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I frowned and stopped at the giant self-serve water cooler next to the cycling studio.

A dozen bottles of different froufrou waters.

Alkalized, glacier water, caffeinated water, hemp-infused water, and a handful of others.

I chose a plain bottle of everyday normal water.

I wasn’t thirsty, but I wanted to get Lesley’s thoughts off Rick.

I hated thinking of him in terms of his wealth.

He was a person, not a wallet—even if he did try to open that damn wallet all the time.

The way he flaunted money was one reason my mom didn’t care for him.

I always made a conscious effort not to ask for a thing from him, going so far as to split the cost of our dates for the first few weeks we were dating.

Mom had been through too much shit with men for me to fully rely on one, even a guy as great as Rick.

When it came to guys, a solid steel wall had been erected in my mind after years of disappointment with other men.

The biggest hurdle was still to come. Even after all these months of dating, I hadn’t met Rick’s parents yet.

Still strange, given the fact that he’d met my mom and brother not long after we’d started seeing each other.

He talked about his parents like they were perfect, and they had this weird sway over his life.

I could see it in his eyes when he spoke about them.

From what Rick had told me a couple of days before, a meetup would be happening very soon.

Finally. After such a long buildup, the prospect made me so nervous that I wanted to vomit.

His father and mother were from a much more exclusive world, and I was pretty sure that they had never pictured their darling son settling down with someone like me.

Most of my worry stemmed from how they’d react to their million-dollar baby boy ending up with a lowly newspaper reporter.

Lesley took her sweet time choosing which type of water she wanted, finally settling on a bottle of Perrier sparkling mineral water. Pretentious, yes, but a little less so than some of the other options.

The woman manning the front desk waved to us as we strolled by. “Thanks for coming to Sweat It Out. Stay sweaty.”

“Stay sweaty?” I muttered under my breath. “Are they freaking serious?”

“They make them say that catchphrase.” Lesley shrugged as the door closed behind us. “I admit, it is a little goofy.”

The early evening air was cool on my hot skin, kissing the sweat that had soaked my hair as we walked toward the parking garage.

It was one of the few times I enjoyed the cool weather in Toronto.

Something about leaving a gym—even one as snooty as this one—and feeling that cool breeze was refreshing. It made all the hard work worth it.

I wouldn’t admit it to Lesley, but the yoga class hadn’t been all bad. I still preferred jiu-jitsu, boxing, and some nice rusty weights, but I wouldn’t mind if she invited me back sometime.

“Do you wanna go get dinner somewhere?” Lesley asked as we walked up the stairs to the second level of the parking garage. “Sushi? Or that new Indian-Mexican fusion place?”

“I’m not really in the mood for a butter chicken burrito, honestly,” I said. “Sushi sounds good, though.”

Lesley pulled her key fob from her purse and pressed the unlock button.

Her sleek black Mercedes chirped and flashed its lights, illuminating the dark garage.

My little Fiat sat two spots over. The juxtaposition of the two cars wasn’t lost on me—another visual representation of the different levels my friend and I were on.

I pointed at her car. “Random question. What are your car payments for that?”

Lesley raised her eyebrows. “Are you in the market? I know the guy at the dealership. Met him at a bar months ago. He’s been trying to get me on a date ever since. I could probably sweet-talk him into a deal on a used one if you want.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “No, I couldn’t afford it either way, I was just?—”

A low, rumbling growl erupted from behind us, silencing my words and sending gooseflesh running up my spine.

Lesley’s smile faded, and her eyes went wide.

Turning, I glanced behind me from where the sound had come.

Three of the fluorescent lights overhead were busted, leaving nothing but inky blackness.

“Is that a dog?” Lesley whispered. “What if it’s rabid?”

Her voice was laced with worry and fear. That growl hadn’t been totally normal, and it scared me to my core. I backed away, keeping Lesley behind me. Of the two of us, I was the better fighter by a long shot. If this thing was going to try to attack us, I wanted to keep my friend safe.

Another growl shattered the silence, this one more menacing. For a moment, I thought I could see a set of glowing yellow eyes in the darkness. Swallowing hard, I waved at Lesley’s door.

