Galen (6 page)

“I’ll purchase whatever you need.” He couldn’t let her go on thinking he would make her wear the same clothing she wore when Thornton kidnapped her nearly a week ago. He didn’t know when she’d washed it last, but it looked a little worse for wear.

“I can’t let you do that.” She sighed and stuck her hands in her back pockets. “It’s bad enough you’ll have to feed me. I don’t want you to feel as though you have to buy my clothes, too.”

“It’s not an issue. Believe me.” Galen sighed as he watched her turn away and swipe her face with her arm. Now she was crying, damn it. He had to get her to understand that he
wanted
to do this for her. “Look. I’m taking you to Michigan. It’s going to take several days to get there. You’re going to need a change of clothes and, if it’s any consolation at all. I’m not a poor man.”

“That doesn’t mean you should go around buying stuff for every woman you rescue from lunatics.”

“You make it sound as though that’s something I do every day.” He laughed out loud at the thought.

“Isn’t it?”

“Hardly.” He grasped her arm just above her elbow. “In fact, you’re the first.” That wasn’t entirely the truth. He had rescued other women, but she was the first he’d taken upon himself to care for afterward.

“Right. Something tells me that nut keeps you busy rescuing damsels in distress.”

“I have stormed other labs, yes,” Galen said as he led her toward the store. “However, you’re the first woman I have ever had the pleasure of escorting back to Michigan.”

That much was true. The other labs had men who had been turned, but generally didn’t have women. Only one other lab had a woman and he’d gotten there too late to help her. She’d been dying of a self-inflicted wound when they arrived. If only she would have waited one more day to harm herself, she might be alive today.

“Okay. I’ll let you buy me some clothes, but I want to pay you back. I don’t know how long it will take, especially since I’ll be jobless. If I’m not unemployed already, I soon will be.” She sighed and pushed her fingers through her hair. “I can’t wait to take a shower and put on some clean clothes.” She tilted her head when she looked at him.

The doors opened for them as they approached and Galen led her through to the women’s department. “Don’t choose crap because it’s cheap. I don’t mind paying for your things and I don’t expect you to repay me. If I want repayment, I’ll have the foundation repay me.”

“What foundation?” Kendra asked almost absently as she rifled through a rack full of colorful blouses. She pulled a few off the rack and held them up to herself while still on the hanger before placing the hook back over the metal rail.

“Our people have just funded a foundation to further the studies of Dr. Thornton with volunteers.”

“Why would anyone volunteer for that?” She made a face. “From what I can see it’s not worth it. Why would anyone want to go through the pain?” Her brows drew tighter and she thinned her lips. “No one has the right to do
this
to people.” She waved her hand in front of herself.

“Listen to me, Kendra. We don’t kidnap people and experiment on them. We aren’t trying to build an army. And unlike the lunatic who managed to come up with the serum, we aren’t doing this to make names for ourselves.” Galen kept his voice low. The last thing they needed was for someone to overhear their conversation.

“Then why
are
you doing it?” Kendra scowled at him. “Because, as far as I’m concerned, there is no good excuse for changing people into monsters.”

“So now I’m a monster?” He shook his head. “Thanks, Kendra. Thanks a lot. Here I thought I was a good man, trying to help a good woman out of a tight spot.” Tears streamed down her face and Galen felt like an ass all over again.

“We’re both monsters now.” She covered her face with her hands and sobbed. “I can’t go back to being a school teacher. Who wants a monster teaching their children?” Kendra shook her head. “Why did I think you were any different? I should have known that anyone who could kill so indiscriminately couldn’t be a good person.”

Galen looked around them to see if anyone heard her outburst. They didn’t need was someone calling the police on them because they thought he’d murdered someone. Well…perhaps he had, but not in the context that most people would think after hearing Kendra’s complaints.

“Jesus, Kendra. You make me sound like an unfeeling monster.”

“Aren’t you one?”

Grasping her shoulders, he shook her gently until she looked up at him through her tear-ravaged eyes. “No, Kendra. I am not. First and foremost, I am a man. I am civilized.”

