Voiceless - M. Sinclair Page 0,5

not hiding,” I pointed out using my hands, knowing that it probably would be useless. Maybe they would ignore me then? One could hope. I felt a bit better about his goofy smile and the light-hearted air around them. They just seemed very human, and very drunk. There was no malicious intent coming off them. Nor the intensity I felt coming from the stranger whose eyes were drilling holes in my face.

“Is she using sign language? Shit. I don’t know sign language...” one of them asked while leaning over the seat behind me.

I cringed back at the smell of whiskey.

The other sat down across the bus aisle, all of them looking at me with drunk curiosity. He frowned. “So you can’t talk? Can you hear?”

I nodded, feeling frustrated I had to explain this yet again. However, this was better than being afraid of them.

Before they could say anything, a massive shadow fell over me and a deep voice caused shivers to roll across my skin. “Come up front, baby. Enough of this.”

Huh?

My head snapped up, and I felt everything spark inside of me, something lighting up in my chest like a gold thread. My fox almost forced a whine through my throat as I stared blankly at the man over me.

Well, holy shit. This man was beautiful. Think Mount Olympus; perfect chiseled chin, massively muscled, and god-like beauty. This was ridiculous. No one needed this type of perfection around them. It was distracting as hell.

His face and blonde hair still looked damp from the rain, his stunning gold eyes that seemed to contrast his massive, manly frame were like liquid metal. Okay. He should not have eyelashes like that. They were so perfect. Sweet Christ. What the heck, man? He could not be real.

I swallowed, realizing that the magic radiating off this man in dominant comfortable waves smelled of shifter. Something I should have recognized, but you know I’d been distracted… by his perfection and shit.

I should have found this man scary. I had no experience with shifter men except for my father. I should have felt safer around the humans. Instead, I nodded and stood up with my bag. Surrounded by his warm firewood scent as he tucked me into his side, leading me towards his seat. I barely heard the mumbles from the others over the blood pounding in my ears as desire crashed through me.

This was a stranger. I just had to keep reminding myself of that. Maker. My self-preservation skills were seriously lacking. What the hell was going on with me right now? I couldn’t look away from his tight jaw and heated eyes, even as I slid into the seat, his large frame caging us in intimacy.

“Can you really not talk?” he asked quietly. His voice had a rough but almost playful tone to it once we were alone.

I blinked at the stunning god-like man as I tried to process what he was saying. What was even going on right now? I mean, I couldn’t be the only one feeling this right? Hell. I didn’t even know this man’s name. He could be a serial killer.

No. I didn’t really think that though.

“No, I can talk just fine. I just enjoy not being able to communicate with people,” I signed, feeling sarcastic as his brow furrowed, clearly not understanding me. This totally sucked.

I reached into my backpack, taking out the small spiral notepad, and wrote the same thing.

He broke out into a deep chuckle, making me smile because it was probably the best sound in the entire world. He seemed to relax a bit, placing an arm behind me on the leather seat.

I leaned into the body heat that seemed to radiate off of him. He wasn’t touching me, but the action still felt intimate and oddly comforting.

“What are you doing on a bus so late at night?” he asked gently, his voice filled with concern.

I wrote quickly. “I was headed to LA. I missed my bus… so I took the only other bus I could afford. Figured Willowdale Village sounded cool.”

He smirked at the clear dry humor I was trying to offer but then he nodded, his eyes searching my face. “Do you know anyone there? Family? Friends? Boyfriend?”

I blushed as he growled out that last part almost hesitantly, like he didn’t want to know. Damn. He should not growl. It was way too sexy on him. My little shifter heart was losing its shit right now.

I knew this man was acting far more intense