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  “I knew the pink would look perfect. It’s my favorite,” Sara said. She and Kat occupied big easy chairs while Lana sprawled on the floor with her back propped against the sofa that Savannah occupied.

  “Are you guys going out with the men tonight?” Despite her many arguments with Moon, he had refused to let her hunt for her father and Anton with the other wolves. The damn man was so overprotective and she felt left out. After all, she was a wolf. She could run with the best of them.

  Kat sat with one leg looped over the arm of her chair and was currently swishing it lazily back and forth. “I think so. Hope we get some decent leads tonight. I know Gabriel is getting very frustrated. Those Snow Wolves are sneaky bastards.”

  “They are,” Lana said. Her nerves were shot. She’d never been the most patient person in the world and she was practically itching to get this over with and send her former pack on their way. She had a new home now. “Our white coats are really distinctive and there is no camouflage for us here in Texas. I can only think they’ve found a remote place to hole up during the daylight hours and are being very careful at night. They have to know they’re being hunted.”

  Sara smiled humorlessly. “Naturally they believe they’re hunting us but it’s actually the other way around, isn’t it? Can’t wait to send them packing.”

  Lana had come to learn that Sara wasn’t a she-wolf to be messed with. “Can I just please tell you both again how great it is that you’re helping with this situation?”

  Kat, definitely the quieter of the two, sipped from her soft drink can. “No biggie, hon. That’s what friends do. Wouldn’t you do the same for us?”

  “In a heartbeat. Just call my name and I’ll be there.”

  “On that you can depend and never worry. Sounds like a song to me.” Savannah started singing in an off-key voice and the popcorn flew when she was pelted.

  Lana rolled her eyes. “You are corny, babe, just corny as hell.”

  “That’s why you love me.”

  Lana grew quiet for a moment or two. “And I do, Savannah. Do you know that?”

  “I think I’m going to cry.”

  Glancing up, she saw the tears and realized Savannah wasn’t joking. “Aw, honey. Don’t.”

  “Don’t know why I’m so emotional these days.”

  “I do,” Sara stated matter-of-factly. “I’m guessing it has a whole lot to do with Sam Rainwater. You’ve been awfully quiet about that and there’s definitely something brewing with you guys.”

  “I can’t talk about it. Not now.”

  Kat sat up and leaned forward to prop her arms on her knees. “We’re not going to push you, Savannah. But we’re here when you want to talk about it, okay?”

  Lana hadn’t heard anything about Rainwater’s history and she was curious about this big wolf who had Savannah tied in emotional knots. “What do you guys know about Sam?”

  “Not much really. He is definitely a lone wolf,” Kat began. “He showed up at the Wolf Creek Ranch a couple of years ago. His sister Julie had been kidnapped because, like Sara and me, she is a gifted lycan. She possesses psychic powers and was abducted by some really bad creeps. Sam couldn’t save her alone, or so he said at the time. I suspect Sam can do pretty much anything he sets his mind to but I think he knew he was outnumbered. He wasn’t going to risk Julie’s life so he asked Joe for help and got it.” She shrugged. “Anyway, he moved into a line house at the edge of the Wolf Creek Ranch property and has been there ever since.”

  “Do you think he has powers too?” Savannah posed the question in a quiet tone.

  “Nobody knows,” Sara replied. “If he has them, they haven’t been displayed to any of us.”

  Lana leaned forward and set her elbows on the coffee table. “Mad told me you two are of Eastern European descent. I am too. Where does your line originate?”

  Sara smiled. “The Ukraine. We’ve never been there but we descended from wolves who have a variety of supernatural powers. Our father and mother weren’t gifted but we figure that maybe the gifts skip a generation or something. We really don’t know for sure. It’s a fact we’ve never met anyone else from our line so it’s a mystery. What about you?”

  “Siberia,” Lana said. “And as far as I know, no special gifts, just a lot of meanness.”

  “Hm, maybe those subzero temps have something to do with that. I can’t imagine living in such a cold place,” Savannah mused.

  “I’ve never been there actually and have no desire to visit.”

  Savannah bent down, put her arms around her from behind and hugged her. “You don’t need to, honey, your place is right here. This is where you belong.”

