Chapter 3

Athena lay on the couch listening as Derek actually went to bed and slept. Slept with a slight snore, despite the stranger in his place. Was he nuts? Then again, she'd seen him in action on the path by the canal. The guy knew how to handle himself.

At first, when she'd seen him confronted by those three thugs, she'd expected him to get beaten. Her plan had been to snag his keys, find out his address by stealing his wallet back from the bullies—along with a shirt since dawn wasn't far off—and then head to his place for a few hours of rest while he got handled at the hospital, which these days took upwards of eight hours, sometimes closer to twenty-four.

Only that plan failed before it began since Derek disarmed the would-be thieves but not in a violent way. He literally chastised them instead of beating them silly. He was much nicer than her. She even tested his nice streak by appearing naked and asking for help. Had he turned into a pig, she would have beaten his ass and kept to her initial plan, but he'd proven to be a gentleman, offering her his shirt, showing caution at her asking to stay, then actually being a nice guy by offering her his bed and, when she said no, a clean T-shirt, boxers, and a blanket with pillow.

He'd not once tried to grope her. Kept his gaze on her face and not once made any kind of sexual innuendo. She'd have thought him into men if she'd not seen his expression light up when he'd first seen her.

At least now she could stop running and rest for a bit. She'd spent the night racing around the city, muddying any trail she left, hopefully foiling anyone trying to follow. She'd not once thought of popping by her place because Dr. Rogers probably had people watching it the moment she escaped. Asshole.

Soon as she could get her hands on a phone, she would need to get in contact with her family, who most likely worried. She tended to talk to them several times a week. That was assuming Rogers hadn't taken them into custody and kept them in a different location, which didn't seem likely given his elaborate lab setup. Good thing they lived about an hour west of the city. It might have kept them safe, at least while Rogers still tried to ascertain her lycanthropy.

She couldn't be sure if her wolf was spotted in the escape. In either case, her family needed warning, but she couldn't use Derek's phone. If Rogers already surveilled her family, then he'd trace it the moment she called. She'd have to get a burner phone and run her call through a VPN to make it seem like she was elsewhere.

As to how she'd get the money to buy it…

Rather than steal from her host, she prepared to offer him a deal when he woke. A yawning Derek emerged from the bedroom at one p.m., wearing low-slung track pants, a form-fitting faded T, and ruffled hair. He waved as he walked by the couch, muttering, "Afternoon."

An already awake Athena listened to the news on low. She turned to watch him in the tiny kitchen preparing a coffee.

"Good afternoon to you too. You slept good?" she asked.

"Like a cat."

She blinked. "Isn't the expression baby?"

"Grams says that's the stupidest thing ever since they sleep like shit most of the time. Cats, though, they know how to get some shuteye," he offered with a grin. He held up a mug. "Shot of caffeine?"

"Yes, please."

He also pulled out a box of cereal and milk, along with two bowls, and put them on his small kitchen table.

"I gotta go to work around three. Need anything before I go? You're welcome to any clothes in my closet or food in the kitchen."

She hesitated before saying, "I need a hundred bucks."

"Okay." He said nothing else, so she added, "I'll pay you back soon as I can."

He glanced at her. "I assume this isn't for drugs."

"Hell no. I want to grab a prepaid phone."

"You could borrow mine."

"I'd prefer something anonymous."

He arched a brow. "Are you a spy being tracked by the government?"

"And if I was?"

His lips curved. "So long as you're not trying to take down Canada, it's cool."

She couldn't help but laugh. "I promise nothing so nefarious. But I'd like to be cautious so the assholes who took me don't know where I am."

His expression darkened. "How badly did they hurt you?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle. I'm more pissed about the situation than anything."

"Were you sex trafficked?" He sounded hesitant asking.

The query rounded her mouth. "No, although I could see why'd you think that, given my state of deshabille."

Once more, his low baritone laugh rang out, sending a shiver through her. "Who the fuck uses deshabille in conversation?"

"A girl whose mother bought her a calendar that featured a new word for each day of the year."

"My calendar had half-naked girls because Gramps said those were the only acceptable calendars for a boy."

"And your grandma was okay with it?"

"Grams was the one who bought it."

Now it was her turn to laugh. "I kind of want to meet her."

"You sure you didn't hit your head?" he quizzed.

The giggle was so unlike her, and yet this man… he kept surprising her. "My family's a little strange too." Understatement. Selene, also a wolf, raised rabbits. Loved them to death. Literally. She let a few loose each full moon for sport while selling others to restaurants. Athena's brother, Ares, had a thing for cheese. Made it artisan-style from goat's milk. Unlike Selene, though, his wolf didn't eat the animals he raised. He preferred to go after the coyotes that harassed the family farm. Their mom seemed kind of normal in comparison, given she sold honey and country pies.

