War of Hearts(58)

“They fit everywhere but the waist.”

“Ah, yes, I see. These are the wrong jeans for your body shape. Your size? I’ll bring you the correct jeans.”

Thea glanced up at Conall whose eyes were currently glued to her ass in a way that left no doubt in her mind he was imagining her naked. When he dragged his gaze back up to her face, she raised her eyebrow at him. Instead of looking away, embarrassed for being caught like most guys would, he stared at her wolfishly.

Wolfishly.

Heat pooled in Thea’s belly and she snapped the curtain shut on his face, pressing her hands to her burning cheeks.

The next few days were going to be the longest of her life.

After a few tries, they found a pair of jeans that worked. The assistant, a born saleswoman, brought more shirts for Thea to try that she had no intention of buying. Thea handed a few shirts and jeans to Conall to go purchase while she changed. “I’ll meet you outside.”

He walked away, seeming lost in his thoughts, and Thea was left with the shop assistant.

“You must try this shirt,” the girl said, holding up a red silk blouse.

The shirt was gorgeous, but Thea would never wear such a bold color. It was like painting a target on her. But seeing the determination on the girl’s face and realizing it would be quicker to indulge her, she nodded and closed the curtain.

Once it was on, she stared at the way the color brought out the warmer tones in her dark hair. Her brown eyes looked warmer too, like mahogany. It was the kind of shirt a woman would pair with nice jeans and heels, some jewelry maybe. Hair styled. Makeup on.

It was a shirt that belonged to a woman with a different life.

She pulled the shirt off.

“Is everything okay?” the store assistant asked.

Thea assumed she was talking to her and opened her mouth to reply when the curtain pulled back and Conall stepped in, crowding her in the tiny space.

“Sir, you can’t go in there,” the shop assistant reprimanded.

Conall ignored the girl, his whole body taut with tension as his attention zeroed in on Thea’s breasts. They were hard to miss considering all she wore was a black bra and jeans.

“Conall,” she snapped, refusing to cover herself like an outraged prudish miss but pissed at him for barging in.

He reached past her, brushing against her body in a way that made her flush. Whatever he was feeling he hid it as he pulled her own shirt down over her head. Thea pushed her arms through it, confused by his actions, and even more so when he deliberately drew his fingertips along her bare waist in a gentle caress, before releasing her.

“We’ve got company.”

Understanding dawned.

Thea nodded and bent over to pull on her socks and boots. She quickly packed the bag with her new clothes into her rucksack and then Conall grabbed hold of her hand.

She was too stunned by the action to react.

He led her out of the changing room and Thea shot the frowning assistant a tight smile. “Thanks.”

Conall’s long legs ate up the floor as he hurried them across the store, his grip on Thea’s hand unrelenting.

Despite their current danger and her lack of information on exactly who had found them, Thea stared at where her hand was wrapped in his, trying to remember the last time someone had held her like this because they cared.

She flexed her hand, an involuntary reaction and his squeezed hers like he was reassuring her.

Conall glanced over his shoulder as they reached the shop exit. “Wolves. Two of them. They’re across the street, watching this shop. We need to lose them in the crowd.”

She tugged on his hold. “How, Conall? How did they find us?”

He shook his head, scowling. “There’s no way to track—” He bit out a curse and dropped her hand to pull the cell phone out of his back pocket. “The same man who brought the car, brought the phone. They werenae tracking the vehicle.”

“They were tracking the phone,” Thea surmised.

Shit.

Conall dropped the cell at his feet and crushed it into smithereens with a casual stomp of his boot. Then he grabbed Thea’s hand again, his expression fierce. “These wolves arenae armed, which means they came to fight me. We’re going to lead them somewhere no one can get hurt, and that includes you.”

She frowned. “I can fight.”

He smirked humorlessly. “I’m aware. But this is my kind of fight and I’m not letting them anywhere near you. I dinnae know if a wolf bite can harm you, but it can kill or turn a human. We’re not taking the risk.”

Thea wanted to argue but Conall was already pulling her out of the store.

And then they were running.

She tightened her hand in his as they ran as fast as they could without drawing even more unwanted attention. The burning tingle of warning fizzled uncomfortably down Thea’s neck and she knew the wolves were giving chase.

Most shoppers jumped out of their way as they hurried down the tree-lined streets. Conall raced across intersection after intersection, causing car horns to beep and pedestrians to shout at them in aggravated German.

Finally, after a mile of running in a straight line, Conall turned left down a random street, his eyes on the doorways to their left. Around the midway point, he dove into an open doorway, pulling her through a windowless, empty lobby. They jumped a pile of filled trash bags and Conall burst through the door at the other end. Abruptly they found themselves in the shadowed courtyard of the commercial buildings surrounding them.