Chasing Cindy Pt. 01

It occurred to me then that my boss just spoke about another shifter in the same room as Logan. Did that mean that he was one of us? Shit. My senses never seemed to be right about this. I was hoping he was human.

"The sneaky bastard must be pretty new in the area, or I would have known about him by now. And the fact that I haven't heard a peep means that he must have some powerful connections." He added.

I was getting more confused by the minute. I knew that male shifters tended to be territorial. But Mr. Jameson? He had never seemed like the alpha type to me.

I knew that male shifters would be drawn to me wherever I was. But that was true wherever a female of my kind lived. There was no getting around it. It was a fact of life if I didn't want to live under a rock.

Mr. Jameson seemed to be reading my mind as he ran his fingers through his gray hair. He became more agitated as he paced his small office. Anxiety was rolling off of him in waves, and I felt bad for being the cause of him being so upset.

"I'm not an alpha." He finally told me. "Which means that I can only keep you safe in my own bar. My territory ends at the door." That fact seemed to piss him off immensely.

"I understand, Mr. Jameson. But I don't think it's right for me take your money. It's not your fault that I became a target for a pimp." I said.

I finally looked up at Logan, who had been silently listening to our conversation as he held me. He let go of me and took several steps away from me to lean against the closed door of the office. I had never felt threatened by him, until then.

"I called in Logan to work here as security after I hired you. He started the day before you did." Mr. Jameson said.

"Why?" I asked him, not bothering to hide the suspicion in my voice.

I was in full on defense mode. All female shifters possessed a strong flight or fight instinct, and I was ready to bolt.

But I was stuck in what was starting to feel like a shot glass. And my only way out was being blocked by the very man that I had asked out only an hour earlier.

"Logan is a shifter." My boss explained. "I needed to be sure you would be safe, and I knew that things were too busy here for me to look after you properly myself."

I looked at Logan then with a combination of hurt feelings and raw female rage in my eyes. "So, all the flirting? You were only being nice to me because it was your job?"

Logan frowned and shook his head. "No, baby. I really do like you. I wasn't being paid to get close to you. I swear it. Your boss hired me to look out for you, but the connection that we've developed over the past few weeks is real."

I didn't know if I could believe him. We hadn't had the chance to have any deep conversations yet. I liked him.

I was attracted to him. But the fact of the matter was that I didn't know him well enough to decide if he was being sincere.

"None of this matters now." I said, turning back to face Mr. Jameson. "I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

I was about to ask Logan to get out of my way, when something occurred to me. "Will that man follow me out of the city? How far do I have to go to get off his radar?"

Mr. Jameson leaned heavily against his desk. He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. When he looked at me, I wasn't sure I wanted him to answer me anymore.

"I honestly don't know. I didn't know that anyone was recruiting female shifters to be prostitutes. Like I told you...you're the first one I've met in years. The thought of our women being forced into such a life turns my stomach."

I believed him. I knew he had a daughter, which was such a rarity that I was surprised he wasn't off living in a cave somewhere. But he had told me once that he didn't want to turn his kids into prisoners in their own home.

So, he and his son were allowing his daughter to think that she was living a normal life, while they made sure that she was being watched over and protected at all times.

The poor, naive girl had no idea that she was being sheltered so completely from all of the horrors of being a shifter female. I knew that would change if she ever came across her mate.

"I would have assumed that the women working for Ricardo were doing it willingly, but the look on the face of the woman he was with once I figured out that he was her pimp blew that theory out of the water." I said.

Shit. Now I had no idea how far Ricardo's reach extended. But I understood that there must be big money for a pimp who could offer shifter women.

We could handle much harsher treatment than humans, and I had no doubt that there were plenty of shifter males who had no qualms about paying for sex with one of us.

And even if I managed to outrun Ricardo, there would be others like him wherever I went. I hadn't been away from home for very long, and I wondered for a moment if I should just go back to my parents.

No shifter in his right mind would try to steal an unmated female away from her father. Such a crime would put a price on their heads so high that every bounty hunter in the world would be drooling. And any hunters who had daughters of their own would do the job for free.

