Page 19 of Mated to the Human: Volume One

“You sure you don’t want us to walk you out, boss?” Knox called as they headed for the elevator.

“I’ve got it, thanks. You guys get home safe.”

“Roger that.”

They rode the elevator down with another couple, humans from the smell of them. In the foyer, Derek handed the valet their ticket. He’d opted to drive his SUV tonight instead of the bike. He thought Hollis was disappointed for a moment, but he’d quickly sunk into the plush leather seats and smelled of contentment.

A couple minutes later, the valet pulled the SUV to a stop in front of the hotel doors. Derek ushered Hollis forward as the valet got out of the driver’s seat and came around to open the passenger side door.

Derek handed the man a bill. “Thank you.”

“Have a good evening, sir.”

As Hollis moved to climb in, Derek smelled them. The scents materialized out of nowhere, more than a dozen humans and the smell of cold steel and gun oil.

“Hollis, get in and lock the doors,” Derek yelled, a moment before the scents converged on them, masked men coming from all angles, guns drawn. He heard the car door slam closed, but it was quickly followed by another.

Derek reached for the passenger door handle, grabbing it as the man that’d jumped in the driver seat grabbed Hollis by the hair and hit the gas. The car sped away, leaving the handle broken off in Derek’s hand. The other men opened fire, every gun trained on Derek, but even over the roar, all he could hear was Hollis screaming, yelling at the man to let him go while he fought to get away.

Bullets bounced off him, tearing his tuxedo to shreds.

Derek let his power out.

A wave of fiery force pulsed out of him, turning everything within fifteen feet of him to ash. Men screamed, part of the building's exterior disintegrated, and the outer human shell Derek wore fell away. He unfurled his wings, massive and black with talons protruding from each knuckle, and launched himself into the air.

* * *

Hollis thrashed, trying to twist around so he could kick his kidnapper. The man had a death grip on his hair and kept yelling at him to stop moving. Hollis wouldn’t stop. Those men at the hotel…all those guns…they’d shot Derek.

Frustrated tears welled in his eyes. They fucking shot Derek. He screamed and kicked both feet against the passenger door, throwing himself back onto the driver. He refused to let this man take him anywhere. If they were going to kill him, then he’d rather die here on his terms.

The SUV swerved, knocked against something, but stayed on the road. The masked man yelled, and using his grip on Hollis’s hair, slammed Hollis’s face into the dash.

A brutal jolt of pain shot through his head, stunning him. He sucked in a ragged breath as blood dripped into his eyes. Shit, his forehead must have split open.

Letting go of the man’s wrist, he swung his fists behind him, trying to aim for the man’s face.

“Fucking, stay still, you little shit!”

“No! Fuck you! Let me go!”

The man went strangely still. “What the fuck—” He slammed on the brakes, nearly sending Hollis into the floor. The momentum was enough that the man’s grip went slack, and Hollis threw himself toward the passenger door. He got it open as soon as the horrible sound of tearing metal filled the air.

In his scramble out the door, he fell. “Shit.” A horn honked, and brakes screeched. Hollis saw the grill of a car coming straight for his face. He squeezed his eyes shut and thought, I’m sorry, Derek, but the hit never came. Only a loud crash and the smell of burnt rubber.

Slowly, Hollis opened his eyes. Crouched in front of him was some kind of monster. Deep black, leather-looking skin covered its body, from the elongated feet to the talons where fingers should be. Giant wings, like a bat’s, grew out of its back, stretching out to either side.

The monster turned its head, looking back at Hollis with deep, fiery red eyes.

Hollis knew those eyes. “Derek?”

Derek stood and turned, crouching down again to help Hollis up.

Wiping the blood from his face, Hollis saw the car that almost hit him, now with a crumpled hood and two big indentations where Derek’s hands must have been. He glanced over at the SUV and gasped. The hood of it was mangled, too, and the driver was dead. There was nothing but a bloody mess where his throat used to be.

“Hollis?” Derek’s voice in this form was guttural. He didn’t sound like human Derek at all.

Looking up at him, Hollis took in Derek’s real face for the first time. It was more angular, with thin lips and the same hairless, leathery skin as the rest of his body. Dark horns curled back over his head and those unblinking red eyes that never left him. Slowly, Hollis reached up and ran his fingers over the line of Derek’s jaw. “Could cut glass no matter what form you’re in.”

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