Spoiler
Where we left off: Shanna brought Riley home when his master didn't pick him up. She told him about her life before heading for bed, Riley sleeping at the foot of it. (Thank you for all the awesome comments! I will edit the previous chapter accordingly. 
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)It was the growling that woke me up. It was deep and threatening and my tiny brain couldn’t comprehend at first where the noise came from. I stole a glance at my blinds that didn’t cover the window completely and saw that it was getting dark outside. My clock confirmed it was seven o’clock. I groaned: I was getting up in half an hour.
“Riley?” I mumbled, trying to force saliva in my pasty mouth. I switched on the lamp and felt a jolt of fear shoot up my spine. Riley was facing the door, hackles raised, tail ramrod straight. His teeth were bared and glinted in the light of my lamp.
“Ri-ley?” I repeated, my voice breaking. Had I swallowed a frog during my sleep? He was oblivious to me, my guard dog, as his gaze was trained on the door. I strained my ear, trying to listen, but no sound could be heard. I tried to remember Natalie’s schedule and realised she must have left for her own shift already. Was that what had spooked Riley? Had he been startled when she’d closed the door behind her? But wouldn’t he have reacted when she’d arrived, a little after we headed for bed?
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I pushed back the covers, set my feet on the cool wood floor. Pushing up from the mattress, I headed for Riley. I felt my adrenaline spike as I knelt beside him and noticed the drool escaping his bared mouth.
“Riley, it’s me, Shanna. We’re in my home. My roommate Natalie just left, is that what you heard?” He ignored me, but his growling intensified. I spoke louder, “You’ve met her already. Why are you so spooked, boy?” I considered calling at work to find out whether Riley’s owner had called and left a number to be reached. Maybe he could tell me how to act toward the dog’s strange behaviour.
With a sigh, I reached for the door handle, thinking I’d let Riley out to investigate. He gave a short bark and his exposed teeth lunged for my arm. He caught my wrist in his mouth surprisingly gently considering the aggressiveness that rolled off of him. His eyes seemed to be speaking to me, urging me to . . . something.
I shook my head, and rubbed my temple with my left hand. I strove to speak calmly. “Riley, let go of me, there’s absolutely nothing to be afraid-“
I screeched as the door was forcefully opened, colliding into us. Riley’s teeth tore into my flesh as we were knocked to the ground. He was back up and growling furiously before I even had the time to say, “What the hell?”
I only had to look up for an answer to my question. Two men were standing in the doorway to my bedroom. One was tall and bald and wore an amused expression on his face as he stared at Riley. The other was blond and plump and was leering at me.
I rose on shaky legs, gripping Riley’s raised fur for support. “Who are you?” I asked, sounding as if the frog was back in my throat. “What are you doing in my house?”
Baldy laid a hand on his heart and said, mockingly, “Why, Princess Shayna, have you no manners? Should we have waited for you to invite us for tea and scones?”
“For what? Scones? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Get out!”
It was easy to appear brave when you had a hundred-and-forty pound dog supporting you. I wouldn’t look so brave if my legs gave out and I fell face first.
Wait. Baldy had called me Shayna. How did he know about my pseudonym? Was he a stalker? If yes, I was willing to bet he was quite deranged.
Blondie finally looked away from me to glance at Riley, a look of disdain on his pudgy face. “Nice job here, Guard Dog. You follow her home, yet you still can’t protect her. You’re as much of a failure as your father is.”
My heart skipped a beat or two. Okay, ten. What was he talking about? Get out! Get out! my mind screamed. Who, me or them? I taunted my mind. I think it growled back at me. But maybe it was Riley again. I was losing my mind, that was for damn sure!
Ignoring my stuttering heart, I purposefully took a step forward and positioned myself in from of Riley. There was no way I’d let any harm come to him. The frog in my throat shivered violently, then curled up and died: I could feel the huge lump lodged in my oesophagus. “Look, my roommate is a cop and she’s about to come back from her shift. I highly suggest you beat it before she beats you.”
Baldy chuckled, his eyes twinkling. “Do you really think we just came in off the streets? We’ve been watching you for a few days. We know Natalie’s working night shift this week. The only thing we hadn’t expected was Riley’s presence but we aren’t worried.” He glanced at my dog and said, “After all, the apple never falls very far from the tree.”