"Can you go home to your family?" Logan asked. I had almost forgotten he was there. Except for the fact that he was still standing in front of the door like a damn pit bull. I glared at him.

"My father is a little...over protective. No. I have no intention of going home. I knew I was going to be targeted my males eventually. I just didn't expect to be hunted by a pimp so that he could charge men by the hour to ravage me." I answered him angrily.

I don't know why I was taking out my frustration on him. The scowl that crossed his face told me that I had hit a nerve with my words.

He hadn't told me he was a shifter when we first met, but he had never been anything but kind to me. He clearly wasn't like other men.

Unlike just about every other male of our kind that I had ever met, he hadn't tried to seduce me. I couldn't very well fault him for that, or punish him for the fact that almost all unmated males were absolute horn dogs.

"I'll just be on my way now." I said, raising my eyebrow at him. When Logan looked at Mr. Jameson instead of getting away from the door, I struggled to remain calm.

"I think Logan should go with you. Until you get yourself settled somewhere." My boss said. "I'll keep paying his salary."

That had me seeing red. So much for keeping my temper under wraps. There was no way in hell I was going to agree to letting Logan travel with me. He was too much of a temptation.

I had wanted to tear his clothes off when I was hoping he was human. Now that I knew he wasn't...I knew I wouldn't be able to resist throwing myself at him the minute we were alone. And that would only complicate things. Anything more than a one night stand was foreign to me.

"Do you have a mate?" I asked Logan. He shook his head in obvious confusion. I turned to look at my boss then, and my limited verbal filter just slipped right off.

"With all due respect, Mr. Jameson, Logan can't go with me. If things had gone as I planned tonight, I would have been riding him like a bull before the night was over."

Mr. Jameson blushed like a teenager at my words. But his stunned and confused expression told me that he still didn't understand why I didn't want Logan to accompany me.

"If he comes with me, I'm going to want to have sex with him. If he doesn't want that, then things will get awkward between us. And if he says yes, then I'll just end up getting attached to him. And I don't get emotionally involved with men. Ever."

I almost cringed at the knowledge that I had said all that right in front of Logan. Now he knew how badly I wanted to get into his pants. He also knew that I wasn't interested in anything more than sex.

I had acknowledged that I was afraid of developing feelings for him that went past lust if I spent any amount of time with him.

I took a deep breath and finally turned away from Mr. Jameson to face a grinning Logan. I narrowed my eyes at him and got right in his face. He looked amused and turned on, licking his lips as he stared down at me.

"Do you mind?" I asked him sarcastically through gritted teeth. I would bite my own tongue off before I actually asked him to let me leave.

If he looked to my boss for permission to let me out, I wasn't going to be held responsible for my actions. Lucky for both of them, he moved to the side. He even opened the door for me.

I was half expecting him to follow me as I left the bar, but he was nowhere in sight when I reached my apartment.

I was quietly scolding myself for being disappointed that he hadn't come after me by the time I got inside and dropped my purse on the couch. What the hell was I thinking?

I had peeled all of my clothes off as I walked to my bathroom. As I was reaching up to turn on the light, a strong hand wrapped around my mouth.

I was terrified until someone else's hand turned on the light, and I was left staring at Logan's face behind me in the mirror.

The relief I felt at seeing that it was him only lasted about three seconds. I glared at his reflection and started to struggle in his arms. He was still holding his hand over my mouth, and his other arm was now wrapped around my waist.

"Stop." He growled in my ear.

Part of me wanted to kick myself for admitting my desire for him in Mr. Jameson's office. I should never have put my foot in my mouth like that. But how else was I going to keep my boss from sending him on the run with me?

It was obvious that he was much stronger than me, so I slowly stopped fighting his hold on me. Defeat had never tasted so sweet as I slowly melted into his embrace. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against his hard chest.

His erection was poking me in the back as he took his hand away from my mouth and eased it down until he was grabbing my breast.

