by Mandy Rosko
Gordon glowered at him. "He's dangerous enough."
Hadrian coughed to return their attention to him. Though he was being ignored, he was no more menacing for it. "Do we have a deal?"
Gordon clenched his jaw. Mike could see him fighting for control of himself, but his answer came quickly. "I am not the kind of man to send a member of my pack to die."
Hadrian stabbed his finger out in Mike's direction, spittle flew from his mouth. "He's not of your pack!"
"He is now. As for the stone, well, there is no proof that it was actually yours to begin with. Leave immediately before we resort to drastic measures."
A tiny seed of respect cracked open inside Mike’s chest. At least the man took care of his own.
Without hesitation, Brock’s giant fingers worked on the tiny buttons of his shirt. He removed it, his jeans and boots, and calmly morphed into a giant of a wolf.
His head reached well pastpassed Mike's stomach, almost to his shoulder. Brock’s lips pulled back, revealing his fangs. He snarled, hackles raising.
Mike’s jaw dropped. God damn. He’d seen transformed werewolves before, but Brock was an enormous monster.
Hadrian gasped and stepped back.
Bill smirked. "The warlock from legend was always terrified of the creatures he created."
“He did scream like a girl when I attacked him,” Westley said with a smirk.
"You will all suffer for this!" Hadrian screeched, his voice high pitched like a woman’s. He never took his eyes from the wolf slowly advancing on him.
“I came peacefully, when the sun is high and I am without my men. I should have known you monsters would be so uncivilized.”
Brock’s head lowered and he stepped forward.
Hadrian stepped back, his body trembling and fists clenched.
"If he’s scaring you then, by all means, leave," Bill said. "Magic or no magic, you’re outnumbered and you can’t call your soldiers with the sun so high."
Hadrian's eyes literally blazed fire when they landed on Mike. Licking flames spurted out his mouth and through the gaps in his teeth as he snarled. "I will return for you, Edward. I will kill you, you filthy peasant!"
Edward?
Images from the visions suddenly came flooding back; one man dying on the ground while another is surrounded in the woods. Mike met Hadrian’s fiery stare with a cold one. "I won't lay down and die like the rest."
Annie turned her head to him, no doubt thinking of the visions he’d told her of.
Hadrian's eyes widened at the challenge before anger flooded back over his face. "Since the dragon is not here, I shall start with him. I had no difficulty finding you. I shall have no trouble finding him!"
"Wait!" Westley yelled.
Hadrian raised his arms and his body exploded into a cloud of black smoke that rose into the sky. He drifted away with the breeze, his maniacal laughter ringing through the air until the cloud vanished in the distance.
Westley grabbed his father's shoulder and forced him to face him. "Dad, we can't let him kill Chris."
Gordon glared, pointing a meaty finger in Westley’s face. "If you’d done what I said to begin with, he wouldn't be involved in this, would he?"
"But—"
"He's a dragon. He'll be fine on his own. Even if Hadrian tracks him down, Christopher can defend himself."
Annie touched her pack master’s shoulder, her eyes begging. “Gordon, please don’t do this. Hadrian’s afraid of us and we outnumber him. Chris doesn’t have those advantages.”
Gordon shrugged her arm off, dusted his leather jacket, and turned as though to leave.
Mike stepped forward, blocking his path. "With all due respect, you're keeping me here against my will, specifically because you think when he kills me my blood will be on your hands. What's the difference now?" He didn't know why this pack was so against dragons and he didn't care. He couldn't allow this man's judgments to kill an innocent being.
Mike’s words made the older man glare.
Bill’s reasoning voice came next. "He's right, Gordon."
The pack master swore and turned his face to the sky. "Christ, of all the... Fine! Annie, call him and tell him what's going on, if he feels safer on the ranch, that's fine. But. I don't want either of you near him."
Annie ran and kissed Gordon's cheek. Mike got the impression she hadn't expected him to do so much. "Thank you, Gordon."
