Page 8 of Her Shifter Pack
Chapter 3
MARKUS
I couldn’t believe I was taking her home to sleep under our roof. It was like bringing meth into a halfway house. How were we going to survive?
“Your truck is... where?” she asked when we emerged from the dark alley.
“A few blocks over,” I said, nodding in the direction of the club. “Not far from your diner, actually. Maybe we should pop in tonight and demand your wages?”
She shook her head adamantly. “No. Please don’t.”
“Okay,” I agreed, but only because I wanted to come back at a non-peak time. Saturday night wasn’t exactly quiet.
On a Tuesday morning there would be no one around to see me throttle the guy for taking advantage of her.
“This way?” she asked, pointing down the street.
“Yep.”
We began walking and part of me desperately wanted to touch her, but the fear of what I’d feel if I did, stopped me.
She walked ahead while I stayed close behind her. She held tightly to her shoulder bag, flinching as people came anywhere near touching her. “Which street?”
“Thomas Road,” I said, and she hurried ahead, turning left into the correct street.
When I caught up with her, she was standing by my new black truck. “This one?” she asked, indicating the truck with her thumb.
I nodded, not even wanting to know how she’d guessed. There were several other trucks parked nearby.
“Yep,” I said, the door locks opening as I stepped close enough with the key in my pocket to engage the fob. “Hop in.”
She did, still clinging to her bag.
Once we put our seat belts on and I turned on the heater, she reached up and pulled the hair tie from the bun that had contained her hair.
I did not expect to see such glorious locks cascade down over her shoulders and halfway down her back. Dark rivers of softness with natural highlights that picked up every wave and curl.
I thanked everything that was holy that I hadn’t yet started the truck. I might have driven straight off the road into a building.
“You okay?” she asked, glancing sideways at me as if sensing my shock. I must have been staring.