Riley suddenly went around me and pounced. In the blink of an eye, Blondie whipped out a small black object and hit Riley with it. My dog went down with a yelp. I noticed the object in Blondie’s hand and felt my heart drop: he held a Taser. I knew the effects it had on people, thanks to Natalie’s teachings, but what would it do to a dog?
“Riley! Stop it! He’s just a dog. What do you want from us?” My vision blurred as I dropped to my knees beside Riley, running my hand through his fur. I could feel his muscle spasms under my fingers and he was whining as his tongue lolled on the floor.
“Just a dog?” Riley, she doesn’t know, does she?” Baldy laughed out loud. “Now that’s rich.”
My heart was thumping so hard against my cage I thought it would jump out and get tasered by Blondie’s outstretched device. That’s all I needed: to pass out when Riley needed me.
Suddenly, his words came back to mind and I stilled. “She doesn’t know, does she?” What did he mean by that? What didn’t I know? I somehow managed to push myself off the floor and stood facing the men again. “Look, leave now and I won’t report you. I don’t know what you want but I have nothing of worth. So, just leave.”
“Ooh, the Princess is giving us orders, Mace.” Blondie snickered, then jabbed the taser at me. I jumped back with a yelp and collided with a tall, warm body.
I screamed and whirled, unknowingly coming closer to Blondie and Baldy. There was a tall man behind me, as tall as the other two. And he was naked. I didn’t look down.
Much.I couldn’t keep the fear from creeping in my voice when I snapped, “Riley!” angry that he’d let someone approach me from behind.
The man spoke, “I’m here, Shanna.”
I took a step back, shaking my head. I cried out when something jabbed me hard in the back. I heard a snicker from one of the idiots behind me but I didn’t turn around.
“Ri-ley?” Nope: frog wasn’t dead. Alive and croaking.
The man’s eyes softened, beckoning me to understand. His voice was as warm and gentle as his eyes were. I couldn’t believe what my head was telling me: obviously I was still asleep and having a weird-ass dream. A dream that involved robbers, a taser, Riley and this man who reminded me of –
The man hesitated, then slowly turned his head to the left, keeping his gaze trained on me. I immediately noticed the white streak of hair that spread from his ear to the back of his head. The same streak Riley had on his chest. I gasped. “Riley!”
“How touching,” one of the idiots said, mockingly.
“I don’t understand.” My stupid eyes were filling with tears.
Riley’s eyes were pleading. “Please, Shanna, trust me: I’ll explain everything later.”
A snort was heard. “You think there’ll be a ‘later’. How naive, really.” I felt a hard jab in the back. “Come on, let’s get going.”
I whirled, my chest heaving painfully. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Baldy raised a pale eyebrow. “No?” He turned to Blondie. “Raphael, hit her.” Once again, he struck out with the taser but Riley pulled me back, shoved me behind him. I didn’t look down at his ass.
Much.
“She isn’t who you think,” Riley said between clenched teeth. “Let her go.”
“Nice try. You lead us to believe you’re guarding some random stranger? Now, come!” Another jab.
Riley spun around and suddenly I was staring at his chest. “Book,” I heard so softly I thought I’d imagined it. I looked up and found Riley’s eyes wide, apparently trying to deliver a message.
“I said come!” Riley flinched and I realised that he had been jabbed with a little more force this time. With Riley’s body shielding me from the men, I turned my head slightly to the right and noticed the latest novel I was reading on my bedside: a nice thick hardback.
“Me or you?” I whispered, not sure I understood.
“You,” he muttered. With his hand on my hip, he pushed me lightly in the direction of the book, as he swung at our attackers, grabbed the door and slammed it shut. It smacked Baldy hard and he collided with Blondie who hit the doorframe. I grabbed the book and threw it with all I was worth, aiming for his taser arm.
I hit Blondie square in the face instead. He howled and dropped the taser as Mace bellowed and jumped at Riley who barely avoided the fist swinging in his direction. I dove for the taser, catching it a second before Blondie. We both froze, unsure of our next move. When his meaty hand reached for me, I lifted the taser which connected with his skin.
He dropped like a dead weight.