His eyes didn’t soften. “I mean it. Neither of you are to go near him.” He pointed his finger at Westley again. “Not one step.”
Though his jaw was clenched tightly shut, Mike could tell the younger man was running his tongue over his teeth. “Understood, Sir.”
“Good.”
Annie released her master, spared Mike a glance, and ran off to the main house. Probably for the phone.
He wished he could go with her so he’d know which room it was in. Maybe if he asked her nicely, put her in an unguarded mood like he’d done earlier, she’d tell him where it was.
Or, should it be a cordless, have her bring it to him.
Mike put the idea away for later. His stay was extended so he needed to watch Gordon's habits; when he left his house and for how long, so Mike could break in.
"Looks like you’re here for a while yet," Gordon said, mirroring his thoughts.
Mike bit back his irritation and nodded.
"No, Brock, you might as well stay that way," Gordon said to the giant orange wolf, who was collecting his clothes with his jaws. "If Hadrian's so afraid of werewolves, it's better if you keep like that while Mr. Carter stays with us."
Brock let out an agreeable bark when Gordon took his clothes for him.
"Here," Gordon tossed him something. Mike didn't realize it was his wallet until he caught it.
Mike stared at him curiously.
Gordon stared back. "Hadrian brought it. Said it was useless to him now."
Panicked, Mike flipped it open. Nothing was missing, not his ID, two credit cards, or even the thirty dollars in cash. Only when he was eased with the knowledge that nothing had been stolen did he shake his head at himself.
Stupid, he thought. What would an all-powerful, supposedly immortal warlock need with money? The man probably had a stash of medieval gold coins hidden away somewhere.
Something much worse suddenly dawned on him. "He knows where I live."
Mike watched Gordon turn away and walk out of sight, a shiver shaking his spine.
"You're right, he does know where you live," Bill said, his arms folded enough to keep the chill out of his old robe. "The town, street, apartment. The wallet was probably how he tracked you here.”
Mike sighed as the answer came. “Of course. Dowsing”
All you needed was an object, something the person you were trying to find cared a lot about, or carried around. With just a single hair it was possible to magically trace someone.
He couldn’t go home. Not anymore. Not until Hadrian was dealt with.
“You don’t have anyone waiting for you back at that apartment of yours, do you?”
Mike looked at the man, deciding to ignore the fact that he’d looked through the wallet as well. “No. My family doesn’t live in that city.”
Gordon nodded. “You're safest bet would be to stay here until we figure out what to do."
“My safest bet is Griffon City with about a hundred men behind me with guns.”
Gordon glared at him. “Not going to happen. ‘Sides, you wouldn’t make it back to the city before he found you.”
Mike knew that. He was just pissed.
Even with perfect traffic, it would take too long to drive from California to New York State. He was stuck.
Whatever. He needed to get over it already. Hadrian had already made it known that he would stoop as low as taking his revenge out on innocent people. On Annie. That was more than enough reason for him to stay, if only to make sure she stayed safe.
If he was going to help then he needed to get as much information as possible about what
was going on with that dragon. "I thought werewolves were open to adding mostly anything to their packs. Why is it a problem if your son is friends with a dragon?"
Gordon snarled and turned away, but not before Mike caught the gleam of light against his perfectly white, perfectly sharp incisors.
Touchy subject apparently.
A hand gripped his shoulder. It was Bill. “Come on, son. I’ll take you back to your cabin.”
The man’s gentle voice had Mike moving without caring that he was being led back to captivity.
Great.
Then Bill spoke, his voice low with secrecy. "I’m only telling you this because you’re a policeman. Understand?”
“Yes,” Mike said, eager for someone to willingly give him information.
Bill didn’t look at him, just stared straight ahead as though they weren’t talking at all. “Gordon has decided for the sake of peace in the pack that Westley will marry my granddaughter. Christopher is a threat to that marriage."
Mike abruptly stopped. "She's engaged?"
