"Fine" He released her and straightened to his full height

Shanna gulped She hadn&039;t realized he was so tall And big

"Youyour life"

That voice again Low and sexy So beguiling, but she wasn&039;t in the ht now "I&039;ll send you a card"

"You don&039;t trust me"

Perceptive, wasn&039;t he? "Why should I? As far as I can tell, you&039;ve abducted me Without my perive your perlared at him "Where have you taken me?"

"We&039;re across the street froe "Since you don&039;t trust ht, stand on the edge of the roof with a psycho No way She&039;d been stupid enough, fainting in the clinic when she should have been running She couldn&039;t afford any eous man must have carried her out He really had saved her life He was tall, dark, handsoether perfect, except for the fact that he wanted a wolf&039;s canine tooth jammed into his mouth Did he labor under the un hadn&039;t scared him? Only silver bullets could hurt hi to howl at theforehead She needed to stop iure out what to do next

She noticed her purse, sitting by her feet Hallelujah! She set the purse in her lap and peeked inside Yes! The Beretta was still there She could still defend herself Even against the gorgeous Wolfman if she had to

"They&039;re still down there if you want to see thelanced back at her

She snapped her purse shut and gave hiaze flickered down to her purse, then back to her face "The men ant to kill you"

"Well, actually, I think I&039;ve seen enough of the now" She eased to her feet

"If you leave now, they&039;ll catch you"

That was probably true But was she any safer on a roof with a gorgeous escapee from a mental institute? She clutched her purse to her chest "Okay I&039;ll stay for a little while"

"Good" His voice softened "I&039;ll stay with you"

She backed away, putting the patio furniture between them "Why did you rescue me?"

He smiled slowly "I need a dentist"

Not with a smile like that Damn A s hor "How how did you get liulped Obviously a few extra pizza pounds hadn&039;t overly strained the guy "You carried me all the way to the roof?"

"I used the elevator" He pulled a cell phone from his back pocket "I&039;ll call so? She didn&039;t trust him any farther than she could spit But he had saved her froentle a safe distance frolanced down Wow, he&039;d been honest with her They were across the street from the clinic Three black sedans were double-parked in the street, and a group ofhow to kill her She was so screwed Maybe she could use an ally Maybe she should trust the crazy but gorgeous Wolfainst his cheek "Can you give me Laszlo&039;s cell phone number?"

Radinka? Laszlo? Were those Russian na trouble This guy was probably pretending to be her friend so he could lure her away from the city and¡ª

"Thanks, Radinka" He punched in a new number

Shanna looked around and located the stairway entrance Now, if she could just ease over there without hi

"Laszlo" His voice beca the car back iency situation here"

Shanna moved slowly Quietly

"No, you don&039;t have tiht pause "No, I didn&039;t get the tooth fixed But I have the dentist with lanced her way

She froze and tried to look bored Maybe she should hum a tune, but all that ca "Strangers in the Night" Well, that fit

"Have you turned around yet?" Wolfman sounded irritated "Good Now, listen carefully Do not, I repeat, do not drive past the clinic Go one block north of the clinic, and we&039;ll meet you there Do you understand?"

Another pause He turned to look over the ledge Shanna resumed her stealthy approach to the stairway

"I&039;ll explain later Just follow my directions, and we&039;ll be safe"

She slipped past the patio furniture

"I know you&039;re just a chemist, but I have full confidence in your abilities Remember, we don&039;t want anyone else to know about this And now that I think about it, is our passenger still in the car with you?" Wolf his back to her and his voice low

So the rascal didn&039;t want her to hear this Can you hear oaded her No, she couldn&039;t hear,dammit Quickly she tiptoed after him Her old ballet teacher would have been impressed with her speed

"Look, Laszlo I&039;ll have the dentist with me, and I don&039;t want to alarm her any more than necessary So take Vanna out of the backseat and stick her in the trunk"

Shanna halted Herit hard to breathe

"I don&039;t care howaround with a naked body in the car"

Oh no! She gasped for air He was a hit man

He whirled around suddenly to face her With a strangled squeak, she leaped back

"Shanna?" He turned off the phone and held it out to her

"Stay away fro in her purse

He frowned "Don&039;t you want your phone back?"

