“Do you want a piece of me, pups?” His fingers wiggled, urging them to come at him, as his voice dropped from a snarl into a husky growl. “I dare you.” Even Mika knew that daring a werewolf was a no-no. Werewolves were stubborn, proud creatures who didn’t back down from a fight or from a challenge. The tone in the stranger’s voice left no room for misinterpretation that he was issuing both, provoking them into attacking him.

The new guy snarled and growled so she had no doubt that he was another werewolf. He’d scented that she was human too because he’d mentioned it. Mika inched along the wall, trying to ease away from the four would-be ra**sts. If the stranger was willing to get his ass kicked to save her from being gang raped, she wasn’t going to stand around the way a frozen idiot would. She was going to make his sacrifice worth it by fleeing the first chance she got.

Guilt ate at her a little as the four men started to surround the stranger. He was bigger than her attackers, but still, four against one weren’t good odds. Mika swallowed hard.

“Um, guy who’s rescuing me…what’s your name?”

The man didn’t even glance her way. “Grady.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

She’d be sure to tell her uncle about Grady. Maybe Uncle Omar would pay his hospital bills and give him some type of reward if he survived the fight. She was pretty certain her uncle would make sure this man was compensated well for helping her.

That’s just the way he was.

The blond leader lunged at Grady but he saw it coming. Mika watched in horror as the other three men attacked from the sides. She instantly looked for a weapon, knowing she should help the guy who had come to her rescue. Grady snarled a second before it became a dog pile as four men leapt on him.

The five men went down in snarls and flying fists. Mika saw a board in the alley and sprinted to grab it. The wood was rough and dirty as her fingers curled around it, heavy as she lifted it. She spun to face the fight. This is insane, she thought. I should be running.

She fought with her conscience and it won so she crept closer to the men on the ground. The black-haired man who’d attacked her went flying from the pile to land a few feet from Mika. He shook his head, snarling, his gaze locked on the fight while he jerked into a sitting position. Mika struck without pause, nailing the son of a bitch with everything she had with the board, swinging it as though it were a baseball bat.

The man groaned before he slumped forward to the ground. Mika dropped the broken board that had snapped in half when it had made hard contact with the back of his head. Her hands hurt from the impact but it was worth it until he started to move again, trying to lift off the ground. She turned and spotted a full, metal trashcan. She grabbed it by the handles and lifted the heavy, smelly thing with a grunt. She tossed it at the downed man so it hit his back hard, knocking him flat again. Trash spilled out all over him.

One of the blond men screamed as he flew toward the wall where Mika had been pinned, hitting it hard enough that Mika actually flinched as he landed motionless on his back after he bounced from the wall. She saw that his nose and mouth were bloody.

Her attention flew to the remaining three battling werewolves and realized that Grady was winning. He was punching the shit out of one of the blonds and had the other man pinned under him with his legs. The pinned man was trying to crawl away but it wasn’t working for him since he couldn’t escape those strong thighs.

Grady could fight. She could see he had both the attackers well under his control.

Her relief was instant when she knew he’d be fine. She eyed the downed man on the ground who’d hit the wall to see he still wasn’t moving. The guy under the trashcan grunted, cursed, while slowly shoving garbage off with one hand while gripping the back of his bleeding head where Mika had nailed him with the board. He looked done in.

Mika turned and fled, running for all she was worth toward the main street.

Bartock was pretty dead at ten at night so it wasn’t a surprise that she didn’t see anyone as she turned the corner and sprinted down the sidewalk. Her little house was three blocks away. She ran a good block before her burning side made her slow down. She was never going to go out at night again. No damn way. If she wanted chocolate, she’d call Uncle Omar to go get it for her or she’d be smart enough to buy it before dark.

She was breathing hard and walking when she heard a sound behind her that made her spin around. Shock coursed through her when she saw the man who had saved her coming down the sidewalk. She froze as Grady advanced on her, his long legs quickly ate up the sidewalk between them. Even though his head was down and his sweater was gone, she knew it was him. Grady was wearing a black tank top that was torn open over his stomach. His head lifted as he came within ten feet of her, pausing where he stood to stare at her.

She’d never seen such dark eyes before. He was attractive but not handsome in the way she usually liked men to be. He was still damn good-looking in a purely male sense. Masculine fit him perfectly as a description. His hair was black, shaggy, and wild looking. He had long black eyelashes and his dark, intense gaze peered out at her from beneath them. Fear crept up her spine. No one’s eyes should be that black and they didn’t look human. The fight he’d just been in had probably helped that look along, she realized.

Why is he here? She wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the answer. They stared at each other.

The man moved first by taking a step toward her and then another. Mika froze where she stood. If she tried to run away from him then his instincts would demand he chase her. She was all up on her werewolf facts since Uncle Omar had pounded them into her head since she was five years old and realized the doggy that played with her sometimes was really Uncle Omar. She’d accidentally witnessed him changing so he’d had to tell her the truth. Sometimes a big dog wasn’t what it appeared to be.

