She had three silver bullets left before she’d need to reload. Each shot had to count or she was dog meat.
Danny’s dogs hurtled into the clearing, biting at the flanks of the wolves savaging her horse but never letting the beasts’ muzzles near their own hides.
“Kate, hold on!” Sam shouted from astride his bay as he rode in with his gun drawn.
Kate couldn’t take her eyes off the wolves closing in on her. If they’d only pause a moment or move in a way she could predict where they’d be the next instant, she could risk a shot. But she stood, turning in slow circles, her gun pointing outward, but close to her body so they couldn’t knock it away.
Her heart raced, and her breaths shivered as she clamped down on the fear that threatened to seize her muscles. She needed to remain steady, sure—needed like she never had before to hit every target.
One bite and she was a dead woman. If the wolves didn’t kill her, one of her men would have to—those were the rules.
She’d shed buckets of tears over her father’s death, but she’d understood why he’d stuck his pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He’d done it to save her. She’d demand no less of herself.
Danny broke into the clearing and took aim at the wolves covering Lucy Lu.
“Kate, I’m going to try a shot. Don’t move too sudden,” Sam said, sliding from his saddle. He raised his weapon and sighted down his barrel.
But Kate had to turn to keep both wolves in sight. Suddenly, one lunged inside the circle, and she jerked off a shot, missing the cur who quickly returned to circling her, its fur raised in hackles on its back and its fangs bared.
Devils! Hell’s spawn! She hated and feared these creatures. And she didn’t care that most of them hadn’t entered their present state willingly—they earned demon’s souls the first time they turned their appetites toward a human.
“Dammit, I can’t get off a shot. I’ll hit you,” Sam said, his voice tight with fury.
“Take it, Sam. Better a bullet than a bite. Do it,” she commanded.
A gunshot rang out; dust lifted as it burrowed in the dirt at her feet. As if the shot was their signal, one wolf turned to Sam, and the one remaining faced off with Kate.
She stared it in the eye, knowing even if she could get off a shot, it would be too late. At that moment of clarity, she pulled back her trigger.
The beast leaped, the shot hitting it dead center in the chest, but his momentum set him on a path to take her down.
She braced herself, but a movement crossed the edge of her vision—a blur so fast, she couldn’t understand what she was seeing.
Something knocked the wolf aside.
When it rested on top of the wolf, holding it down as the silver worked its poison through the beast, Kate blinked and found Ty braced over it, his chest heaving and his arms bulging with effort.
Kate swayed on her feet and caught herself before she crumpled. A quick glance around the site and she saw more soldiers spilling into the clearing, blasting the last of the wolves into oblivion.
Sam stared at her, his arm dangling by his side with his weapon pointing toward the ground. He drew a deep breath. “You all right?”
Kate nodded and swept her gaze from head to toe over him. “You?”
“Not a scratch.” His lips curved upward. “Damn, but that was close.”
Relieved they’d both been spared a bullet that day, Kate settled her gun into her holster and turned back to her horse, lying in an ever growing puddle of blood. Lucy Lu’s sides billowed.
As she came around to the horse’s head, Kate saw the deep gashes beneath her throat.
Her horse was dying.
Kate dropped to her knees beside her old friend and smoothed her hand over her muzzle, not caring that tears tracked down her cheeks. She knew what had to be done, but she couldn’t let go.
Her daddy had helped her train the horse, spending endless hours watching them ride in circles around the corral. She leaned close and kissed her and looked into her wild, brown eyes. Then she drew her gun from its holster.
“Baby, let me do it,” Ty said, kneeling beside her.
She gave a savage shake of her head and leaned back to place the muzzle of the weapon to Lucy Lu’s head. The shot dulled Lucy Lu’s eyes in an instant, and Kate dropped the gun in the dirt.
Strong arms closed around her, and she turned to snuggle her face in the corner of Ty’s shoulder. Sobs tore from her throat, tears flowing to wet his t-shirt, but he held her as they knelt in the dirt, crooning nonsense into her ear and rubbing her shoulders and back.
