17 - A Hard Days Night Searcher.doc Read Online Free PDF

as if he might argue. "I'll get you home. Don't worry."
    Marguerite put her purse on her shoulder as he tucked his hands into his pockets and
    led her out of the courtyard, back to the street. His white shirt was gone and instead he
    wore a black T-shirt that hugged a fit and tight body. Even though he wasn't
    overdeveloped, like a bodybuilder, she could see every muscle clearly defined on him.
    He was incredibly hot and sexy. And at that moment, he was her hero. She'd never
    been more grateful to anyone. Little did he know that he could do anything he wanted to
    with her right then and she wouldn't mind in the least. In fact, she wanted him to hold her
    to help calm her ragged nerves, but he didn't appear interested at all.
    She felt the familiar pang of being nothing but a friend to guys. Just once in her life, she
    wished that a man would look at her with passion in his eyes. That a man would find her
    sexy and attractive. But they never did, not unless they were courting her father and were
    using her to get to him.
    She might as well be invisible. She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed as the
    familiar grief settled deep in her heart.
    As they walked, Wren didn't speak. In fact, he kept his head bent low and his gaze on
    the ground. Even so, she could tell that he was very much aware of everything around
    them.
     
    She just wished he was every bit as aware of her.
    Wren kept his teeth clenched. He could smell her desire and her uncertain nervousness.
    But he didn't know how to make her more at ease. He'd never been one to talk very much
    to anyone. Most people seemed to prefer him silent, or they ignored him entirely. Which
    was normally fine by him.
    Not to mention it was taking a lot of concentration to remain in human form while he
    was wounded. The gunshot hadn't missed him. It'd hit him in his right shoulder and it hurt
    like hell. He was burning a lot of extra magic energy to hide the tear in his shirt and the
    blood.
    But he didn't want her to know. It might make her feel bad to realize he'd been hurt
    defending her. Or, gods forbid, she might want him to seek medical help, which was the
    last thing he could do.
    Or even worse than that, she might feel nothing at all, and that would make him angry.
    Humans could have strange emotions that he didn't quite fathom.
    "Have you worked at Sanctuary long?" she asked.
    "A little while."
    That didn't seem to quite placate her. "Do you go to school anywhere? Or do you just
    work full-time at the bar?"
    "I go to school." It was a lie and he wasn't even sure why he'd told it. Kyle Peltier—the
    youngest member of the Peltier bear clan—and a couple of the other waiters went to
    college, but Wren wasn't the type to mingle enough with humans to bother.
    What he needed to know to survive had never been taught in a classroom.
    But for some reason he didn't understand, he wanted to appear normal to her. He
    wanted her to think of him as just an average guy whom she might have met.
     
    Being different had never bothered him before, but tonight it did. It was really stupid.
    He was odd even in the Were-Hunter world. When it came to the human world… they
    would lock him in a cage if they ever learned of him.
    "Which school?" she asked innocently.
    "UNO." TheUniversityofNew Orleans was always a safe bet. Two of the waiters,
    Tony and Mark, went there, and Wren had overheard them enough to be able to lie about
    classes, professors, and the campus if he needed to. Not to mention, she looked a little too
    upper-crust to go to a state school. She most likely attended Tulane or Loyola.
    She stopped and offered him a smile that made him instantly hard. "I'm Marguerite
    Goudeau, by the way."
    Recognition hit him at the mention of her name. It was one he'd heard a lot in the past
    couple of years. "You're Maggie, Nick's study partner."
    Marguerite smiled again. "I take it Nick must have mentioned me."
    Yeah. Nick'd had a tremendous crush on her. He'd wanted to ask her out but