by Clara Cody
He was taking the steps, two at a time, when a gunshot rang out. His heart leaped into his throat. “Sarah!”
“Dane!” she answered, giving him hope again. She appeared at the top of the stairs, her eyes wide. She nearly stumbled, falling down, but caught herself on the railing. “We have to go! She has a gun.”
“Who was that?” he asked, lifting her off the floor. He moved swiftly down the stairs with her in his arms. It was harder now that he didn’t have his wolf’s strength, but he couldn’t slow himself. He had to protect her, keep her safe.
“Donovan. I think he’s stuck in his wolf. I don’t know, but he attacked Anita.”
Footsteps padded towards him. A low, rough growl. Dane turned to see a massive, gray and black wolf appear at the top of the stairs. Its lips were pulled back in a snarl, ears low. Blood stained his gray muzzle.
He barely had time to put Sarah down and grab his gun before the beast was flying down the stairs. It leaped for him, catching Dane’s forearm in between his powerful jaws. “AHH!” Dane howled, feeling its teeth scratch bone. The wolf shook its head fiercely, and the gun flew from his hand, skidding across the marble floor. He forced the wolf away, pushing with the arm it had in its mouth. He punched with all the strength he had.
Another two shots sounded. The wolf gave a jerk and whimpered, releasing Dane’s bloody arm. He looked down at his torn flesh. Blood pooled in the puncture wounds. He looked up the stairs and saw Anita, holding a gun high in front of her face.
“Sarah!” Anita called, her voice strained with desperation. Her arms and face were bloody. “I think I need a doctor.”
He leaped to his feet and scooped Sarah up again before fleeing the house. He’d parked the car down the block so that he could sneak up without being seen. Now, he was regretting that decision.
“Sarah?” Anita demanded from behind them. She was coming down the stairs. One arm hung limply at her side, the other clutched the gun. “Where are you going?”
“Stop this, Anita,” Sarah answered. “It’s over.”
Hatred blazed in her eyes as she raised the gun. “You bitch.”
Dane dove out of the way before she pulled the trigger. He ran, Sarah clinging to his neck. Not to the car; there wasn’t time for that, and they would be exposed out in the street. They needed cover. The forest. Donovan’s property backed into the forest, which would protect them if he could just get to it.
Luckily, Anita was injured and moved slowly. A bullet whizzed by his head. Fuck! She’s a good shot!
“Just go,” Sarah cried into his ear. “Leave me and go get help. I can talk to her.”
“No…way,” he panted.
“I’m just slowing you down!”
Another bullet flew past, making Sarah scream. They made it to the forest and Dane let her down, shaking out his angry muscles. He glanced behind to see Anita limping behind them twenty meters away. “Can you walk?”
She nodded.
Supporting most of her weight, they moved deeper into the forest. But they moved too slowly, and Anita was gaining on them.
“Leave me,” Sarah murmured. She pushed away from him. “I’ll hide.”
“No. No fucking way I’m leaving you again. You’re mine to protect.”
She took his hand in his. “And you’re mine. I can do a cloaking spell. I have more energy now that we’re in the forest. She won’t find me.”
He didn’t like it, but what choice did he have? “Okay, I’ll lead her away from you.”
She nodded, turning. He watched as she crouched behind a wide tree trunk. He could hear her muttering some spell as he took off in the other direction, making plenty of noise.
“I was going to make it easy,” Anita called. She was close now. His plan to let her catch up to him worked a little too well. He lightened his step as she continued. “I was just going to poison you both and let you drift off. Now, I’m going to make it slow.”
He found himself in a small clearing and pulled to a stop with a curse. Eyes glowed out from the darkness in front of him. Unblinking, green. Melissa. She must have wandered away from their track of land.
Dane’s options were limited. There was Anita behind, wielding a gun and chomping at the bit to blow him away, and Melissa in front, a growl in her throat. She was smelling the blood that dripped from his arm. He could imagine her mouth watering, as her wolf took over.
Melissa’s wolf emerged from the darkness, lunging at him. He leaped for the nearest tree, scampering up despite the throbbing pain in his arm. Melissa snapped at his heels as he pulled himself just out of reach. Another shot fired, hitting the trunk of the tree. Melissa bounded into the trees, disappearing.
Anita laughed, coming into the clearing. She looked right up at him, holding the gun. “There’s a part of me that loves the fact that I chased you up a tree.”
She hadn’t seen Melissa, then. Her human eyes must have just seen a dark shape by the tree which disappeared after she fired and assumed it was him.
“I’m all yours,” he said, jumping down. She stepped back, and he noticed how her hands shook. He imagined she must have lost a lot of blood. How she was still standing was beyond him. “If you leave Sarah alone, I’ll go with you.” He held his hands out in offering. “You can do whatever you want. Torture me, kill me. I don’t care. Just leave Sarah alone.”
Her lip curled. “How noble of you. Do you really think you care for her? You’re under a spell! You don’t love her. I spiked your drink, you moron! That night in the bar, I gave you my special little love potion. She was just the first person you saw once it had taken effect.”
He shook his head. “No. I loved Sarah since the moment I saw her. Your potion did nothing to change that.”
She roared just as something massive and dark flew between them. A blast from her gun. A scream. Anita was on the ground, her wrist between Melissa’s jaws.