“You’re an animal,” she whispered. “You said it yourself. You’re an animal.”

“I am a man who can shift his shape into an animal. However, when I am a wolf, I can still think like a man. I have the values of a man.” Galen shook his head. Taking another look around, he pulled her into a corner where they could talk without her tears attracting unwanted attention.

“Tell me, did your thought patterns change when you were in the lab and you knew you weren’t human?”

Kendra’s brow wrinkled. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Did you suddenly start thinking like an animal or were you still you?” Galen crossed his arms. “It’s an easy question, Kendra.”

“I was still me. Who else would I be?”

“Exactly. Who else would you be?” He reached out and grasped her shoulders, his gaze searching hers. “You’re a woman, a human first. You can’t change who you are inside any more than I can change who I am. I’m me whether I’m a man or a wolf. I think like me, I feel like me and I act like me. I wouldn’t do anything as my wolf that I wouldn’t do as a human.”

“Then why did I keep getting the urge to bite that lunatic and his minions?”

Galen chuckled. “You’re human now, would you still like to hurt them?”

“I would love nothing better than to beat that crazy doctor and that Neanderthal he calls Martin with a baseball bat.” She stepped back. “That doesn’t explain why I wanted to bite them. I don’t bite people.”

“Biting someone is one of only a few forms of violence your wolf is capable of doing. Your wolf can’t grab a bat. Your mind adapted to give you a viable alternative for your feelings of angst.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

“Of course it does.” Galen saw a movement in his peripheral vision and turned to look. Three men and a security guard stood staring at them.

“Is this man bothering you, ma’am?” the guard asked, his hand resting on the night stick attached to his belt.

Kendra turned a shocked gaze to the man and shook her head. “Thank you, sir, but no. I’m with him. He’s helping me pick out some things.” Lifting her hand, she wiggled her fingers at them with a smile. “Thank you, though.”

Chapter Eleven

“They aren’t leaving,” Kendra whispered to Galen. Narrowing her eyes, she took a good look at the two men with the security guard. “I’m not sure, but I think I saw the guy on the left at the compound when I arrived. I think he was the one who made a lewd remark about the size of my breasts when they took me inside.”

She felt her face heat. Even the memory of that comment made her blush. If she wasn’t mistaken, that was the creep who said he wanted to fuck her breasts while she sucked him to orgasm. She was positive when the idiot winked at her.

“I’m positive it’s him now.” She grabbed up two pairs of jeans in her size, snatched three blouses that looked as though they’d fit off the rack and moved to the accessories department for underwear. “We need to get out of here. I don’t see anything good happening with that guy around.” She picked up a pack of socks and underwear in her size and headed for the registers.

“You’re right. As much as I’d like to get something to eat, we should go.” Galen kept his fingers wrapped snuggly around her upper arm. “I don’t want to take the chance that they’ll be able to take you from me. This is a public place and I can’t change into my wolf. And if I remain a man, it’s going to look rather strange when I can take one hell of a beating without sustaining many injuries for long.”

“You heal quickly, too?” Kendra stared at him, her eyes wide. Was he saying they had the ability to heal fast like the were-beings in the books she read? She rested her hand on top of her head. “I don’t believe this.”

“Believe it, baby.” Galen kept looking around as they made their way into a line. “We’re going to have trouble. I don’t know what those two told the security guard, but the little man in the uniform looks as though he thinks he’s going to bust me for something.” He shook his head. “I can’t have that. They’ll take you while the man is detaining me. Whatever happens, if someone attempts to restrain me, do
not
leave here with anyone but me.” He stared deep into her eyes with his liquid silver gaze. “Promise me.”

“I—I promise.” She didn’t know why, but she trusted him far more than she could ever trust the two men who must have had a hand in holding her against her will. Galen held her, as well. She realized that. She also realized he gave her the opportunity to escape him if she truly wanted to do so. There was a difference between how Galen treated her and being drugged and held in a cage—a
big
difference.

The men moved closer as they approached the cashier. What was it that those men thought they had on Galen?

