by Laina Kenney
If they managed to grab her, she hoped the girl would stay hidden until the furry cavalry arrived.
She gritted her teeth and started quietly assembling some of the cooking implements and stuffing handles into the pockets of her robe. Damned if she was letting them make her a victim again. She wouldn’t just give in and let them do their worst. She would fight.
And aside from bread pans and soup ladles, she had a secret weapon they couldn’t imagine in their wildest nightmares. She had a bodyguard who turned into a wolf.
She heard a whisper of sound just around the corner, and the big overhead light turned on.
She held up her stainless steel ladle and waited, trying to keep her breathing silent.
When a hairy hand reached in and flipped on the little side room light, she swung with all her might and smacked someone hard in the face. The resulting scream was loud and beautiful.
She swung again and landed another solid blow before the ladle caught on the edge of a wicked-looking knife. The knife slid down and sliced a gash in her hand. She let go with a cry and the ladle was wrenched out of her hand and clattered to the floor.
She backed up, reached behind her and grabbed up the professional-grade cookie sheet. She swung again. The clang of metal cookie sheet against head resounded, and the man in front of her went down like a falling tree.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a furtive movement, and she snatched a heavy glass pie plate off the shelf. In one smooth motion, she flung the pie plate horizontally like a Frisbee. A high-pitched screech of pain and a shatter of glass was her reward.
The man on the floor grunted, and she hit him again right on the forehead with the cookie pan and stepped over his body just as Kuhr and Officer John Commander leaped into the room.
Kuhr grabbed Xander from where he cowered against the refrigerator and shook him. Kuhr roared in his face with glowing eyes and fangs that no longer frightened Emma but scared Xander enough that the front of his pants darkened with urine.
“Christ,” Officer John swore and grabbed Xander himself. “Put your fucking fangs away. I don’t want the perp having a heart attack. Harden, get over here and pick up the garbage.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the man moaning on the floor.
Officer Harden trotted past Emma.
“Nice work. I love impromptu tool use,” he said to her as he hauled the man to his feet and supported his lolling head. He saw the knife, and his face changed. He kicked the knife away and jerked his prisoner upright.
“Thanks,” Emma said drily and held up her now warped cookie sheet.
“Oh, aren’t those supposed to be flat? You’ll need a new one,” Harden said. “You a good baker?”
Emma smiled. She did like Officer John’s partner and his dry sense of humor.
“Yes. I’ll send some cookies with you for the ride to the station.”
“Well, thanks!” Harden said, and a smile crossed his face for the first time. He sniffed discretely. “Chocolate chip?”
“You know it,” Emma said, and hurried over to grab a white baker’s bag and a towel before heading over to the cookie jar. She wrapped the towel around the stinging cut on her hand and used her good hand to dole out cookies.
She filled the bag and moved to hand it to Harden when the man he was holding up roused enough to take a sluggish swing at the officer. Emma pulled the bag of cookies back while the officer expertly turned and handcuffed his unruly charge.
“I could hit him again,” she offered, only half kidding. “The pan is already warped at this point.”
Officer John burst out laughing.
“Kuhr, I think I’m in love,” he said and dodged a slow-motion swipe of Kuhr’s claws.
“Emma has better taste than to fall for an overworked fox,” Kuhr said.
Emma’s ears perked up. Was Officer John some kind of a shifter, too? A fox instead of a wolf? Or was fox just some kind of slang? Maybe someday she would ask all the questions swirling around in her head, but not just now.
“Speaking of overworked, where’s the third guy?” Officer John asked.
Emma was fascinated to see Kuhr glance down at his claws. He grimaced and wiped them clean on his jeans.
Officer John swore luridly.
“And just how in the hell am I supposed to explain that?” Officer John asked in outrage. “ ‘Oh, no sir, Your Honor, I can’t produce the third suspect. He’s been eaten by wolves—or, no, I mean he must have skipped bail.’ Forensics is an advanced science, pal. Did you leave any trace evidence? What happens when they find the body?”
“What body?” Kuhr asked politely.
Harden shook his head while John swore again with impressive diversity.
Emma’s hands began to shake, so she belted the robe more tightly around her and tucked her hands into the voluminous pockets where the rest of her kitchen weapons were stored.
She could probably deal with a third attacker because she had a few weapons left, she thought muzzily, and leaned against the wall to hold herself upright.
Emma moved a little to one side so that Harden could get his prisoner past her and got her first good look at Xander. He had a long straight red mark down the side of his face from ear to chin. The red had some interesting scallops in the design, and after a moment, she realized it was from the side of her destroyed pie plate.