  * * * * *

  After dinner that night, Mad and the others prepared to head out into the countryside to watch for the Snow Wolf pack. The entire group was gathered outside in the drive discussing various places where it would be best to track or just keep watch. Trucks were lined up along his circle drive as pack members waited for orders. He glanced at Lana and just knew there was going to be a problem with her tonight.

  Her chin was set at a defiant angle and her lips were tight. She wanted to pitch in with the hunt but it wasn’t happening. Kat and Sara stood next to their mates, ready to rock and roll, but these she-wolves possessed talents that Lana didn’t. Bottom line was, he wanted her safe and so she would stay right here. Five or six strong wolves, a mix of the Texas Rogues and Wolf Creek packs, lounged on the front porch knowing their job was to stay right here and protect Moon’s woman. Savannah was staying to keep her company. What more did she want?

  “Madden Moon, this is ridiculous.” Lana planted her hands on her hips. “The Snow Wolf threat is to me. I know you’re trying to protect me but this is my thing, my problem and my family.”

  “I’m your family now and believe me, babe, we’re making it official soon so you can just cool your damn jets.” For the first time ever, he was pissed at her. Couldn’t she see he was just trying to protect her? Moving until he hovered over her, he put on his meanest look but she wasn’t buying it. She settled her hands against his chest and gave him a puny little push.

  “Don’t you dare try to bully me, Mister Wolf. I’m going.”

  “No, you’re not. Your beautiful ass is staying right here.” Okay, he was really starting to lose it now. She seemed not to give a rat’s behind that the entire entourage was listening in. “You belong to me and you’re my responsibility.”

  She got really quiet, which was never a good sign. “I don’t belong to anybody. Don’t forget who you’re talking to, Moon.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong because in every sense of the word, you belong to me. You’re thinking right now that I’m just like dear old dad or that prick Anton. Believe me, darlin’, I will never be fond of giving you the back of my hand like they did and despite your tough talk, you know it. So do you think that I’d let you anywhere near them? Grow up, Lana. Stay here where you belong.”

  Tears welled in her eyes and damn it, she might as well have ripped his heart out but he had to take a stand with the stubborn woman. He reached out for her and she jerked away. She was acting like a brat, that was for sure, but he didn’t like being responsible for her tears. Feeling helpless, he turned and noted that everyone else seemed conspicuously occupied, as if they hadn’t witnessed the exchange.

  Fuck!

  Just then, his cell phone rang. The number belonged to Lincoln Calder, who was scouting activity far north of Sweetridge. There were a lot of vacant hunting cabins in that area that he’d wanted to check out. “Talk to me, brother.”

  The news Linc shared turned out to be a good solid lead, the first they’d had in days. The savage urge to hunt roared to life and his heartbeat accelerated. He hated leaving Lana when she was pissed at him but it couldn’t be helped.

  Once he disconnected, he faced the others. “Linc has been checking out some hunting cabins north of here so we’re going to start there tonight. Some of the guys are staying to watch Lana here a
t the house so I think we’re all set. Let’s get moving.”

  As everyone started piling into trucks, he looked at Lana, who shook her head sadly. “I can’t believe you’re leaving me behind again.”

  He moved close and pulled her against him. He felt her resistance at first then she finally relented and sank against him. “Please try to understand. I would die before letting them get to you and we have to find them before it happens.” When he stepped away, he glanced at Savannah, who stood watching them quietly. “Watch out for my mate, okay?”

  When she nodded, Moon slid into his truck and glanced over at Ringo, who was riding with him tonight. Ringo smiled, something the stern lycan seldom did. “She’s a fierce little thing, isn’t she?”

  Mad looked at Lana standing with Savannah at the bottom of the steps to the house and nodded. “You’ve got that right, brother. It’s one of the things I love best about her.”

  Several hours later, the group had investigated the entire area. Moon shook his head and turned to Linc Calder and the other lycans. “You’re right, Linc. They were here and not long ago. No question about it. How many do you think there are?” Mad had his own estimation but wanted verification from the others.

  Gabriel Dunham shrugged and looked out over the wooded area. “I figure a dozen or so. They’ve been staying in the cabin and bunking in the woods around here for sure. What’s really bothering me is, where are they now?”

  A sense of impending doom gnawed around the edges of his brain and he glanced at Ringo whose attention was riveted to a figure in the distance.