Kendra mentally retraced their steps when they entered the store. Galen had touched nothing.
She
had been the one picking everything up while Galen stood guard. Even the sales person who watched them for a moment didn’t try to hand her anything, the woman had gotten close to Galen—she’d gotten a bit too close, now that Kendra thought about it.

“Turn around,” she whispered. “I need to see something.”

“My pleasure,” Galen said as he turned to face the men, giving her his back as he crossed his arms. His dark shirt pulled tight across his shoulders and she bit her lip. God, he was gorgeous. Like most pants that hunters and mercenaries wore in the movies, the pants he wore had pockets everywhere. Kendra made a face and, with a shrug, started patting him down.

Galen turned to look at her over his shoulder, a half-smile on his face. “Hey, I’m not complaining, or anything, but is there a reason you’re patting my ass?”

“I think those men paid the sales clerk to stuff something in your pockets to make it look as though you were shoplifting,” Kendra replied. Her face burned as she continued to pat down his back pockets from his very nice ass and down his muscular thighs. She’d gotten to the pocket near his right knee when she felt a slight bulge. Reaching into his pocket, she pulled out a bright red thong and made a face. “I found our culprit. She tossed the underwear onto the shelf next to the belt and checked the rest of his pockets. “Yep. That was it. My guess is they were trying to get the security guard to have you arrested for stealing that.”

“Hell,” he said with a low growl, “I don’t need to steal a ten-dollar pair of underwear.” He grinned, grabbed the lacy garment and tossed it onto the belt. Turning toward the three men, he chuckled. “Thanks for the idea, guys. Do you think I can talk her into wearing them?”

“No.” Kendra frowned.
What an arrogant ass!
“You can’t talk me into wearing them. I’m not wearing lingerie you pick out for me. I don’t even know you.”

“You will, baby.” He grinned and winked. “You will.”

Kendra stayed next to him at the register. The security guard left after Galen paid for everything and they left the building.

“Keep your eyes open. We don’t know how many are waiting for us out here.”

“With luck there aren’t many.” She wrung her hands together as they walked out to his truck.

Galen unlocked the vehicle, opened the front door and tossed the bags into the back. “Get in. I’ll lock and close your door and hurry around to the other side and get in,” he said as he held the door open for her. ”I’m going to do a quick inspection first. The last thing we need is to have a tracking device on the truck. I have no doubt I can lose them after dark, but not if they have a means to tail us from a distance.”

Kendra sat in the SUV, her stomach roiling. That odd heat returned, causing her to sweat. She shook her head as though telling herself to stop would deter the animal waiting inside her from making another appearance. She didn’t know how she knew that the burning in her stomach preceded the wolf that was now a part of her, she just did.

“Hurry, Galen. I’m going to change and I’ll have an audience if I do it here. This was a busy parking lot. People came and went into the store and its adjacent restaurant as though they were the only stores in town. Perhaps they were. She had no idea.

“We’re clear. There was a small device inside the back bumper, but I sniffed it out.”

She’d been about to ask him how he found it when she realized the man had literally sniffed the thing out. He said he could turn into a wolf. Apparently, that meant he had a good nose, too.

“Good.” She panted. The action reminded her of the time she had been a Lamaze coach when her neighbor’s husband was overseas. “Because I think I’m about to change into a dog again.”

“You’re not a dog. You’re a wolf.” Galen shook his head. “I sometimes wonder if the doctor has a serum for the other species of shifters he held prisoner in his original lab.”

“What do you mean?”
Hee hee hoo, hee hee hoo.
She counted her breaths.

“As I told you before, there are other types of shifters, such as bears, mountain lions, jaguars.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure how many others there are out there.”

“Great. Should I be glad I don’t turn into a snake or something worse, like a spider?” Kendra shuddered. She hated spiders. At least wolves were regal animals she admired.

Galen shook his head and chuckled. “I’ve never heard of spider shifters, even in legend, but I suppose that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

“I didn’t need to hear that, you know.” She panted again as she stared through the side window. “Should I take off the seatbelt? I don’t want to get hung up in it afterward.”