SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(52)
She put a hand to her temple, feeling light-headed all at once. Another wolf? Another wolf pack? She had to get out of here…now.
She opened the side door to the garage as carefully as she could and stopped dead. Her car wasn’t in the garage, but Allan was. He looked up from grabbing the ice chest. Crap.
His brows raised in one big question mark. What was she doing in the garage when she was supposed to be taking a shower? This was so not good.
Plan B. She would have to come up with a story really fast about why she was in the garage and go along with him to his mountainside cabin—despite wishing she had any other choice. Then when he was sleeping, as long as he didn’t handcuff her to a bed, she’d escape using his vehicle.
She thought of just screaming, but what could she say to the police? A werewolf pack had abducted her? Allan was one of their divers and so was Paul. They were SEALs, for heaven’s sake. Paul’s wife had even trained a couple of men at her dojo who became police officers. So no, Debbie wouldn’t be able to get anywhere with that.
“Hey,” she said, frowning a little. “I thought you said my car was here.” Can’t come up with a story? Get on the offensive.
“I guess they parked it at someone else’s place for safekeeping since you were going to be staying with me for a while. I thought you were taking a shower.” He looked like a really wary wolf.
And she felt like Little Red Riding Hood. So where was the werewolf hunter when she needed one? “I had a bag in my car with all my emergency supplies. I was going to add that to the stuff I wanted to take to your place.”
“Oh. I’ve got mine so if you need anything from it, you’re welcome to it.” He escorted her back to the house. She was certain he didn’t believe her one iota. And the feeling was mutual.
When she returned to her bedroom, she took a shower, glad that she had only been running the cold water or she wouldn’t have any hot water now.
It would have felt good—it was her first shower in days—if she hadn’t had to worry about what came next. But the problem with washing up was she felt even more tired, like she could lie down in the tub and go to sleep. She guessed the doctor was right. She still needed time to recuperate.
Debbie decided to take a bath instead so she could soak and relax before her next attempt at escape. She began filling up the tub, hoping she wouldn’t drown in it if she fell asleep.
*
Allan picked the lock of Debbie’s bedroom door so he could make sure she was in the shower and hadn’t tried to take off again. This was really not good. Somehow, she must have figured something was wrong, despite acting as though everything was fine.
He heard her stop the shower, then start running water in the tub.
While he waited for her to actually get into the tub, he texted Paul: She’s acting like she knows nothing about us, but I think it’s a ruse. She left the house to get something out of her car when she was supposed to be taking a shower. She didn’t need to get anything out of her car. And of course, the car wasn’t there.
Allan glanced at the bedroom window and texted: She had to have slipped out the bedroom window. She’s taking a bath now. But I suspect I’ll have trouble with her.
Paul texted back: Let me know if you need backup. You’ve got the sedative that Doc gave you, don’t you?
Allan: Yeah, but I only want to use it as a last resort.
Paul: Gotcha.
Allan heard her turn off the water and step into the tub. He left the bedroom and closed the door. He couldn’t lock it. He wasn’t going to give her an explanation for that if she asked. He figured she knew to some extent what was going on.
He didn’t want to start making lunch if she was going to be a while soaking in the tub either. But when she didn’t leave the tub after a good twenty minutes, he knocked on the bedroom door. “Debbie? Are you all right in there?”
He was afraid she had slipped out the window and…
His heart pounding, he headed back through the duplex, and when he reached the front door, he opened it. Covered in an inch of snow, his hatchback was still there. He closed the front door and returned to the bedroom.
Worried about Debbie even more now, he knocked on the bathroom door. “Debbie? I’m coming in.”
He was afraid she’d accidentally drowned in the bathtub. He twisted the doorknob. It was locked. He used his lockpick on it and yanked open the door, afraid of what he might find.
He hadn’t expected to see a wolf shaking water from her fur coat and had no time to react before she lunged.
Chapter 15
Debbie had fallen asleep in the bubble bath only to wake to find she was a damned wolf! She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t discovered any bite marks on her anywhere when she stripped out of her clothes. The oddest thing was that her scars had vanished. Yet it hadn’t really registered in her tired brain until she turned into a wolf.
How had they turned her? Maybe it was like with vampires, even if they weren’t real. But in some stories, the vampire could seal the wounds and then the bite marks were gone.
Now she was soaking wet and staring Allan down as he stood in her bathroom doorway. He had to have picked her lock!
She shook off the excess water, getting him all wet.
She was so angry, she wanted to rip Allan to shreds. He just stared at her in disbelief, as if he had never seen a wolf before. As if he wasn’t a part-time wolf himself. Maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was a minion to a wolf pack, like Dracula had minions working for him.