Free Perfect Mate by Mina Carter Page B

patients. Oh yeah, the little voice in her head sneered, more dangerous than a guy who grows claws and slices bits off people?
    Too late. He drew his arm back. Claws glinted in the dull light as he slashed at the locks. Metal screamed and parted, cut through as cleanly as though he’d taken a laser-cutter to the door.
    Lillian’s jaw dropped. Cutting someone’s hand off was hard, but she knew how fragile the human body could be, how little force it took to damage it beyond repair. But cutting through a solid steel reinforced door was something else entirely.
    “What are you…Wolverine?”  
    His lips quirked as he slid her a look. The amber leeched back into his eyes again. The sight took her breath away. She was beginning to realize that meant the thing inside him was beginning to emerge.  
    “Yeah. Something like that. Better looking, though.” He threw her a wink.
    She snorted. Men, all ego.
    “Yeah, right. Sure you are.”
    “Stay here.”  
    He yanked the door open and disappeared into the cell. Stunned, she didn’t argue. She jumped and snatched her hand back from the door. The cut mechanisms within lost their balance and tumbled down within the metal frame with a loud clatter.  
    Worried, she glanced quickly up the corridor. Someone had to have heard that. Any minute now the rest of the military guards would be hot-footing it down the corridor.
    She needn’t have worried. Snarls erupted from the cell, drowning out the small noise she’d made and creating even more noise. Her heart slammed into her chest again, setting up a frantic rhythm as the sounds of a struggle reached her ears.  
    Wheels screamed in protest, followed by a metallic thud she recognized as a bed being slammed against a wall. Over it all was an angry snarling that increased in volume and malevolence. A meaty smack reached her ears, quickly followed by a yelp.  
    Not caring about what she’d been told, she shoved the door open. The windows on this wing were all barred, but that only stopped the inmates escaping. It didn’t stop moonlight streaming in as strong as the light of day.  
    Like a spotlight, it picked out the two men in the middle of the room. Jack, grim-faced determination etched into every line of his large body, had another heavily built guy in a chokehold.  
    She gasped, her hand flying to her throat. The man stiffened, his head thrown back as he howled. As she watched in horror, his body changed shape. The sounds of bones popping and cracking filled the cell as his knee joints switched direction, stretching the skin around them in a sickening display. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she was on the set of a horror film.  
    A sense of the surreal and insane surrounded her. She fought the giggle as it tried to escape her lips. Only last week she’d complained to her friends about her boring life. Right now, with a patient claiming to be a werewolf, she’d be quite happy with boredom. After this lot, sanity would be an optional extra.
    Within seconds, the hideous sounds stopped and his knees finally decided which direction they wanted to face. He went from sagging against Jack, with his head bowed, to straightening up until he stood on his own two feet. Finally he lifted his head, looking through the dark curtains of shoulder-length hair, and she gasped.  
    He had the same strange amber eyes as Jack when he was…not fully human. Unlike Jack’s eyes, these were not warm and patient. In this man’s eyes, she could clearly see the beast within, and it scared her.
    The next few seconds all happened too fast for her to process. One moment the guy was standing next to Jack, the next he lunged for her, hunger and lust in his eyes. She screamed. Back-pedaled fast. Her ass hit the door, and she went down hard, her feet scrambling uselessly against the floor as she tried to get away.  
    He was almost on her, his breath hot as it fanned against her neck and the big bulk of his body looming over her. She tensed