The Problem with Paddy (Shrew & Company) Read Online Free PDF Page B

They said it was about workplace stress and they administered this serum that was supposed to keep us calm when under duress. Of course, my job was stressful. I wasn’t the kind of cop who worked behind a desk, so I figured I’d give it a shot.”
    “What was the study actually for?”
    “Behavioral modification through drug introduction. It was supposed to alter brain chemistry—that’s what I learned after the fact—but instead…” She laughed and shook her head. “It warped chromosomes. We were guinea pigs. No, guinea shrews . That was the codename of the study. Shrew.”
    “Ah. As in Taming of the… ”
    She nodded. “They didn’t even test the formula on lab animals before they administered it to us. They just assumed it’d be safe since it was derived from some other drug. Well, it wasn’t. Nearly killed me. I spent months recuperating—waiting for my body to adapt to the changes.”
    Shit. She wasn’t kidding about being a mutant. “Uh…and what, specifically, were the changes?”
    She blew out a ragged breath and held her hands out in front of her face, drawing her fingers into fists and opening them. “I have a doctor—a specialist . We haven’t quite catalogued everything. I get examined every three months to make sure my cells aren’t coming apart, but the major things right now are that my vision is extremely enhanced. I see at higher magnification and also further distances. I’m faster than I was. More stamina. Oh, and my reflexes are ten times faster than they were before. Never try to draw a gun against me.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind. Were there other women in the study?”
    “Yes. That’s the reason my agency is Shrew and Company. My staff members were all victims of the study.”
    “You all have the same problems?”
    She shook her head. “No. It affected each of us bit differently. We all have the same doctor, though, and she’s trying to formulate a theory about why certain things mutated in each of us. It hasn’t been easy because there’s no research on this kind of thing.”
    “Thank you for telling me.”
    “Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate finally being able to unload that on someone, but…you believe me?” Her brow furrowed. It was obvious she was concerned about the state of his mental wellbeing and not her own.
    He shrugged. “Of course I do.”
    “Why?”
    All right, sweetheart. Here we go . He skimmed the pad of one thumb along her jaw as he considered the wording in his mind. She didn’t react outwardly, but when he scented the air, he caught a whiff of her arousal. It was instantaneous. Poor Dana must have been just as hard up as he was. He chuckled as he dropped his hand.
    “Remember how I told you I’m on my ass trying to claw my way back up?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I was being literal. That’s the reason I don’t think what you’re saying is all that fantastical. I know a little something about mutations.”
    “Do you?” She didn’t look like she believed him.
    “Oh, yeah, sweetheart.” He leaned in close to her ear, inhaling her scintillating, womanly scent, and squashing his very base desire to sink his teeth into her neck and hold tight. He whispered, “I’m here in this under-furnished cabin away from civilization—letting my kitchen manager flail around—because when I visited this dump last month, I was attacked and infected.”
    She sucked in some air and swallowed hard, his proximity affecting her quite obviously. “Infected?”
    “Yes. By were-animals.”
    “Wuh- were- animals?”
    “Catamounts, to be precise.”
    “W hat ?”
    “Mountain lions.”
    “And you’re sure ?”
    “That they were were-animals? Yes. They shifted back to human form after I concussed one with a whiskey bottle and bashed the other with a snow shovel.”
    “And you know for certain you’re one, too?”
    “Given my newly enhanced hearing and sense of smell, I suspect that’s the case. There’s also the…” He put his nose against her neck