She had the insane urge to pump her fist in the air and shout out a war cry. Not that she was bloodthirsty, but he had set her up with his drug dealer boss to be tortured, and she thought of all people, he deserved a little physical punishment.
She looked over at her clawed and fanged mate.
Maybe it could work between a wolf man and a human girl after all, because from the fierce look on his face when he glanced at the pathetic figure of Xander, they had most of the important stuff in common.
Sirens sounded in the distance. It seemed so absurd, and yet somehow so like them to be standing smiling at each other over a torn-up kitchen with a couple of criminals and a couple of cops just hanging around.
“I guess it’s okay if you have a key,” she said and giggled when Officer John gaped at her.
Kuhr smiled and sketched a half bow.
“I thank you.”
“You wolfie bastards are fast workers, I’ll give you that,” John said in mock disgust, but Emma heard the reluctant admiration in his voice. “You’ve already got a key.”
“I had a key a while ago,” Kuhr said smugly, and Emma smacked his arm.
“That’s right, rub it in,” John groused. A group of uniformed cops came in all together. When they started opening cases and taking out baggies and tweezers, John grimaced. “Well, kids, the fun is just beginning. Sorry, Emma, but they’re gonna be a while.”
Emma nodded. She went to make coffee and pulled down the flour and brown sugar for more cookies. Tea just wasn’t going to cut it for a roomful of cops.
Chapter 20
Emma sighed, and she picked up the dustpan again.
Cleaning up the kitchen after the police team had left wasn’t her idea of a good time, but it had to be done. At least Kuhr was helping.
She swept up the last of the broken glass and ceramic into the dustpan and dumped it into the growing garbage bag in the middle of the floor.
“I know I’m different, but I don’t feel any different,” Emma said.
Kuhr stopped, towel in hand.
“You responded quickly to the threat,” Kuhr said, “even though I asked you to remain safely hidden.”
She could tell from the bite in his voice that he was still angry with her over that.
“Yeah, about that. It was unrealistic from the beginning. It was never going to work because I can control myself, but I can’t control where the criminals search.”
He said nothing, but his eyes were fierce.
She shrugged uncomfortably.
“Well, it’s my point of view.”
“You do not obey very well, little mate.”
Em
ma’s head came up.
“That’s right, I don’t. And the sooner you get that in your head, the easier your life will be. Since we’re going to be mates according to you.”
Kuhr dropped the towel in the sink and pulled Emma close to him.
“Yes, we’re going to be mates, according to me. We are mates.”
“I don’t think I’ll make a very good wolf after all. I was still scared. I was angry, but my heart was beating too quick, and my hands were clammy, and I could hardly breathe. I shoved Liliya into the corner and just tried to think, but I couldn’t come up with a good way to get out.”
Kuhr took her hands and pressed kisses to each palm in turn. He cradled her hands against his heart.
“A warrior understands fear. I feel fear, Emma. Never more than when I realized that you were in danger, that the men who had brutalized you had slipped through our perimeter and made it inside. I am certain my heart stopped beating. You are my world, Emma. If anything happened to you, it would be my last day on Earth. Tiber took care of the man in the car, and I ran straight to you with no thought but to wipe out all threats.”
“I love you,” she said and he nodded.
“It is a small word for something monumental, but I love you, too. You are everything, and I felt such fear as I have never felt.”
“You didn’t look scared, you looked scary. You made Xander wet his pants.” She suppressed a wild giggle at the memory.
Kuhr bared his teeth, but his eyes glowed in the way that she loved.
“He threatened you, and he is lucky to be alive. Perhaps a little fright will be good for him.”
Emma laughed then in spite of herself.
“Trust me, that was not a little fright. I thought he would expire on the spot. He got a good close look at your fangs. I thought you guys were supposed to keep that a secret.”
“Officer Commander will convince Xander to lay off sampling his own product and turn his life around. By the time John and Harden get through with him, he will attribute all his visions tonight to the drugs in his system.”
Emma shook her head.
“I wouldn’t make a habit of that.”
Kuhr smiled and nibbled on her fingertips.
“I have a better idea. I will make a habit of you.”
A sweet shiver ran up her spine.
“Sounds good to me.”
He smiled against her throat, and she sighed at the touch of his hot tongue.
“Mate,” she said, and it was a promise.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laina Kenney is a classically trained singer/instructor with a regular job and a deep love of the written word. Her family is supportive of (or perhaps just resigned to) a house full of books in every genre, with ancient history and romance taking up the majority of the space. She cheerfully admits to having a bizarre sense of humor and enough shiny accessories for any ten women. One of the greatest joys in her life is exploring the wonder of testosterone, both in prose and in person.
For all titles by Laina Kenney, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/laina-kenney
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
