Page 60 of Quest of the Wolf

“Can you be here at dawn?” I was tempted to head out that very night, but Duncan needed some sleep.

“My phone says that’s 7:56 am tomorrow.”

In the winter, it was hard to get an early jumpstart on villains. “Yeah, work usually starts at eight, so it shouldn’t be that hard for you to make it then, right?”

“I’ll bring extra coffee.”

“Good. I think we’ll need it.”

19

I wokeup in the dark, the clock promising dawn wouldn’t arrive for hours, but my heart was hammering. I’d heard—orsensed—something. Was that the roar of a motorcycle in the distance?

When I’d had allies around, I hadn’t been that worried about the threats from the local thugs, but, alone in the night, with that painted message on the living room floor and my apartment still in disarray, unease crept into me. I might be a werewolf who’d learned to once again embrace her powers, but I was far from immortal. And, once again, I had no weapons with which to defend myself.

Another distant engine roar sounded. I didn’t sense anyone magical nearby, but that didn’t mean no danger lurked.

While hurrying to dress, I checked my phone to see if anyone had texted or called. The night before, Jasmine had gone home, but Duncan might be nearby, sleeping in his van. Knowing that bolstered me as I stuffed my feet into my shoes.

When I pushed aside the curtains, moonlight trickled through the window, wakening the magic in my blood. This problem mightbe better dealt with as a wolf, but after getting Rue in trouble, I hesitated to change into that form, at least here at home. Besides, I didn’t know what had woken me. With busy streets nearby, roaring engines weren’tthatuncommon, even before dawn.

I texted Duncan to see if he was up, then slipped outside to listen for trouble. The shattering of glass greeted me, followed by a car alarm wailing.

Jaw clenched, I took two steps, intending to run to the parking lot to defend my territory as a human, but a surge of anger and annoyance with the ongoing situation swept into me. My skin heated from within as magic pricked at my nerves.

My first instinct was to try to tamp down the wolf again, but I was too frustrated. No, I waspissed.

Yanking the clothes I’d donned back off, I stepped back into my apartment. I kicked off my shoes, threw my pants and shirt on a chair, and left my phone on the table by the door. As I ran out and around the corner of the building, I dropped to all fours, fur sprouting as my magic turned me into a wolf.

Feeling protective, territorial, and irritated, I raced toward the parking lot. More glass broke. The car alarm continued wailing, the high-pitched noise hurting my sensitive ears, but I kept going. As I rounded the buildings and ran across the lawn toward the parking lot, gunshots fired.

Maybe that should have made me pause and approach slowly to assess the situation, but frustration continued to be my overriding emotion. It propelled me forward, making me run faster.

When I spotted the first man, one of the leather-wearing brutes who’d threatened me the day before, I sprinted toward him. He crouched behind a car with a gun in his hand, but he wasn’t looking at me. He pointed it toward the side of the parking lot near the street, at a target I couldn’t yet see.

Duncan? The one I wished to be my mate?

His rolling den was in that direction.

Worried he had come out and was the man’s target, I sprang.

My snarls must have been audible over the wailing alarm because my target turned before firing. Eyes bulging, he whipped his gun around to point at me. Faster than he, I struck his chest with my body as my jaws snapped for his throat.

He jerked his arm up quickly enough to protect his vulnerable neck. I sank my teeth into that limb instead, biting deep. Crying out, he stumbled back and struck a car as he tried to pull free.

We tumbled to the pavement together, and I released his arm, but only so I could aim for a more vital target. Big and strong for a human, he flailed wildly, kicking and shoving at me. I didn’t manage to reach his throat, but I clamped down on his shoulder. His collarbone snapped under my powerful jaws. He screamed.

Elsewhere in the parking lot, more shots fired from several different positions. His allies.

My instincts told me I would be in danger if I stayed in one place. Reluctantly, I released the man, though the savage part of my magic that I couldn’t control was trying to rear up, trying to get me to finish him off.

The human world kept intruding upon my sanctuary and those I protected. I wanted to end the threat once and for all.

As I backed away, staying between the cars for cover, the gunshots continued. A bullet slammed into a car, but it was many yards away. That surprised me. Wasn’t I the target of these intruders? No, I remembered Duncan. I could sense him on the far side of the parking lot. He must have drawn their ire.

I loped down the walkway and around a set of large metal boxes, trying to circle the men to reach Duncan without crossing through the gunfire. When I glimpsed him, also in wolf form with his fangs bared, he faced a big brute in dark clothing. As I raced toward them, intending to fight at Duncan’s side against the threat, the man fired at him. Immediately, the intruder jerked his handgun to the side to shoot over a car at someone else.

In the distance, sirens wailed, a new obnoxious noise in addition to the car alarm. My human side would have understood its significance, but, as a wolf, I knew only that the loud sounds hurt my ears. I longed to escape this place and run into the woods.

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