I moaned and writhed in his arms. His other hand moved from my waist until he was cupping me between my legs.

"You're so wet for me already." He purred. His voice was husky with need. Logan turned me around and picked me up. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he carried me to my bedroom.

I was horny as hell. And the drama of the day was catching up to me. At that moment, I just wanted to feel safe in his arms. He laid me on my bed and slowly took off his clothes. God, he was a big man.

He was covered in tattoos under his clothes, and there was a light dusting of hair on his chest that led down to a cock that I knew would leave me sore for days. I couldn't wait to feel him inside me. But it seemed that he wasn't in any hurry.

Logan finally crawled over me, and that first kiss curled my toes. Where was the harmless, gentle guy from the bar? His kiss was anything but gentle.

My tongue dueled with his as I wrapped myself around him like a vine. I raised my hips shamelessly in an attempt to coax him into me. He stopped kissing me and smiled so widely that our teeth ended up scraping against each other.

"What are you waiting for?" I whispered. Was that pleading voice really mine? Yep. I wanted him.

He chuckled softly before he answered me. "All good things come to those who wait."

I growled at him playfully, letting the nature of my beast come through. Two could play at this game. I purposely released my pheromones into the air as I purred seductively, rubbing my scent into his cheek.

That wiped the smile off his face as his eyes turned red. He inhaled deeply, taking in the intoxicating fragrance of my desire for him. I allowed my own eyes to change to yellow. I felt my panther trying to break through my skin.

I had never called on my animal during sex. It was probably my number one rule. But something about Logan made my blood boil in my veins, and I found myself embracing my panther's needs. But not enough to actually shift.

I had never had sex in my animal form. In fact, I couldn't even remember the last time I had allowed anyone to be around when I shifted. Logan brought out the primal side of me, and my patience ran out.

"We have all night to explore each other's bodies." I told him, rolling us until I was straddling him. I knew he was letting me have my way with him.

"For now, I want to ride you like a bull." I teased, reminding him of what I had said in my boss's office. I raised my body up enough to line his shaft up with my soaking wet entrance.

We both groaned loudly as I slowly lowered myself onto him, sheathing him to the hilt. I loved feeling him as deeply as he could go.

My last couple of lovers had been human. I think. I had never met a male shifter who had the ability to keep his animal side completely under wraps during sex.

Logan's big hands grasped my hips as I began to ride him. But it wasn't long before one of them was drifting back up to one of my breasts.

He rolled the nipple between his fingers. I writhed on top of him and bit my lip until I almost broke the skin.

"You're so damn beautiful." He growled at me. When I saw his fangs poke out of his mouth as he spoke, a shiver of fear crept down my spine.

I hoped he didn't have any plans to bite me, because that was absolutely not going to happen...no matter how good the sex was.

He saw the change in my expression and seemed to get himself under control. Then he threw me completely off guard, swinging his legs to the floor and standing up without breaking our connection.

Holy shit. When he got to his feet, my body bounced on his cock...sending lightning bolts of pleasure through me.

He slid his hands under my legs and really started to show me what he was made of. Logan effortlessly lifted me away from him, only to slam my body back onto him with a force that would have injured any human woman.

He was like a jack hammer, and I forgot all about my fear of him biting me as I screamed in delight. I was sure I was going to wake up every neighbor on the block, and I couldn't have cared less.

Logan roared his approval at my shrieking, and the sounds that were coming out of him were bordering on sounding like the animal that he was underneath his skin.

We were sweating bullets and grinding against each other's slick bodies for another twenty minutes before we climaxed together.

I almost had to crawl to my shower when we were done. Logan was going to have wait to get clean, because my tiny efficiency apartment didn't have a shower big enough for two people. He laid on my bed in an exhausted heap.

He had nodded off by the time I came out of the bathroom in my silk pajamas. Hmm...some things were universal.

Shifter men couldn't stay awake after sex any longer than humans could. What a shame. I was ready for another round.