I turned to find Mace and Riley hitting, punching and grunting a whole lot but I couldn’t see much else. I felt helpless and useless as I stood there, in my jammies, taser in hand. As the fighting men battled, I dropped to my knees, taser at the ready. When the opportunity presented itself, I would use it.
I used it on the wrong person. Riley suddenly went very still and collapsed heavily on Mace who looked bewildered by his enemy’s sudden lack of movement. He turned to me, saw the taser in my outstretched hand and grinned.
He was breathing heavily as he hauled Riley off of himself. He wasn’t grinning when I shot forward and touched his neck with the taser.
I glanced warily at Blondie who was lying still in the doorway. I reached forward, hesitantly touched his bare ankle with my device. He didn’t move. I shot up, pulled Blondie in by the ankles, then dropped his feet unceremoniously to the floor. I grabbed Riley by his underarms and pulled him out. His eyes were wide open and he was staring at me, but he couldn’t seem able to speak, yet.
I ran back to the bedroom, hit the men with the taser again, wondering whether the device had a limit, before closing the door and dashing back to Riley. His state of nakedness would be too obvious outside: I needed to get some clothes on him. But . . . We were running out of time. I bit my lip, trying to figure out what to do.
My eyes caught the huge yellow afghan hanging on the back of the couch and I ran to it, grabbed it and threw it over Riley. I dashed back to the room, checked in on Dumb & Dumber before cautiously slipping in, touching the device to their skin and running back out.
“Riley, if any of you is starting to function; I need you to start using it now.” I realised that in any other circumstance, bending over a naked man as I was, my words might be misconstrued. It wasn’t time to worry about that right now. I managed to sit him up and with his help, we pushed off the floor and slowly became vertical. Riley was swaying, as if a giant hurricane was smacking into him alone.
His grip on my waist was borderline painful as we shuffled toward the entrance, my arm holding the loosely wrapped afghan around Riley’s body. My heart was thundering loudly with every slow step we were taking.
If I could have, I would’ve picked Riley up in my arms and dashed out the door. I’m not sure whether Riley’s ego would appreciate the gesture. The other part of me wanted to run back to the bedroom and zap the idiots again. I didn’t get why the taser was still working. Why hadn’t it run out of ammo, or electricity?
Of course, I’ve never had taser-training, but I remembered a talk I’d had with Natalie once and it seemed the taser needed recharging every few shots.
Without me having to even ask, Riley grabbed a fistful of material and hauled my purse with us, out the door, down a step and to the car. He was able to stand on his own as I opened the door, holding back the urge to shove him in and slam the door.
Move, move, move!
I ran to my side, got in and tried inserting the keys in the ignition. I dropped them and cursed, slamming my hands against the wheel.
Silently, Riley reached over, picked up my keys and handed them to me. Our eyes met and I saw the same urgency in his eyes that I felt in mine.
This time, the key went in smoothly, car started and we were off.
“Where do we go now? The police? Should I call Natalie?” I made a hard right, trying to keep my hands steady. If I didn’t get a hold of myself soon, I’d end up causing an accident. “What happened back there, Riley? Who are you? What are you? How did they make it into my house?” I felt a hysterical bubble threaten to spill out of my dry throat. “I’ve never wanted my mother more in my-”
“Your parents!” Riley shouted.
I jerked the wheel. “What? Where?” I scanned left and right looking for them. I didn’t see them and I wasn’t even sure where I was. Had I gotten us lost? Were the idiots following? “Wait, how do you know-“
“Shanna, we really need to get to your parents right now. If the trackers have found you, they can find your parents.”
“What are you talking about? Trackers? You know them?”
“Listen, we have to-“
“No, you listen. I’ve just been woken up by a pair of strangers, found out the guard dog I brought home is part-human and you’re trying to boss me around without telling me what the hell is going on? And why should I trust you around my parents?” the words came out in a shout.
Riley took in a deep breath before saying calmly, “Shanna, you deserve an explanation but I’m not the one you need to talk to. Let’s head to your parents and they’ll explain everything.” I felt his eyes on me but I refused to meet them. “Shanna, if I’d wanted to harm you, I could have done it months ago. Please trust me.”
I finally glanced at him and his eyes met mine; steady and unwavering. “Okay, let’s go see them.”
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