Marcus wasn’t a stupid man. He was well aware that he was acting a tad overprotective of his new charge. Obviously remaining at home – within a known confined space – was the safest option, and it was common to scope out venues prior to arrival to ensure that the client remained safe, but supermarkets were far too open to do so. Marcus was good, but he was just one man, and he didn’t have the authority or funds to cordon off the building and subject every casual shopper to a strip search. Not that he’d ever needed to. Gunpowder had a very distinct smell, and it was one he would never be able to mistake for the rest of his life.
Nevertheless, that didn’t rule out other possibilities such as knives or poison. One of the bodyguards at the agency Marcus was affiliated with had told a story about a greedy uncle who had tried to bump off his young nephew by smearing peanut oil along the rim of the child’s cup. If not for her nose and lightning-fast reflexes, the toddler might have
Heat. Fire. An explosion of light so searing bright that Marcus himself was briefly blinded. Years of drilled in reflexes took over in an instant, and in a split second he grabbed Vivienne and yanked her into his arms, spinning around to shield her from the flames and noise. Screams filled the parking lot, but Marcus could hardly hear them over the ringing in his own head. The army-green cotton shirt he was wearing singed his back, half-melting into the skin and leaving gaps for flying bits of shrapnel and gravel to stick and flay across the burned flesh. “Marcus?!” Finally a voice cut through the droning whine, dragging the shifter’s attention down. Vivienne was staring up at him with panicked concern, blessedly unharmed as far as he could see. One of her hands was raised to his cheek. “Marcus, are you okay?”
Nevertheless, Marcus was aware of the necessity of those patches. Rogues, wild omegas, and feral shifters especially were known to attack even members of their own packs and families, let alone strangers attempting to subdue them. Hell, the bear shifter himself had made ample use of those during his less…lawful occupations, but it was another thing to be on the receiving end of the subterfuge. “I’m also sorry about Darryl,” Carlson nudged his apparent protégé who had gone extremely pale, which was impressive considering his already bloodless complexion. “He’s new on the beat and still needs to learn the ropes. Moved here from way up north, I think, and he hasn’t met that many shifters.” With some effort, Marcus forced his teeth back into a blunter and more human shape. “It’s not me you should
As soon as the threat of danger had passed, Vivienne felt her knees begin to shake as the shock wore off. Adrenaline that had flooded her body and dulled her terror, now had nowhere to go and was now stuck churning in her stomach and filling her throat with the bitter taste of bile. Thankfully officer Darryl, for all his flaws, knew not to say a single word while Vivienne processed the fact that – had Marcus not been there, had he been a second too slow – she would be dead. They would both have been dead. The taxi ride home was an eerie silence, the city's bustling afternoon sights visible through the window contrasting sharply with the tense atmosphere within the confined space of the backseat of the cab. Every time her eyes shut the actress couldn't help but replay the horrifying encounter in her mind. The flash of fire and searing heat, the breath knocked out of her by the force of the expulsion. It all combined with the memory of those photos and the sta
Red filled her cheeks, and – for lack of something to do to tear her gaze away from that piercing, impossibly green stare – Vivienne snatched up her glass and quickly downed the whole thing in several gulps. Marcus’s eyes widened and the pupils shrank in surprise. He lifted his hands to steady her. “Wait, don’t drink so fast–” The warning came too late. A drop of water slipped down the wrong pipe, and Vivienne quickly found herself bent over, hacking coughs shaking her entire body as her throat burned with the effort. In a heartbeat, the glass slipped from her grasp, mesmerizing water droplets glistening in the sunlight from the window as they flew through the air like a wave cresting over the ocean, but no nearly as welcome. A second later, the receptacle sent water splashing over them both before clattering to the ground where it thankfully did not break from such a short height. “I’m sorry!” Lord, she was losing it. “Let me clean that up–!” “No, it’s fine,
With gentle care, Marcus undid the straps of her heeled sandal and turned her foot over. Vivienne winced as he revealed a thin, sluggishly bleeding gash on her calf. The scrape must have occurred when Marcus had pulled her away from the bomb and she simply hadn’t noticed such a minor injury amidst the chaos that had unfolded. Now, in the comfort of her own home with the adrenaline worn off, it quickly began to sting. "I thought I smelled blood on you," Marcus murmured, his brows furrowing in concern. "Stay put." He rose gracefully, moving with a sense of agile fluidity that belied the sheer size of his bulk. Within moments, Marcus had located the first-aid kit and returned to his position kneeling in front of Vivienne. His fingers worked skilfully as he cleaned and bandaged her injury, the touch of his hands sending shivers down her spine. His movements were deliberate and gentle, large hands palming over ticklish skin and making the fine hairs stand up. Goosebumps f
Marcus couldn't help but watch her leave, his eyes lingering on the graceful sway of her brightly coloured dress as she made her way up the stairs, limping ever so slightly. Vivienne's allure was undeniable, a magnetic pull that had grown stronger with each passing hour. He sighed inwardly, torn between the desires of his heart and the boundaries that their unfortunate circumstance had imposed upon them. His enhanced senses caught every subtle detail—the soft padding of her footsteps over the carpeted floor, the almost imperceptible creak of her bedroom door as it opened. Marcus listened until those sounds faded into the distance, signalling her grateful retreat into the sanctuary of her room. Finally tearing his gaze away, the shifter refocused on his job. Protecting Vivienne was his priority, his duty, and he couldn't afford to let his own personal feelings cloud his judgment when her wellbeing was on the line. A sneer curled across his lips as his eyes landed on his mobil
As the two of them savored their respective dishes, Marcus couldn't help but feel a sense of contentment wash over him. Vivienne reached for the bottle of iced tea and poured him a glass, and Marcus was struck with the inimitable awareness of how domestic this was. His sweet little wife, pretty and well-fed, smiling and pouring him a beverage. This should be his. It could have been his. “Were you being serious?” Vivienne’s voice jolted Marcus from the dark turn of his thoughts, and he blinked at her with incomprehension. “About eating everything you ordered. Were you being serious about that? Because I don’t know if we have enough space in the fridge-freezer for all of this.” Marcus blinked, and then glanced around the table at the sheer amount of food. Right, to a human this amount of food would be enough to feed an entire family for days. “Oh, yeah of course,” he patted his belly demonstratively. “Shifter genetics. We eat a lot.” “
Neither of them spoke to the other for the rest of the day, with Vivienne remaining upstairs in her bedroom where he could hear her running over lines in privacy. From the sounds of it, the part she was auditioning for sounded like the stereotypical jealously evil ex from a soap opera, the one who jumped in the middle of the relationship between the main leads in order to drop some shocking information about the man or woman or reveal that she’s pregnant, etc. While Marcus diligently patrolled the perimeter of the house and kept a vigilant eye on the security cameras, a series of intricate thoughts tugged at him. Amidst his duties, he couldn't help but keep one ear attuned to the sounds emanating from within the house. Through the walls of the mansion, Vivienne's monologuing voice carried through the air, bringing with it the full weight of her character's emotions, resonating with an intensity that was impossible to ignore. In spite of his thoroughness, he couldn’t