The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

to throb. “Pressure”, my ass!
    Daniel, as the doctor called him, let out a sigh. “Damn Gabriel,” he muttered.
    Gabriel.
    The name conjured up an image of a huge grey wolf glaring at me, one eye bleeding. “They hunt us,” it had said. Then it started writhing on the ground, its fur disappearing . . .
    I tried to bolt out of bed, but Daniel had me pinned back before I’d even cleared the covers.
    “It’s all right, Marlee,” he said.
    “Like hell it is!” Whatever remained of the sedative they’d given me wore off in the flash of that memory. Run, my mind urged.
    From over his shoulder, I could see the blonde woman sit back in disgust. “I can’t work like this,” she said.
    “Get Joshua,” Daniel told her, still holding me to the bed.
    I screamed for help, which drowned out any reply the woman made. I kicked, too, even though that hurt my ankle like I’d set it on fire.
    Daniel went from holding me down to flattening me on the bed with his body. It was like a ton of bricks just landed on me. He even had his legs tangled in mine so I couldn’t kick.
    I couldn’t move, but I could keep screaming, which I did, long and loud.
    He winced. “Stop that. You’re hurting my ears.”
    His arms were pinning mine down, but his hands were loose near my face. He could have covered my mouth to shut me up, but he didn’t. That meant he wasn’t concerned about anyone overhearing, which meant there was no one near enough to help.
    I stopped screaming and tried another tactic. “Let me go. I’ll leave and you’ll never see me again.”
    “Why were you in the woods alone, Marlee?” he asked. “That’s not very safe.”
    Considering my current situation, the absurdity of that statement made me laugh. “You don’t say?”
    He ignored that. “You remember what you saw. That’s why you smell like fear now.”
    “It wasn’t real,” I muttered. “I was tired, I’d been lost for days, and I panicked because of the attack.”
    “You know it’s real,” he cut me off. “Sorry, but you know, so we can’t just let you go. Even if nothing comes of your bites.”
    That froze me more than the 200 pounds of muscle holding me down. I’d been bitten - several times, in fact. I’d seen the movies, knew enough of the folklore to know what happened to a person who’d been bitten by a ...
    “This can’t be real,” I whispered.
    His gaze was grim. “It’s as real as it gets.”
    I insisted on sitting in a chair to meet Joshua. Daniel stood next to me, his presence a silent threat that any attempts to leave would be quickly stopped. Still, when one met the leader of a pack of werewolves, one wanted not to be trapped under another werewolf in bed, right? Yeah, I thought so, too.
    Of course, I was also still thinking - hoping - that I’d just eaten some bad mushrooms along the trail and none of this was real. Be careful what you wish for, ran through my mind. I’d wished for years to go to Yellowstone. My ex-boyfriend Paul and I had planned this trip, down to the places we’d hike and where we’d camp. We were thrilled when my best friend Brandy and her boyfriend agreed to come. The more the merrier, right?
    But things changed. Paul moved to Manhattan, our relationship couldn’t overcome the long-distance strain and, four months later, I ended up being a third wheel on this trip instead of it being a fun, couples’ getaway. Add that to being overworked and underpaid as a paralegal, and my fervent wish for something new and exciting to come into my life.
    Looks like I got that wish, though it might come with a set of claws. I waited, missing my small cubicle at the office more than I’d ever missed anything.
    Ten minutes later, the blonde doctor returned with a man in his late forties. He had edges of grey on his temples, but the rest of his hair was thick and auburn — the same colour as Daniel’s, actually. He also had a similar large, muscular build, albeit not quite as lean as Daniel’s. He wore a tan jacket and vest over his collared shirt, with a pair of denim pants.
    In short, he looked like your typical Yellowstone tourist, not the leader of a secret pack of monsters.
    “I’m Joshua,” he introduced himself, holding out a hand.
    At a loss over what else to do, I shook it. Part of me wanted to run screaming out of the door, and the other part wanted to burst into tears. Surprisingly, this myriad of emotions left me feeling slightly numb, like I was running on