"Your coffee, milady." Derek handed her a mug of steaming java and sat down to eat his cereal. She joined him and studied him over the rim of her mug.

"Go on, ask," he mumbled around a mouthful of Honeycomb.

"Ask what?"

"Whatever question is brewing in your intense stare."

"You're being awfully nice considering you don't know a thing about me."

"You were a naked woman asking for help. Only an asshole would have walked away."

"Aren't you curious at all about me and my situation?"

He eyed her. "Would you tell me the truth if I asked?"

"I can't."

"Then no point in poking."

"How old are you?" she queried.

"Thirty-three. You?"

"Twenty-nine."

"I thought you were younger," his reply as he spooned more cereal.

"You're single?" She'd seen no sign of a woman in his place, nor smelled any. "Just wondering if I'm going to have someone screaming at me if they come over and find me here."

"Not seeing anyone, but not by choice. Still waiting for the right chick to come along."

"If you call her chick, she might not stay."

He leaned back in his chair, which creaked. The mismatched set looked to be on its last legs. "I come from a no-filter family who doesn't do any of this modern woke-language shit. Meaning anyone I do end up with has to be able to handle me using words like fuck, shit, dude, and chick. I mean, hell, my grams calls me the little bastard since my mom and dad never married, and before you get offended, she loves me. I'm the apple of her eye, so it's more like a term of endearment."

"Fair enough. I get you wanting to be you, and your family is obviously important."

"Very. So love me, love my cussing grandma and my cigarette-smoking Gramps."

"And your parents?"

"Bethany left when I was a kid. Wasn't cut out to be a mom. Dad's still kicking around. He works in construction."

"What about you?"

"Volunteer firefighter and, in my off time, warehouse worker."

Well, that explained the muscles. "So you're good with a hose and handling boxes." She said it deadpan, and he choked on his coffee.

She smiled as she sipped hers.

He wiped the mess and eyed her. "That was naughty."

"Who me?" Innocently said with a devilish smile.

Amusement curved his lips. "You're something else."

"Says the guy with interesting design tastes."

"Can't take the credit. The place came fully furnished. I basically just moved in my clothes."

"Handy. Lived here long?"

He shook his head. "A few months now. Grams told me to get my ass out of her house. Said I needed a social life outside the farm."

"Kind of the same reason I left ours too. Only I'm not so good at the whole making-friends thing. Sometimes I miss the chaos of having family underfoot all the time. Although I'd never admit to them I'm lonely."

"I hear you." Silence fell before he said, "I gotta shower before work since I skipped it after my jog. Need the bathroom first?"

"Go ahead."

He stood but before he headed to his only washroom grabbed some money from the cookie jar on his counter. "Here's two hundred in case you need extra for the phone and other stuff. There's more if you need some. I'm afraid I don't have any girly stuff here like tampons and whatnot."

Her turn to almost choke. Most men never used the T word. "You're being too nice."

"I better be, or Grams will whoop my ass." He winked and went to shower, leaving her to ponder this enigma of a man. Here she'd been prepared to offer him a blowjob for cash, and he'd just tossed it at her.

She would pay him back, plus some, soon as she got Rogers to stop hunting her.

Restless, Athena prowled his living space, inspecting it more thoroughly. He showered quicker than expected. If he thought it odd to find her ass up, face under his couch, where much could be told about a person, he said nothing.

She popped out and said, "Nice gun you got under there."

"Grams got it for me," he said, not a bit nonplussed by her snooping. "I'm heading out now for work. There's a spare house and vestibule key on the rack by the door."

"What time will you be home?"

"Around two if I don't get fucked by no-shows at work and my bus."

"Have a great day, honey," she chirped.

He snorted. "You too, sugarplum."

She found herself grinning and shaking her head as he left.

Left her alone in his space.

The level of trust baffled. Then again, with her upbringing, everything seemed suspicious. Neighbor came knocking to say hello, Mom assumed they were being nosy. A car drove down their country road, and it had to be someone surveilling. In Mom's defense, she worried about her kids. All three lycanthropes. Just like their dad, a man dead in his prime because someone shot him when he was out running during a full moon.

Unlike legends, the whole werewolf thing didn't come via a bite or a virus. From what Athena had gleaned, it occurred at a genetic level, meaning you were either born with it or not. And it sometimes skipped a kid. Dad's brother never got it, but his sister did.