“Kate.”
Sam’s voice broke through her pain-filled haze, and she drew back to look over her shoulder.
“Look at his face, sweetheart.”
Kate lifted her gaze to Ty’s face and gasped. His handsome features were a gruesome mask—heavy, protruding brows, fangs curving over his bottom lip. Even his dark eyes were changed—narrow, vertical slits against gold disks. A monster held her inside the circle of his arms.
That he hadn’t traded his mask for his human face told her something—either he was still too caught up in the moment, too angry to remember…or he wanted her to see the real him.
The longer he held her stare, his chest barely lifting with his shallow breaths, the surer she became it was the latter. She lifted her hand and traced the shape of his heavy, hooded brow. “You aren’t ruled by the demon inside you. Not like them. I understand now,” she said quietly.
The bony mask melted, reshaping into his strong, sharp-edged features. “I’ll understand if you can’t accept that part of me. I’ll still take you and yours to safety.”
Her hand crept from his shoulder to his nape, and she grasped his hair to pull him closer. With her lips a breath away from his, she said, “I’ll take all of you, Ty.”
* * *
For Ty, her kiss felt like absolution—a purifying burst of heat that cleansed his soul. He wrapped his arms around her and slanted his face to deepen the kiss. When they came up for air, he realized they were still sitting in the dirt beside her dead horse.
He pressed her face to his shoulder. “Don’t look. I’m going to take you back home.”
A trembling shook her slender frame, and she ducked her head. “Sorry, I’m such a wimp. I always feel like this afterwards.”
He shared a smile with Diego. His aftermaths usually involved breaking something. Tears, he’d learn to handle. “It’s okay,” he said and kissed her hair. “You can lean on me.” He started back down the trail to his Hummer, but Sam Culpepper stepped into his path.
Sam’s gaze fell to Kate snuggled against his chest, and his jaw tightened.
Ty gave him a moment to accept her choice, and then stepped forward, forcing the other man to make up his mind quick how he wanted to handle it.
Sam stepped back and turned away. “Gather the horses, men. Let’s ride back to the house.”
* * *
Kate hefted her suitcase onto the rear of the transport, surprised when hands reached around her to help her. “I can manage this myself, Ty.”
“I know. I want to help.”
She let go of the case and stepped away, turning for a final glance at the ranch house.
Sam stood on the porch with Shep and Danny beside him. They’d already said their goodbyes, and she was through crying. She gave them a little wave and headed toward the Hummer at the lead of the caravan.
“You know,” she said over her shoulder, “I’m not going to let you fight all my battles.”
“I had a suspicion you’d be stubborn,” he said, his voice a sexy rumble, closer behind her than she’d thought.
Her mouth stretched into a grin. Their easy banter helped. As she’d packed a few precious photos, the clothes she’d need, and loaded the few horses she knew she’d want to bring along, she realized that while she’d miss her home, excitement stirred inside her.
While Ty stowed her daddy’s gun beneath the seat, she glanced around her one las
t time. “I love you, daddy. Watch over Sam,” she whispered.
With Ty’s hand at her elbow, she climbed into the passenger seat and faced forward—toward new life. One she was finally ready to embrace.
About Delilah Devlin
She's lived in Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Ireland, but calls Texas home for now. Always a risk taker, she lived in the Saudi Peninsula during the Gulf War, thwarted an attempted abduction by white slave traders, and survived her children's juvenile delinquency.
Creating alter egos for herself in the pages of her books enables her to live new adventures and chronicle a few of her own (you get to guess which!). Since discovering the sinful pleasure of erotica, she writes to satisfy her need for variety--it keeps her from running away with the Indian working in the cubicle beside her!
Having established a career as a hot, erotica author, Delilah recently inked a two-book deal with Avon.
Readers may visit her on the web at www.delilahdevlin.com.
Spicy, sensual love stories which leave a reader breathless, intense plots, alpha males, strong heroines and sizzling dialogue—find it all at Whispers!
www.whispershome.com
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