“Help me!” she screamed, pulling the trigger rapidly. It was no good. The gun was empty. Then, before Dane could do anything, Melissa disappeared in the woods, dragging Anita by the arm.
A breath he didn’t realize he was holding escaped. Anita’s cries grew quieter the farther away she got. He didn’t have time to waste, though. Melissa could kill and leave Anita at any moment. He had to get back to Sarah.
He went back to where he’d left her but saw nothing. “Sarah?” he whispered.
“Dane? Here!” It was like a veil was dropped, and there she was, crouching on the forest floor. She reached up to him. “What happened?”
He lifted her off the ground.
“Is it over?” she asked, her eyes filled with fear.
“Almost over.” His hand cupped her face. He knew they should go and put as much distance between themselves and Melissa as possible. But he couldn’t resist. His lips touched hers.
She pulled away, looking down.
“Sarah?”
“It was just the potion.” She stepped back. “It was a love potion. That’s why Andrew was crazy for Anita. And then she poisoned you, and the next thing you know, you’re head over heels for me.” A tear glimmered in her eye. She sniffed. “It isn’t real.”
“Not real?” He placed a finger under her chin, turning her face toward his. “Sarah, I wanted you since that first moment in the elevator you said I needed my palms waxed.”
She gave a sniffling chuckle.
“And it wasn’t long after that when I realized you were my mate.”
“Really?”
With his thumb, he wiped away the tear that rolled down her cheek. “Really. Right about the time you chewed me out for the first time. It was magic, but not any stupid love spell. It’s fate. I love you, Sarah.”
She laughed. “I love you, too, Dane.” She stood up on her tip-toes to meet his mouth. Every kiss with Sarah was better than the last.
“I know, baby. Come on. We have to go.”
“Okay. I can walk.”
His hand found hers, holding it tight. Together, they walked back t
o town.
Epilogue
“Are you ready?” Dane stood in her doorway. His arm was wrapped up and held in a sling. “I’m eager to get back to Headquarters.”
“I bet you are,” she said, folding the last of her blouses and laying it on top. She closed her luggage and zipped it up. “I talked to Olson, he said they’re already working on an antidote in the lab.”
He nodded, coming towards her. “Yup. Shouldn’t be long now. Andrew, Melissa, Donovan and me will be good as new in no time.”
She had been so relieved that Donovan hadn’t been fatally wounded by Anita’s gun. She’d only managed to shoot him in his hindquarters. They would have to wait until he was human again to know the extent of the damage, but he was alive, at least and in a good wildlife facility.
The police, thanks to the shifters on the force, had found Anita in time. Melissa had left her by the river, bloodied and with a broken wrist. Almost like she’d wanted her to be found. Lance Brody was keeping watch outside her hospital bedroom until the agency could send a team to extract her along with the Donovan and Melissa. Andrew had left for the Agency that morning.
“So, what else did you and Olson get to chatting about?” Dane asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
She smiled. “Oh, you know, just the same old thing.” She sighed. “Good work, here’s another promotion, yadda yadda yadda.”
He lifted her up with his good arm under her ass. “Yes!” He spun her around and let her down. “I knew you’d get it. He’d be an idiot not to promote you.”
“He also told me about another promotion,” she said with a grin.
“Dammit! I wanted to be the one to tell you. Son-of-a-bitch stole my thunder.”
“Don’t worry, baby, no one could steal your thunder.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “It’s a pity, though.”
A furrow appeared on his brow. “What is?”
“That with this promotion, I’d be at headquarters literally all the time. And with yours, they’re going to be sending you out on even more dangerous missions.”
“Trust me, babe, I can handle myself.”
“Oh, yeah? And who’s going to have your back when some blond comes along to spike your drink, huh?”
“You want me to tickle you, is that it?”
She laughed.
“I can do it—”
“I mean it,” she said, slapping his shoulder. She’d given this a lot of thought over the past couple of days. A week ago, this promotion was the only thing in the world she wanted. It was what drove her. Now that she had it, it felt hollow knowing what she was giving up. “I turned it down.”
His face fell. “What?”
“I don’t want the position. I don’t want to be stuck in an office all day, I don’t want to play golf and go to long lunches.” She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I want to have your back. And I want you to have mine.”
“Wait, are you saying—”
“I transferred to Shifter Affairs.” She smiled, imagining returning to that office floor, and the jaws that would drop. “Do you think they’re ready for me?”
He lifted her up. “Babe, I don’t think they’re ready for either of us.” He planted a long, sensuous kiss on her lips. “Damn, woman, do I ever love you.”
“Come on, baby. Let’s give ‘em hell.”
Do you want to find more of Clara Cody’s books?
The Thorne Bears
Her Rogue Bear
Her Alpha Bear
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A Note from Clara Cody
Dear Lovely Reader,
I would like to thank you and all those who continue to enjoy my work and support what I do. Without you, I couldn’t write the stories that I love so much. If you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, I have done my job.
The best way for a reader to support a writer that they love is to leave a review. An honest review helps not only thee author, but readers like you find what they are looking for. If you have a few moments, please feel free to review All’s Fur in Love and War on whichever site you use.
Thank you so much,
Clara Cody