***
Anne dialed the number and breathed a heavy sigh when Chris picked up.
"Wherever you are, leave. You're not safe."
"Okay, hi to you, too. What's going on?"
"That guy last night? Yeah, he found us. And, because Gordon wouldn't hand Mike over, he's coming for you."
Chris's tone suggested that hearing someone was out to get him didn't even cause him to blink. "Mike?"
"The guy we rescued last night!" sShe shrieked. "Someone's going to try to kill you. Doesn't that scare you?"
"So, explain why he's coming after me. I didn't think he even saw me."
Gordon didn't own a cordless phone, so when she paced the cord tangled around her waist and arms. "It wasn't just Mike he wanted, he wanted Westley too." She decided to leave out the part where he demanded her as well.
Her body warmed from her toes to the hair on her head as the image of Mike, angry and indignant, came to mind. He’d immediately leapt to her defense when Hadrian had suggested it. Looked ready to rip that man a new one.
She heard a scramble on the other end of the line. "What?"
Anne rolled her eyes, pulling herself back into the present. "Obviously Gordon wouldn't allow it, so Hadrian's going after you until he can get his hands on Mike."
Chris sighed with relief and Anne clenched her teeth. "Did you hear what I said?"
"I did, but for a second I thought it was worse than it really was.”
She grit her teeth. How could the idiot think that this wasn’t just as bad?
“Okay, I'll pack some things and head out,” he said. “Been meaning to take a vacation for a while anyway. Shame I have to be alone."
Anne grinned. "You don't have to be. Gordon invited you to stay here."
She could see his shocked blink in her head. "Really?"
"Don't get ideas. I'm thinking he's going to put you in one of the empty houses. Or even the barn. Then maybe lock you inside."
She pictured the wheels in his head turning as he thought about how to get around that little obstacle. "Hmm."
Footsteps stomped up the deck outside. Shit! "I've got to go. Get down here fast."
She hung up just as Gordon stepped out of the mudroom.
He stopped at the sight of her. She smiled nervously, took one step, and was forced to a stop by the cord still wrapped around her. Her eyes went back to Gordon as she untangled herself. "Sorry."
Gordon walked by her, slamming a pile of clothes onto the coffee table and picking up the moon stone. "I tell you one thing, he certainly seems to believe he's Lord Hadrian Vaughan. Whether or not your new boyfriend is actually the first werewolf is another thing altogether."
He eyeballed her hard.
Anne tensed. "There's nothing going on between us. I was only introduced to him this morning." Irritation over his suspicion flooded her. She ignored the little voice in her head reminding her she'd tried to kiss Mike less than a half hour ago.
He glared at her over his shoulder. "See that it stays that way. You're getting married to my son. We've had this argument before and my decision isn’t going to change."
Feeling brave, she prodded, "Then why are you bringing it up? You're the one who said Mike's my responsibility."
Gordon slammed the stone down. "I'm beginning to doubt that decision. It's hard to keep your head clear in the middle of the night when one of your pack mates comes home with an unconscious man."
He stared long and hard at her, as though trying to see through her. "Can I trust you to not get attached? I've seen him looking at you." He sniffed the air. "I can smell his scent wafting around you."
"I'll let him know I'm off limits." She had no intention of doing that, but Anne stood straight and kept her voice firm so there would be no doubting her words.
His distrust radiated off him. "See that you do. I have to contact some people to see what they think about the situation that we're in because of that rock. No point in going back to bed now."
He walked away, down the hall and out of sight.
The door to his office slammed. Anne rolled her eyes and stalked off.
He knew perfectly well she and Westley didn't want to get married. Who she decided to sleep with until the wedding night was none of his business.
If only she had the balls to tell him that.
When she got back to Mike's cabin, Brock was sitting outside the door. Still a wolf and panting with his tongue out in the heat. "I'll bring you some water in a minute."
He yapped enthusiastically. Anne opened the door and let herself in, eager to see more of her guest.