Thinking of her family had her readying herself to go out. A shower was welcome, as was a scrub of her teeth with a finger and toothpaste. Delaying, but then again, a few extra minutes wouldn't make a difference, given it had been weeks since she'd talked to them. God only knew what they thought.

Derek's clothes hung loosely on her, which worked to conceal her figure. The ball cap hid her hair, and his sunglasses worked to cover her face. While Ottawa didn't have a CCTV network like Britain, there were enough cameras watching that she worried Rogers and his vast resources would still be able to track her. She'd seen a show about how they could tap into security cameras and use a computer program to scan for specific faces.

It took a few blocks of walking—and glancing over her shoulder often, checking to see if anyone stared overly long—before she found a store with prepaid phones. On her way back to the apartment, her neck constantly prickling, despite no one seeming to pay her any mind, she hit the Salvation Army for some clothes and then a pharmacy for a toothbrush and other essentials. By the time she retraced her steps to Derek's building, her pace rapid, as she felt exposed, she had three dollars and eleven cents left.

She dumped it into his cookie jar and made a note beside it how much she owed. A McMurray, like a Lannister, always paid their debts.

As she chewed on a buttered and toasted bagel, she got the prepaid phone ready, downloading an app that would allow her to call as well as set her location to wherever she liked. She chose Montreal. If Rogers monitored her family's phone, then he'd think she fled the province.

It took a few deep breaths before she rang her mom.

"Hello, you've reached Beatrice's Honey Bee Emporium, how can I help you?" chirped her mother.

"Hey, Mom."

Dead silence.

"Mom?"

"OHMYGAWD!" Mom wailed. "I thought you were dead!"

"I'm not, but I might be deaf," Athena muttered, holding the burner phone away from her head.

"Where have you been? Why haven't you called?" Mom kept screeching.

"I kind of got kidnapped by an evil doctor who was convinced something was wrong with me." A roundabout, but also to the point, way of telling what happened. If anyone listened, she'd not revealed anything, but Mom would understand.

A deep silence ended when her mom whispered, "Shit." For a woman who never swore, it just went to show how hard the news hit.

"Are Selene and Ares okay?" Athena closed her eyes as she waited for a reply.

"Yes, but Ares says someone's been watching our place the last couple of weeks."

The blood in Athena's veins turned cold. "Please tell me they've been careful." Both her siblings loved to shift and run in the moonlight.

"They've barely left the house since you went missing. It was all I could do to keep them here instead of heading into the city to hunt you down. Good thing Barbara June told us you were okay." Barbara June, their closest neighbor and a bit of a psychic. She made money reading people's futures and was one of the few who knew their secret. Knew because the spirits told her. "Where are you? Is it safe?"

"I'm okay for now. I'm staying with a friend."

"When are you coming home?"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know." Left unsaid: it would be too dangerous.

"I miss you, baby girl."

"Miss you too, Mom." Her throat tightened. She had to protect her family. Especially now. With Rogers having lost Athena, would he go after them next? "Are you guys still going on that trip to visit Uncle George?"

They had no Uncle George, but the oblique reference acted as a clue, and Mom caught on.

"Well, we were going to wait for you to go. You know he loves seeing all you kids."

"Can't get away at the moment but give him my love."

"Will do, baby girl. Love you."

"Love you, too."

She hung up and took a deep breath then another. At least now she knew her family hadn't gotten caught up in the Rogers mess. Not yet. Hopefully Mom would have Selene and Ares packed and hiked out into the bush by the end of the day. Because what better way to foil watchers than to disappear in the wilds? They used to do it all the time growing up, Dad wanting them to learn how to live off the land just in case. They'd nicknamed the hut deep in the wilds Uncle George's place. It became a running joke with them saying they were going to visit their uncle when they needed to blow off some steam.

With her family taken care of, time to plan her next move.

Rogers needed taking down, which meant locating him. Preferably at home. Only he wasn't listed anywhere she looked. No phone number or address, just the news reports featuring him when he went viral for his amazing finds.

As she stared at the picture of Rogers standing beside the Sasquatch in a cage, her lips pursed. That had almost been her. The whole world had been only hours away from finding out werewolves really existed. Sometimes she wished she didn't have to hide. That she could be loud and proud about her heritage.

How bad would it be?

Just ask Fred, the Bigfoot who'd been put on display in Calgary and became a huge tourist attraction. He'd lost weight and hair since his captivity. Poor guy. At least the Ogopogo got to stay in its lake, albeit under guard.

Athena would die if they ever served her up like a circus freak.

She had to make sure that never happened.

Even if she had to kill her first human to do so.