“Get in,” I hissed.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, chaos erupted. Lesley screamed as a man, not a dog, burst out of the shadows, lunging toward me. In the split second after he emerged, my mind reeled with confusion. It had been a dog. I’d heard it. I’d seen the yellow eyes.

The bewilderment had slowed my reaction time.

He closed the twenty-foot gap in two seconds.

I turned, shoving Lesley toward her car.

The man struck me from behind, sending me tumbling face-first to the concrete.

It was only by the barest chance that my nose and teeth didn’t shatter.

I turned my cheek as I swung an elbow back at the attacker.

That twisting movement saved my face and caused my cheek to skid hard on the ground.

The attacker grunted as my elbow caught him somewhere. Face? Neck? Chest? I couldn’t tell; things were happening too fast. All I could hear was the grunt of his breath and Lesley’s shouts for help. Unbelievably powerful hands shoved me down to the ground, and lips brushed my ear.

“Come here, you bitch,” he snarled, his fetid breath washing over my face.

A sharp pain seared at my neck, just below my hairline at the top of my spine.

I cried out in agony. Is he biting me? What the hell was wrong with this psycho?

His teeth dug in deeper, and I screamed.

I jabbed my elbow back again, this time making better contact.

The teeth vanished from my neck, and the pressure on my back abated.

I rolled over and faced my attacker. The lighting was too dim to get a good look at him.

“We need help!” Lesley screamed into her phone.

She continued speaking, but I was only dimly aware of what she told the operator.

I was more focused on the man in front of me.

A blade of shadow sliced his face, cutting it into two pieces.

One part glared at me with rage, the other was obscured and mysterious.

The fact that he wasn’t running, even though Lesley was on the phone with the police, sent another blast of cold fear into my stomach.

This guy had to be crazy, which meant he was even more dangerous than I thought.

He lunged at me again, arms outstretched, fingers bent into grasping claws.

“Fuck you!” I screamed and kicked him.

The bottom of my sneaker smashed into his nose.

The bone and cartilage beneath my sole cracked, and blood spurted onto his lips and chin.

He didn’t even flinch. In a flash, he was on me again, one hand grabbing the strap of my tank top, the other going for my throat.

Before he could make contact with my neck, I grabbed the outstretched hand, twisting it into a wrist lock.

He fell on top of me, and the guy literally snapped his teeth at me, the ivory incisors clacking an inch from my nose.

We rolled on the concrete for several long moments. The guy had no clue how to fight. I almost had him in a chokehold twice, but his reflexes were too fast. I’d have been impressed if I hadn’t been fighting for my life. Each time I almost had him, he slithered or slipped free at the last second.

He caught the neck of my shirt, trying to pull me to the ground.

I pulled back hard, and the fabric tore.

He fell to the ground again, leaving me in nothing but my sports bra.

I didn’t give a shit about modesty at this point and went for him again, desperate to get the guy under control before he really hurt me or Lesley.

In the distance, I heard the wail of police sirens.

Still grunting, fighting, and struggling in the near darkness, I couldn’t get a good look at the fucker. Scrambling onto his back, I wrapped my arm around his neck and tried to lock him in a rear naked chokehold I’d learned only a few weeks before.

The guy threw his hips back and twisted his upper body a moment before I had him and sent me tumbling over his shoulder onto the ground. He growled with frustration and bolted into the shadows.

I lay, gasping for breath, listening to his feet slap on the concrete as he sprinted away. Then, suddenly, the sounds of his footsteps vanished. It was like he’d taken off his shoes and ran barefoot. Strange.

“Jesus Christ,” Lesley said as she knelt beside me. “Cam, are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” I reached up and touched the tender flesh on my cheek. My body ached, and I had small cuts and bruises already forming all across my body.

Lesley gingerly pushed my hair aside. “He cut your neck.”

I reached up. It was a shallow cut. Only a smear of blood came away on my fingers. Maybe he hadn’t bitten me. Surely not. That was too crazy.

Red and blue flashing lights illuminated the darkness as the police cars raced into the parking garage. Exhausted and drained, I leaned against Lesley. She put an arm around me and rocked while the cop cars skidded to a halt, and men leaped from the vehicles and rushed toward us.

“What the absolute fuck was that about?” Lesley whispered.