Free Mated To The Devil by Eve Langlais Page B

reassuring smile? She swallowed hard at the view of his bared elongated canines.
    Oh, my goodness, what is he? A werewolf? Almost certainly. The realization proved too much.
    Overwhelmed and with the adrenaline wearing off, shock set in. Mina sank to the ground, her mind going blessedly dark.

Chapter Eight
    Pierre drove like a rabid wolf to get to Mina’s place, his phone glued to his ear. “What the fuck do you mean they were attacked? By who? Neighborhood hoodlums?”
    Dean snorted. “I doubt it. These guys were pretty brazen and organized. They arrived in an unmarked van. No plates, no papers, nothing. I stuffed the guys who tried to snatch them inside the van and called the local Lycan chief. He was supposed to send someone over for them.”
    “You didn’t stay and oversee?” Pierre wondered if he needed to worry about the thugs recovering and making a second attempt.
    “I thought it best to take your daughter-in-law and her son up to her apartment. The mother fainted, and the boy lost his mind. I needed somewhere without eyes.”
    In other words, Jacques’ wolf tried to surface. Dean did the right thing in hiding them. The world was not yet prepared to meet or coexist with Lycans. Pierre doubted humans ever would be. “Any other bad news?” Pierre had a sneaky suspicion there was more.
    “Her apartment was either tossed earlier in the day, or she’s a big slob.”
    “She’s not a slob.” He’d seen the inside of her place with everything in its place and not a speck of dust to be seen. Pierre clenched his car’s steering wheel. Someone targeted them, but for what reason? Although he didn’t know Mina well, he’d encountered enough people in his career that he could safely boast he understood them. Mina wasn’t the type to do drugs or gamble, so the thugs probably weren’t looking for payment. She wore a cross along with conservative clothing, so he doubted she was a prostitute or other type of adult entertainer and, while cute, wasn’t the type pimps went after. And if you factored in the attempt to take Jacques as well? With a cold chill tickling his soul and ruffling his wolf’s fur, he suspected a deeper plot, something involving the Lycan secret. He needed to get her out of there and safe within the bosom of the pack.
    “Ah, fuck.” Dean cursed into the phone.
    “Now what?”
    “We’ve got bigger problems than the trashing of her apartment. I just took a gander out the window. The van is gone.”
    “Do you think the local pack had someone that close?”
    “Hopefully. If not, then whoever they were, they’re already reporting back to whoever hired them.”
    Report back and then what? Would they return in greater numbers? With more violence? Give up? The what didn’t really matter. Pierre needed to protect his son’s mate and his grandson. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Pierre cursed the red light that stopped him. “How are Mina and the child doing?”
    “Fine, I think. The woman fainted when the fight was done and hit her head. I don’t see any blood or see anything worse than a few bruises and scratches. But that’s all I can tell. The boy won’t let me near her. He’s sitting on top of her right now, and he growls at me any time I even look his way.”
    “So growl back.”
    Dean lowered his voice. “He’s frightened. I don’t want to worsen it. He’s just doing what any pup would do, keeping his mother safe. I won’t chastise him for doing that.”
    “You’re right. Leave him be, I’m almost there anyway.”
    Pierre hung up. Thank hell he’d called Dean in to act as an extra layer of security for Mina and her boy. Not liking the neighborhood, Pierre had acted on instinct and it paid off. But it would have never happened if she was with us, where she belongs. Despite her protests, this incident just reinforced his determination to convince her to leave with him, even if I have to take her kicking and screaming.
    When Pierre entered her apartment, his scent letting