Having lived in a cult, McKenzie had endured a life Ryker would never understand. He did his best to make up for the lost years, but it was hard with all the time he spent away from home. Rory did her best to make Mac feel like she was part of the family, but his daughter was still leery of leaving the house, even if she was going to visit her grandmother. Ryker hoped by getting Elijah back – because he would find the boy – that Elijah would bring Mac out of her shell. Now that he had gotten the club back in the mercenary game with the Shepherds, Ryker could return his attention to searching for Josiah, and in turn, Elijah.
Ryker pulled into a convenience store lot to get gas while letting the storm pass. He shut the bike off, crawled from the seat, and went about sliding his card and stuffing the nozzle into his tank. Ryker turned his gaze to the strip, searching the various signs for restaurants. Tires screeched and horns blared. Ryker waited for the crunch of metal, but it never came. What he did hear, however, was a man yelling.
“Anna! Get your ass back here.” Ryker searched for an escaped pet, but what he found was a young woman running through the parking lot. Her eyes were wild, full of fear, and her hair and dress were plastered to her body. She ran past Ryker toward the back of the building. A few seconds later, a plain, white van barreled into the lot, and the driver jumped out once he was parked. He searched the area, and the way he fisted his hands told Ryker all he needed to know. If those hands caught up with the woman, they wouldn’t be tender. Ryker replaced the nozzle while keeping an eye on the man.
“Is there a problem?” Ryker asked.
“Stupid wife. She’s mental.”
That was the wrong thing to say. If the woman did have mental issues, her husband shouldn’t call her stupid. “She ran that way.” Ryker pointed the opposite direction from where the woman had gone. He didn’t understand why he did it, why he was getting involved.
He’s going to hurt her.
His Gryphon liked to point out the obvious sometimes.
“Are you sure?” the man asked, looking past Ryker.
“Yep. I saw her double back and head for the Mexican restaurant.”
“Fuck!” The man got back in his van and pealed out of the parking lot. Ryker waited until the vehicle was on the road before striding behind the convenience store. There was no sign of the woman, so he used his eagle’s vision to search the area. He still didn’t see anything, but he heard the slightest shuffle coming from inside the dumpster. Ryker lifted the plastic lid and peered inside expecting to see a rodent. Curled up among the garbage bags was Anna, looking like a drowned rat. An adorable, shaking, drowned rat.
“It’s okay. He’s gone.” Ryker used a soothing voice, not wanting to cause any more trauma.
A set of red-rimmed eyes stared at him. “He’ll be back,” she whispered. If Ryker weren’t a shifter, he probably wouldn’t have heard her.
“Is there someone I can call to come get you? Do you need the cops?”
Anna shook her head. “They’ll just take me back.”
Ryker wanted to ask, “Back where?” but if she did have mental issues, he could guess the answer. “And you don’t want to go back?”
“No. I’ll never go back. They’ve kept me prisoner for too long. I’d rather die.”
“Well, you can’t stay in here.” Ryker looked around to make sure they were alone. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist for the man to figure out Ryker was talking to his wife if he drove back around. “Your husband seemed worried.”
“He isn’t my husband,” Anna seethed. She curled farther into herself if that were possible. “He’s nothing more than a warden looking to recapture his escapee. If he finds me, he’ll take me back. I can’t.” Her eyes were pleading, and Ryker cursed himself for caring, but that was his nature. It was why he and all the Gryphons had been created. To care for and protect humans.
“What’s your plan? Do you have somewhere to go? You have money to get you there?”
Anna shook her head. “I-I didn’t plan on running, but I saw an opportunity and took it. Please, you can’t tell anyone where I am.”
“Like I said, you can’t stay here. How about I get you a hotel room for the night while you figure out your next steps?”
“Why would you do that? I don’t have money, and I’m not having sex with you as payment.”
Ryker cringed, but he couldn’t fault the girl for jumping to that conclusion. Not in this day and age. “I’m doing it because it’s the right thing. My family, we help people all the time. It’s what we do. We get people out of bad situations and help get them back on their feet. My parents have a place you can stay for a while. They’ll get you medical care if you need it. Medications or someone to talk to.”
“I don’t take medicine. Don’t need it.”
Thankfully, the rain had slacked off to nothing more than a drizzle. The back door opened, and a clerk came out carrying a garbage bag. She froze when she saw Ryker. “Uh…” The girl looked around, fear pouring from her body.
“You want me to help you with the bag. You’re going to go back inside and forget you saw me,” he instructed, using his Gryphon voice, the one that manipulated someone’s mind.
“Can you help me?” the girl asked, handing over the bag. Ryker took it, and the clerk returned inside. When the door closed behind her, Ryker dropped the bag inside the dumpster, well away from Anna. He didn’t want to use his voice on Anna, but time was of the essence. “You’re coming with me. I’m getting you a hotel room and something to eat.”
Anna climbed to her feet, but she couldn’t get out of the container on her own. Ryker leaned over and lifted her easily. When he had her in his arms, his lion purred.
Not now.
But she smells delicious.
She smells like garbage.
Underneath that. She smells like home.
Ryker ignored his beast. This woman didn’t need them sniffing her. She needed help. It wasn’t going to be easy getting her to a hotel unseen on the back of his bike. He didn’t have a spare helmet, and if the man from the van was in the area, Anna would be too exposed anyway, wearing a dress and torn pantyhose. “Stay here.” He propped her up behind the dumpster, jogged to the front of the store, and moved his bike to a parking spot at the side of the building. As he walked back to where he left Anna, he pulled up the app for a car on his phone. While they waited, Ryker tried to ease Anna’s fears.
“My name’s Ryker. Ryker Lazlo. I’m taking you down the street to the Continental. I’ll order room service and then I’ll call my mom. She can bring you some clothes and anything else you need. Okay?”
“Yeah. Uh, thanks. I’m Rhiannon Spencer, but you can call me Rhi.”
“Rhi? The man you were with called you Anna.”
Rhi rolled her eyes. “That’s what they call me. They thought Anna sounded more biblical. Less pagan.”
“And are you? Pagan?”
“Does that matter?”
Ryker didn’t get the chance to answer because their ride pulled up. He held the door open for her, then climbed in beside her. Since he already input the destination into the app, the driver pulled out of the lot, glancing in the rearview mirror. “Not many people call a car to go three blocks.”