Page 19 of My Girlfriend is a Werewolf

Derek casually smoked the guy before calmy asking again, “Why the fuck are you after my girl?”

She kind of liked themypart of that statement.

A sulking thug replied, “Because of the reward.”

“What reward?” her sharp query.

The guy’s gaze slewed to her, and he licked his lips. “The one posted to the message board.”

Her brow creased. “What message board?”

The guy clammed up, but Derek had a reply.

“Judging by his tattoos, he’s part of a gang. There’s several of them now in town. I assume by message board he means something on the dark web.”

“People post those kinds of things?”

Derek nodded. “It’s quite common, actually.” He eyed the thug. “What else did this post say?”

When the guy clamped his lips, Athena didn’t have to threaten, because Derek got in his face to softly say, “Answer the question.”

“And if I don’t?”

Derek swung and clocked the thug.

“What the fuck, man?”

“Here’s the deal,” Derek stated. “You came to my place looking to cause trouble. Kind of dumb. Especially since I warned you the last time that I never wanted to see your face again. So either you answer with your lips or my fists start talking to your face.”

The thug sulked. “Ain’t much to tell. Someone offered five grand for the woman. Posting had her face, said she might be using the name Athena.”

“Shit,” she muttered.

Derek glanced at her. “I take it this was a move by your previous acquaintances.”

“Most likely. Five K, though? Kind of insulting.”

His lips curved. “Agreed.” His expression hardened as he turned to Tattoo. “Who posted it?”

“Dunno.”

“Well, you must know something, else how are you supposed to collect?”

“The poster said if we found her to bring her to Bottoms Up and ask for Kyle.”

“What’s Bottom’s Up?” she asked.

“A bar,” Derek muttered. “A seedy one at that.”

“Who did you tell I was staying here?” she questioned, wondering if they were already too late to flee.

“No one,” blustered Tattoo. “I wasn’t sharing the prize. Just me and Ralph knew you was staying here.”

“How did you know?” Derek snapped.

“Because we happened to see her out shopping and was following, but then she went into this building, and we didn’t know what apartment. So we waited, and then we seen you,” a comment directed at Derek. “And when you went inside, there was only one window that had light?—”

“And you used your pea-sized brain to figure it out,” she murmured. She felt dumb. Spotted by idiots and she’d not evennoticed. She’d assumed her sensation of being watched was due to paranoia.

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