Page 39 of Awakened By the Guardian

Still thinking about her. Wasn’t that sweet? Except, suddenly she was all about him. About what exactly he’d done.

“How long ago?” she asked.

He shrugged. “You were sleeping, and I thought I could feel the ability draining away. So I texted Vic, and I told him, and he brought it up. The serum.”

“How much?”

Gary grinned. “All of it. And I feel great. Powerful.”

Powerful? Maybe. But he was sweating harder now and becoming more animalistic by the second. Grammar seemed a struggle.

“How long ago?”

He shrugged, clearly uninterested in the conversation. Then he gripped her thighs, and she felt his hands’ increased strength. He was strong. Way too strong for her to defend herself. Certainly not from this position.

“Say yes,” he commanded. “I will show you.”

“No,” she said.

His hands tightened almost unbearably. When she cried out and tried to jerk back, he released her, but it took him a moment. She could see he was fighting himself.

“Gary, you’re shifting or something. Can you feel it?”

He grinned crazily. “Yes.”

“We have to call your father. We have to get someone here to help. What if⁠—?”

He reared back. “Don’t need help. Just you. Want you. Forever.”

If she’d ever doubted what he felt for her, this ended any confusion. His words were spoken in such flat terms of desire and adoration. Right now his mind was all animal, no matter that he looked human. His mind was in that primitive place of wants and needs, and she was on the top of his list. Just like he’d claimed.

“Please?” he pressed.

“No!”

His jaw jutted out in a pout, and she felt a moment of fear. Was he going to attack her? Was he going to force her? She wasn’t sure she could get away. Shouldn’t someone be here? To make sure he was okay?

“We have to call Vic.”

“Gone. Emergency.”

“Then your father⁠—”

“Just you!”

His hands clenched into fists on the blanket, and she gathered her strength to kick him. It would have to be somewhere that hurt if she wanted to escape. Somewhere he could feel.

But he didn’t attack. He just sat there with hunger in his eyes, keeping his hands and his body to himself. Margaret exhaled in relief seeing that even in this animal place he was still Gary. But she needed his father here ASAP.

She rolled off the bed, naked but at least on her feet. And though her chest was tight with worry, she hadn’t kicked over into a full asthma attack.

Gary didn’t move off the bed. Instead, he watched her with his head thrust forward. His eyes were narrow, and he inhaled deeply. His hands were curled like claws that dug into the mattress, but they were still hands, not paws. And there wasn’t any fur on his body.

“What are you feeling, Gary? What’s going on?”

He frowned at her, obviously trying to think. “Hot.”

No kidding. He was sweating buckets. He was also focused inward, which gave her the time to grab her jeans off the floor. She dragged them on with swift movements.