Hammer

7

When he shifted back to his human form, all he wore was what seemed to be a pair of boxers. The rest of his body was totally bare.

And his body was as perfect as his face. The muscles in his back and legs rippled as he moved. His arms were thick and muscled.

She had even seen the faint outline of his member through the boxers.

Now he pulled on a pair of cargo pants and stuck his feet into boots as he leaned against the dilapidated cabin. Then he turned to her and directed his brilliant eyes towards her. She hugged herself more tightly. He made her shiver.

Very few men had ever made her react physically. For some reason, her mind skipped back to Randy. Equal waves of rage and devastation washed over her at the memories.

But the dragon shifter was speaking. She forced herself to listen.

“I’m Hammer.” His voice was dark and husky. Charlie suppressed another tremble. “I was sent to rescue you and get you out of here.”

“Sent by whom?” It had to be her father. But why would her father send a dragon shifter?

She couldn’t just trust the shifter, Hammer. She couldn’t trust anyone, not after what Ajmal had done to her.

Hammer sighed with irritation. Charlie could feel his annoyance. The emotion reverberated in her like she was feeling it. How odd.

“By whoever you called for help, obviously.”

So her father had made a few calls then. At least she could rely on him.

Hammer buttoned up his shirt, which conformed to the shape of his body. He had broad shoulders. He was built like a linebacker if Charlie was being honest.

Again her mind flashed to Randy. They were two entirely different men. Although Hammer wasn’t entirely a man. He was more than that, she supposed. Why was she even comparing the two? Randy wasn’t in her life anymore. And Hammer was simply there to rescue her.

He grabbed a bag hung on the window ledge of the cabin. He was ignoring her.

Charlie trembled from the cold, her skin prickling. The adrenaline had heated her body, and energy had surged through her. But goosebumps rose on her arms as they faded. A brisk wind picked up in the clearing around the cabin.

The sickeningly sweet fragrance of wet soil invaded her senses. Rotting leaves were piled as though someone had raked them up.

“Who lives here?” she asked, going up to Hammer. Charlie shivered as her teeth rattled.

“No one, as far as I know.” His voice was casual, but when he turned, he held a jacket.

He threw it at her, and she barely caught it. It was an old army jacket and probably weighed more than she did.

“Put that on,” he ordered. His voice was hard, and his eyes were equally so. They swept over her, and she felt almost naked. “This whole mission will be pointless if you freeze to death.”

Charlie wanted to argue. She really did. She hated it when men treated her like a doll to be pushed around.

But she was freezing, and she hadn’t stabbed and killed the guards just to die minutes later.

His scent enveloped her as she pulled the jacket on. The material was scratchy and uncomfortable. But the smell of him softened her. His scent was brisk, hard. That sounded absurd, the voice in her head said. Charlie rolled her eyes.

Hammer smelled like sharp rosemary and pine. But he also smelled like soft jasmine and peaches. She shivered because of his scent, not because of the cold.

Hammer hefted the heavy bag onto his shoulder. His eyes were still hard. “Let’s go. We need to get out of here.” His voice was as brisk as his scent. And for the first time that night, Charlie wanted to argue.

“What about my work? Ajmal has my computer, all my notes!” Her voice cracked on the last word.

Hammer shrugged. He clearly didn’t care about her work.

“Ajmal would have burned it the minute you left. And we need to leave.”

“Where are we going?”

Hammer strode over to her and closed his hand around her arm, then slid to her hand. “We’re getting you to safety,” he answered. She allowed him to pull her with him. Charlie had realized it was pointless to argue with the dragon shifter.

“I want to get you to safety so that I can get out of this damn contract.”

Charlie wanted to ask him what he meant. She wanted to protest, to make him stop and pay attention to what she had to say. But every time she inhaled, Hammer’s scent flooded her. It was like a drug, made her complacent and obedient.

Or maybe it was Hammer. His presence. Maybe it was the way he protected her.

Because he was protecting her with his life. Charlie had heard the bullets flying through the air. They had almost hit him. She couldn’t believe he had completely avoided getting hit.

The confused amalgamation of her emotions frustrated her. And Hammer exasperated her further. But it was probably safest with him. He was a dragon, for crying out loud.

It was best just to fall into line and let him take control.

HAMMER

Package

. This person behind him was a package. Hammer said this to himself repeatedly as they trudged through the woods. It didn’t matter that she was his mate. It didn’t matter that heat rose from her fingers through his hand and tempted him to change his mind.

Hammer’s words attempted, poorly, to erase the sensation lacing up his forearm.

Rain spat down on them, and the ground became slick. Charlie grunted and tripped on something. Hammer’s dragon senses could tell she was fine. Instead of stopping or turning, he let her hand slide out of his, which was the best way to stop the electric pops of wild magic that came when mates met one another.

Hammer flexed his fingers and cursed. A piece of him, the part betraying him right now, was hollow since they were no longer skin-to-skin.

“Get the hell up. We don’t have time for that crap,” Hammer growled at Charlie amid his frustration and irritation at how his instinctual side was taking over.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Charlie snipped.

She was a foot shorter than he was. She would only keep up if they were on a sunny beach taking a leisurely stroll. His legs were able to take one stride to her three.

“Go faster,” Hammer said over his shoulder. “Keep up.”

Hammer heard footsteps pick up their pace as Charlie ran in front of him. Her sea-blue eyes flashed at him as she stopped to face him, her hands on her hips. Hammer back peddled a little. She was a force. Even though she was tiny, her energy filled the air, making it hard for Hammer to breathe.