Free Mr. Muse by Kelly Ethan Page A

all.”
    “Breeds? Curious? You people are sick. I’m out of here.” She turned and launched herself back into the car, crawling over the passenger side to reach the driver’s seat.
    “Missing anything?” Eric swung the keys next to the window.
    “Shit.” She rested her forehead against the steering wheel in resignation. She was here for the duration.
    “I know this is hard for you, but you’re in danger. Those people want to kill you , not me. All those accidents were for you . Your house, the runaway car, your agent trying to kill you. You have to stay protected until we can track these bastards down, and Kyla is our best hope.” Eric grabbed the door and opened it for her.
    Missy sat and stared at him blankly. “My agent? He wouldn’t hurt me. I’ve known him a long time.”
    Sheer shock gripped her heart, made it beat heavily. These people wanted to hurt her, kill her? For what? She was a broken writer with only one good book in her. Missy didn’t have any money and her family was non-existent. What did they want? Reaction set in and she started to shake, gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles were painted white.
    “Missy, listen to me. You’re safe here. No one can get to you. Trust me. The pack of wolves here would shred them. Come out of the car, settle in to the guesthouse and we’ll work this out. Your agent won’t hurt you.”
    Wolves? What the hell is he talking about? She shook the thought away and concentrated on the most immediate problem—namely her agent.
    “ What makes you think it’s my agent? Other than it was his office and his phone call that lured me there?”
    He opened the door and herded her inside the house. “He’s the only one who knew you were going there. Occam’s razor… The simplest answer is most times the right one.”
    Missy pushed against the overprotective hand on her back and swiveled around to face him. “Ah, about that. I have something to tell you.”
    “Missy…”
    “The phone rang at the suite before I left. It was my ex, Andrew. He wanted to know if I was all right. He wanted to come over to tell me good news. I didn’t want to hear he’s getting married or anything so I told him I was going to my agent’s office.” She cringed and waited for the explosion.
    “Now we have two suspects—your ex and your agent. Kyla will help us,” Eric growled, a scowl on his face.
    Eric didn’t look happy at the mention of her ex, but the man was harmless. Eric wasn’t. He ate away at her control and her feelings. Missy sniffed. She knew she should be grateful to Kyla but the woman riled her.
    “Either way, whoever threatened you is a dead man or woman,” Eric said. “Kyla will make sure of that. Her bite is worse than her bark.”
    What a surprise . Hopefully she’d swallow her own spit in her sleep and poison herself.
    One could hope, couldn’t they?

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
    Missy eased back on the couch with a sigh and sipped her soda. She was bored. Eric’s lover-like attitude had faded, to be replaced with a grim resolve to protect her.
    Since the couch she sat on backed up against the window, Missy peered out . At one count, she saw five young men and four dogs.
    “Is there a kennel here, Eric? I love dogs and wouldn’t mind seeing them. At least it would pass time.”
    Eric sprayed what he’d been drinking over his pants. “Ah, there is, but you shouldn’t go there.”
    “Why not? I’m not a dummy. I know how to approach a dog without scaring it.”
    “The dogs are vicious. A new batch came in last night and haven’t been trained yet. You have to stay away until they can handle humans around them.”
    Missy twitched her nose at the last comment. Weird. Why wouldn’t a dog be used to humans? Not like a puppy would hurt her, not unless they were mutants who ate humans. She snickered. Being a writer had drawbacks and her imagination was Olympic level strange. But as her ex went to great pains to tell her, reality did not involve