She didn’t feel any less nervous though. The way he defended her against Hadrian made the inward pull she felt towards him grow stronger.
Did she want to continue what nearly happened in that bedroom with Mike because she was attracted to him? Or because she wanted to spite Gordon?
He sat on the old couch, which faced the door now, as if he moved it like that just so he could glare at her when she came in. Kind of like how he and Brock were glaring at each other the last time.
His eyes froze her blood. She stopped without shutting the door. "What happened?"
"You never said you were engaged."
She felt like someone cracked a mirror over her head. She wanted to worm away someplace small and dark and die. In a panic, her defense left her lips before she thought about what she would say. "I'm not engaged."
"Oh?" He raised a brow at her. Anne gulped. "Your grandfather seems to think otherwise."
She scowled at him and slammed the door. She didn't want Brock hearing this. "You look kind of mad. Wanna tell me why you think it's any of your business? Even if it were true," she added.
"I tend to become insulted when a taken woman doesn't mention she’s off limits."
She blushed. Yeah, she did almost kiss him. Still wanted to. Even now, sucking in deep breaths, she could smell him. His earthy scent surrounded her and made her warm. Which was completely wrong since he was so mad at her.
"Not that it matters anyway," he continued, "since I as only planning on tying you to the bed before making my escape."
She gasped. The earthy scent was sucked from her lungs as though a Dyson had been put over her mouth. "You were going to what?"
He leaned deeper into the couch, slung his hands back to cradle his head. Not the posture of someone who had the intention of being nice.
She clenched her fists. All the attraction she’d felt was replaced with sickening rage. She wished for a witty retort but it didn't come. "You son of a bitch."
He wagged a finger at her. "Leave my mother out of it. She has nothing to do with loose women."
She flew at him, regardless of the consequences or how the rage took away her reasoning. She wanted blood, her hands forming half claws as she lunged for his jugular.
He was calm, collected, and therefore faster.
He grabbed her wrists and turned out of the way of her attack. T
he force of her surging body was used against her as Mike spun her around and threw her to the floor.
He twisted her arm behind her back and added enough pressure for her to remember that she was the one who was supposed to be keeping him safe.
She grit her teeth against the tightness increasing in the muscles of her arm. Mike’s heavy knee came down between her shoulder blades and she couldn’t move an inch. Her shift immediately stopped. She’d barely realized that the wolf hair was growing from out of her pores. That didn’t stop her from being angry at her position. "If I so much as raise my voice, Brock will come charging in here."
"And he'll bite me, which will change me. If that happens, you know what the law says will happen to him. I saw your claws coming out when you jumped at me. Did you know that changing someone against their will is a serious offence?"
"Only if I'm in Griffon city. Outside that place you're no better than a mercenary."
"True, but then you would have some serious explaining to do, considering that you brought me here and all, Princess."
The nickname was like a slap in the face. She shifted under him so that her cheek would be more comfortable on the hardwood floor. She also wanted to see him. "I never asked for people to call me that."
Disbelief rolled off him. "They just do because of your winning personality?" He shook his head. "Right."
She tried to buck him off but he added more pressure to her arm. The steep pain held her still. "I'm serious. Gordon is forcing me and Westley to get married. We don't want to!"
***
Mike all but flew off her. So that was it. A forced marriage.
"I'm sorry." He offered her his hand when she turned over. She looked at it, then him, before accepting.
He lifted her with little trouble. Though she was tough as a mountain lion, she weighed about as much as a feather pillow.
"I'm sorry," he said again. "I didn't think werewolves still did arranged marriages."
She shrugged one shoulder and took two steps away from him. "This is kind of an extreme circumstance for Gordon. I mean, Westley and I grew up together. And, look at us. Most people think we're brother and sister."
He didn't think telling her he thought the same thing that night at the bar would be a good idea. He was curious about what she said before that. "What kind of circumstance warrants an arranged marriage?"
