Page 17 of Marcus

“Interesting,” he says.

“Indeed. What I don’t know, though, is if these DNA strands have been manufactured or if they come from actual living beings.”

“Meaning?”

“Do you think they’re creating creatures here? I mean, have you seen anything like that since you’ve worked here?”

“Let me ask you a question,” he says. “What did you see out there before you shot me?”

I stare into his hazel eyes. “A bear.”

“And what happened next?”

“The bear was coming at me, I fired the shot, hit it, and then you were there. There was no bear.”

He nods slowly.

I gasp. “Oh my gar! Blink twice if they’ve used you for experiments. I can help you escape.”

He smiles. Then his hand wraps around the back of my neck pulling me closer. I fully expect him to whisper something in my ear. Instead, he kisses me.

It’s fast and heated as his tongue swipes into my mouth, searching, tasting. I put my hands on his shoulders. I’m met with scorching hot skin over boulder-like muscles. My fingers curl into his skin, my short nails likely making tiny crescent-shaped imprints.

Then he pulls away from me.

“Fuck,” he swears.

I turn away because he’s clearly having a moment. Does he regret kissing me?

“I have things I need to tell you. Things you need to know about living here so you can stay safe,” he says.

“Okay.”

“I’m a bear shifter.”

I stare at him waiting for his words to make sense.

“Your friend Selene is a wolf shifter. Well, technically she's half. In fact, everybody on that side of Wolfsbane Research and Industries is a wolf.”

“Wolf shifters, Wolfbane.” I snort. “Cheeky of them.”

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“I’m processing. So when you say shifter, do you mean like a werewolf.”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. Main difference is, shifters are, for the most part, completely in charge of shifting. They can move back and forth from their animal form to their skin form.”

“Is that why you were naked?” I ask.

He nods.

“And your penis? Does it always do that when you shift?” Oh my gar, Aspen, forget about the man’s junk. I must sound like a complete pervert.

“No, it doesn’t do that. This is something else.”

“How did I live with Selene for four years at college, and not know she was part wolf?”

“We're pretty good at assimilating into regular human culture.”