When I heard my front door rattling, I knew we were in trouble. I should have known better than to go home after Ricardo had made it pretty damn clear that he'd be coming after me. I didn't bother second guessing whether it was an intruder at my door.

"Logan!" I yelled, jumping on him as he startled awake. He was instantly on alert, and when he saw my panicked expression he threw on his pants and ran toward the front door just as someone broke it down.

I had no idea how many men were coming into my apartment, but I knew that a scum bag like Ricardo would definitely send more than one.

When two men who were only slightly smaller than Logan barreled into him, I did the only thing I could think of. I shifted.

In that one terrifying moment, I broke my biggest rule. Never give away what kind of animal I was. And never shift in front of men. Fuck! But I knew that I wouldn't be able to help Logan in my human form.

I dropped to my hands and knees as my features morphed into that of a black panther. I lunged at one of the men who was holding a knife, sinking my razor sharp fangs into his wrist.

He howled in agony and tried to get away from me as I bit down hard, hearing the sound of crunching bones and tearing flesh.

Logan had gained the upper hand with the other man, and he was beating him to a bloody pulp on my floor as the man I was fighting with punched the side of my head. He was strong. But I was stronger in my panther form.

I assumed he was under orders not to kill me, which was most likely the reason for him staying in his human form. I shook his arm in my mouth until I felt his hand come off between my fangs.

Blood sprayed out of his arm like a fountain, and he scrambled out of the apartment...abandoning his friend in an effort to save his own worthless life.

Logan had beaten the other man unconscious, and he was staring at me wide eyed as I dropped the hand on the floor.

I shifted back into my human form in the blink of an eye. I was covered in my attacker's blood, looking like a naked serial killer.

I returned Logan's wild stare before I ran into my bathroom. I knew the police would be there soon. And I didn't plan on being around to answer any questions.

Logan followed me, quickly throwing on the rest of his clothes as I got in the shower again and washed away the evidence of what I had done. It was self defense...I kept telling myself. And it wasn't as if I had killed the man. He would live. Probably.

By the time I had finished my hasty shower and gotten dressed, Logan wasn't in my room. I figured he was making sure the unconscious man stayed that way.

I packed a bag with the essentials as fast as I could and ran out to find Logan checking the pulse of the man who was still out cold on my floor.

"Please tell me you didn't kill him." I practically whispered.

"He's alive." Logan replied, pulling me by the hand out of the apartment. We could hear sirens when we snuck out of the building using the emergency exit.

There was a motorcycle parked next to my car. It was Logan's. He told me to follow him back to his place so that he could pack a bag, and then we would leave town. I was too unraveled to say no, so I threw my duffel bag in my trunk and did as I was told.

His apartment was a studio, just as small as my place. It just screamed bachelor pad. I sat on his well used couch while he hurried to stuff some clothes into a bag.

"We'll have to take your car." He told me. "I have a friend who can look after my apartment and my bike."

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this." I said. He stopped what he was doing and came over to me. Logan crouched down in front of me until he was on his knees. I felt genuinely bad for possibly ruining his life.

"I'm not sorry." He whispered as he pressed his forehead against mine. It was such an intimate gesture. We really didn't know each other very well.

And now he was going to be on the run with me. I wished I could get him off the hook with Ricardo. But I knew that wasn't going to happen.

"I'll keep you safe, baby." He said before he kissed me. It was a tender kiss, full of emotion. I almost didn't know how to react. Emotion and relationships were things I didn't do.

I felt like a newborn trying to run a marathon. But I let him kiss me. And I returned his quiet passion as I embraced him.

He eventually pulled away from me and called someone on his phone. Logan made arrangements for his apartment and his motorcycle, and we were on our way to places unknown.

Thank God my car was in good condition. When Logan asked me where I wanted to go, I didn't have a clue how to answer him.

I didn't have any idea how far Ricardo would pursue me, especially now that I had injured one of his men so badly.

"Let's go to L.A." I said after much deliberation. "It'll take us a couple of days to drive there. And hopefully going that far will take us out of the pimp's territory." I added.