She was alarmed by how tall Grady was when he stopped just feet away to stare down at her. At five foot four Mika had never felt shorter in her life as she looked up a good foot into the man’s face. She had never considered herself really tiny before but she felt that way at that moment. The man’s sheer size dwarfed her.

“Thanks for saving me back there,” she said softly.

His eerie black eyes blinked and she couldn’t distinguish the pupil from the iris.

The street lighting on the residential street was a lot better than it had been in that alley so she was getting a good look at him this time. His full lips parted, his breathing slowed, but only nominally, as his tongue ran across his lower lip.

“You know what we are. You owe me.”

“Owe you?” She hated the way her voice shook. Uncle Omar hadn’t mentioned that tidbit to her about what it meant when you owed something to a werewolf. She wasn’t sure she was going to appreciate finding out the meaning either.

“Don’t scream and don’t fight me.” His tone was commanding.

“Shit,” she breathed out. There was no way that statement, coming from that big guy, was good news.

His hands rose slowly as he gripped her arms over her elbows. His touch was gentle as his fingers curled around her and he backed her off the sidewalk. He used his hold on her to maneuver them between two houses. A wood fence stopped her when her back brushed it. The streetlights didn’t reach between the houses so she stood there with him in the dim light.

“Don’t talk. I’m not going to hurt you.” He had a husky, deep voice.

“I—”

“Shush,” he whispered.

Her heart hammered as her lips sealed together. She had a pretty good idea why a man would back her into a dark area between two houses and tell her to be quiet. Her gaze raked up and down his body, verifying again that he was a big bastard, and it sent fear inching up her spine. She tried to think of something that would keep her calm since fear wasn’t her friend when she was being touched by a werewolf. She didn’t want him to scent anything that would turn him on.

One of his hands released her arm so he could reach between them. Mika could hardly make out anything in the shadows but nothing was wrong with her hearing. She heard a zipper—his, not hers, since he hadn’t touched her pants.

“No,” she said softly. “Please.”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he whispered. “I helped you and now you’re going to help me. Hold very still. I promise you’re safe with me.” She wanted to run. A scream would be great too, she thought. She held still though and kept her lips locked together while her heart thundered in her chest. The man leaned down to nuzzle the side of her face by brushing his scratchy, short whiskers lightly against her skin. His touch was too gentle to be painful, though he needed a shave. He lowered his face more and then his mouth brushed her throat.

Mika tensed hard, stunned. The man wasn’t attacking her but he was touching her with his face and mouth. He inhaled deeply as a soft growl came from his lips against her skin. She was grateful for the fence behind her that held her up when her knees started to shake. She took a deep breath, inhaling a soft, masculine scent that reminded her of the woodsy outdoors.

“Easy,” he rasped against her neck. “Quiet.”

Her vision adjusted to the darkness. The big, warm hand on her arm tightened as he lifted his head, tilting it all the way back. She looked down his body and shock tore through her at seeing Grady’s open jeans, hard flesh protruding from the hand he had wrapped around a major hard-on.

His hand released her arm so he could grip the bottom of her shirt and his head lowered again. Mika tore her focus from his hand on his c**k and up to his face. His dark gaze locked with hers as he softly growled at her.

“Turn and lower your pants now.”

She was frozen.

“Now,” he rasped. “I won’t enter you. I saved your life, I’m highly aroused, and this isn’t going to hurt you at all. Do it.”

“No.” She got that word out.

Another soft growl came from him. “I’m really turned on. I just want to touch you while I calm down.”

Her gaze dropped to his hand wrapped around the distinctive shape of his cock.

“That’s not going to calm you down. That’s going to make this situation worse.”

“You know what I am and you know about our kind. Didn’t your boyfriend ever tell you that the only way to calm him in a highly agitated state is to get him off?” His voice was a soft rumble. “I just want to touch you and I need to smell you.”

“So inhale.” She realized he thought she knew about them by dating one. She didn’t correct him, doubting that he’d care since the others hadn’t.

“Not the kind of scent I need to get me off. I said I’m not going to hurt you or enter you. I saved your life. Can’t you do this for me?”

Shit! He had saved her, she reasoned, and he didn’t have to get her permission. He was big enough to make her do whatever he wanted but he was asking instead. Damn!

She turned and her hands shook as she unfastened her jeans to slide them down her thighs. He wasn’t hurting her and she knew that she couldn’t get away from him. At least there weren’t four of him. She hesitated and then lowered her panties until they bunched around her knees.

“You better not be lying to me. If you hurt me―”

“I won’t.” His voice was even deeper than it had been.

He moved restlessly against her. She tensed, waiting for his next move. She hoped he was telling her the truth but half expected him to have lied—that he would force his way into her body. He was breathing heavier now, faster, but so was she as adrenaline zipped through her body.

“Spread your thighs more.”

She shifted her legs apart as far as her jeans would allow. One of his hands gripped her hip and then slid over her stomach. She tensed and then gasped as his hand dove lower and cupped her mound. His body moved in closer until his chest was against her back as he leaned into her but kept his h*ps back. He had really warm skin since her shirt was torn open there, leaving her bare, to feel him. The man had a lot of body heat to put off that kind of warmth. His hand shifted and then she gasped as his fingers explored her sex.