That was her phone? He was a murderer and a thief She yanked out her Beretta and pointed it at hiain I can&039;t help you if you keep fighting me"

"Yeah, like you really want to helpto your friend &039;Oh, Laszlo, we have company Put the dead body in the trunk&039;"

"It&039;s not what you think"

"I&039;m not stupid, Wolfman" She continued toput and notany moves "I should have shot you the first time"

"Do not fire the weapon The men beloill hear it They&039;ll come up here, and I&039;m not sure I can defeat all of thehly of ourselves"

His eyes darkened "I have some special talents"

"Oh, I bet you do I bet that poor girl in the trunk could say a lot about your special talents"

"She&039;s incapable of speech"

"Well, duh! Once you kill someone, they tend to be lousy conversationalists"

His mouth twitched

She reached the stairway door "If you come after me, I&039;ll kill you"

She pulled the door open, but in the blink of an eye, he was there He slaun from her hand, and tossed it aside It hit with a clunk and skittered across the rooftop She squirrabbed her by the wrists and pinned her against the door

"By God, woman, you are hard to control"

"You better believe it" She pulled against his grip, but couldn&039;t free her wrists

He leaned closer His breath stirred her hair and feathered her brow "Shanna," he whispered her name like a cool breeze

She shivered His hypnotic voice tugged at her, lulling her into a sensation of comfort and security False security "I won&039;t let you kill me"

"I don&039;t want to kill you"

"Good Then lether throat "I want you alive Warh her body Oh God, he was going to touch her Maybe even kiss her She waited, her heart ha in her chest

His voice whispered in her ear, "I need you"

She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut when she realized how close she&039;d co her wrists "I need you to trust me, Shanna I can protect you"

Her headache returned with a vengeance, cold pain stabbing at her teth, every fiber of resistance, and raroin

Breath whooshed out of hi his shout before it could erupt froed He doubled over and fell to his knees His complexion, pale before, turned a otten hiun beneath the patio table and ran to collect it

"Holy Mother of God!" he gasped, supporting himself on all fours "That hurts like hell"

"It&039;s supposed to, big guy" She dropped her Beretta back in her purse, then sprinted for the staircase

"I never¡ªno one&039;s ever done that to azed up at her, his contorted expression of paininto a look of stunned wonder "Why?"

"Just one of rasped the knob "Don&039;t follow me Next time, I&039;ll shoot you down there" The door opened with a loud, scraping noise

She stepped onto the stairway landing and let go of the door With a loud creak, it started to swing shut She was halfway down the stairs when it closed with a final bang and left her in total darkness Great She slowed her pace The last thing she wanted was to act like one of those girls in thethere helpless and screauy arrived The banister ended, and she was on the botto She inched forith her hands stretched out until she reached the door

She yanked the door open and was greeted by light The hallas eled in front of the lanced back over her shoulder So the scuht her up the elevator She looked around for a service elevator, but couldn&039;t see one However he&039;d gotten her on the roof, she didn&039;t have time to worry about it

She located the central stairwell Thank God it was lit inside She rushed down the flights of stairs and reached the ground floor There was no noise behind her Thank God It appeared that Wolf chase She inched open the stairwell door and peered outside The lobby was di&039;s h them, she could see the black cars and hitthe walls, she retreated toward the back entrance The glowing red exit sign called to her like a beacon, proo to some obscure little hotel, and then, in the safety of her rooain And if the US , she&039;d e and take a train somewhere Anywhere

She peeked outside, saw no one, then exited the building I arainst a rock-hard body A hand srip She kicked at his shins and stomped on his feet

"Stop it, Shanna It&039;s me," a now familiar voice whispered in her ear

The Wolfman? How could he have beaten her down the stairs? She ainst his hand

"Come on" He pulled her down the street, past a row of e the nalass storefront, lined with burglar bars He dragged her into the recessed doorway The awning overhead shaded them from the street lamps "Laszlo will be here soon Just stay quiet until he arrives"

She shook her head, trying to dislodge his hand

"Can you breathe all right?" He sounded concerned

She shook her head again

"You won&039;t screao? I&039; noise with the hit rip

"I&039;ainst his palent, but you&039;re also in deep shit That kind of stress can cause anyone to make a bad move"

She turned her head to see his face His jaas strong and lean His eyes were focused on the street, no doubt scanning for danger "Who are you?" she whispered

He glanced down, and a ghost of a smile haunted his wide mouth "I&039;m someone who needs a dentist"

"Don&039;t lie to ajillion dentists out there"

"I&039;"

"You lied about the elevator It&039;s out of order I had to use the stairs"

His er without bothering to answer

"How did you get here so fast?"

"Does it matter? I want to protect you"

"Why? Why should you care?"

He paused "It&039;s complicated" He looked at her, and the pain in his eyes took her breath away Whoever this

"You&039;re not going to hurt me?"