  Sam Rainwater stood with his hand on an outside wall of the cabin. His head was back, eyes closed. The stoic lycan was inhumanly still. He suddenly dragged a deep breath into his lungs and then turned, his gaze razor-sharp. “We need to get back to the house, Moon. They’ve taken the women. No time to lose.”

  Chapter Ten

  Working in the kitchen was not soothing in the least but as the night wore on, Lana’s nerves began to frazzle. Together she and Savannah, who was also abnormally quiet, washed and put away dishes from the evening meal and had tidied up the den from the hours of movie-watching earlier. Being edgy was a major factor in her world these days but tonight it seemed as if the very air was laced with tension. Savannah obviously felt it too. Later they moved back into the den and turned on the television but Lana mainly stared at the screen, comprehending little of what she saw.

  “I have a bad feeling,” she finally said, shaking her head. “I don’t know what it is but I’m so damn jumpy.”

  Savannah blew out a breath. “Thought it was just me. I didn’t want to make things worse for you by saying anything.” She looked at her cell phone. “They’ve only been gone a few hours. I doubt they’ll be too much longer. Maybe we should just give up and go to bed? I’ll curl up in the guest room until everyone gets back.”

  “Do you really think we can sleep?”

  “Oh hell no, but it’s better than sitting here like a couple of potential victims of the zombie apocalypse.”

  Lana sighed and stood as she hit the button on the remote to turn off the television. She and Savannah had just walked from the room when they heard a series of sharp growls and several masculine cries.

  It sounded like a dogfight but she knew that wasn’t the case. She and Savannah exchanged wide-eyed glances and together raced to living room windows that gave them a clear view outside. Roughly a dozen white wolves fought with the men who’d stayed to protect them. Moon’s men were outnumbered. Several of her protectors had shifted and obviously others had been caught unaware and had been attacked before having a chance to shift.

  “We need weapons.” Savannah yelled. “Where does Moon keep his rifles?”

  “I don’t know. Don’t know that he even has any.” Feeling panicked and knowing she had to help the men who lay injured on the ground, Lana began to strip.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “What does it look like? I’ve got to go out there.”

  Savannah grabbed her. “You can’t. You can’t fight them off alone. Stop and think!”

  “No time for thinking.” Naked, Lana looked at her friend. “Find a shotgun if you can and for gods’ sake call Moon while I try to hold them off. My father is out there, Savannah. He may not like me very much but I don’t think he’ll kill me. I have to buy some time.” Lana rushed to the front door, shifting as she launched herself off the steps and into a large area of lawn at the side of the house. Harley, one of the first wolves she’d met since coming to town, lay dead, his eyes staring sightlessly upward. A white wolf, his muzzle red with Harley’s blood, snarled at her. Lana moved low to the ground as she advanced, her ears back. An answering growl shook her chest. This good man had died protecting her but she wouldn’t let this lycan take anyone else.

  Fierce rage mixed with the natural savagery of her wolf as she met the male midair and they rolled together over the grass. He sank his teeth into her shoulder but with adrenaline pumping through her veins, she barely noticed. Her jaws opened over his throat and ripped until the larger wolf lay bleeding on the ground. Gone.

  She’d never taken a life but she couldn’t think about that now. This was the nature of battle. Spinning to take in the scene, she noted Moon’s wolves were largely overpowered. It wasn’t for lack of strength. They were simply outnumbered.

  A low snarl drew her attention and she instantly recognized Anton as he stood near the edge of the fighting, his silvery eyes narrowed in his wolven face. Aside from her father, he was the only creature who had ever intimidated her and that fear affected her now as she backed away, purely from instinct. He advanced slowly across the yard and the nearer he moved, the faster her heart pounded.

  Suddenly a shriek from the house caught her attention and she turned to see two naked men, Snow Wolves, dragging Savannah down the front steps. As she struggled with them, she tripped on the stairs but they caught her with firm grips beneath her arms. Savannah fought like the wolf she would one day be, but her strength was outmatched.

  In moments of distress, it was common for a lycan to shift rapidly from human to wolf form and it happened to Lana now. Worry for her friend, the terror of it, caused her body to flash wildly back and forth until she lay in a naked heap in the yard. Weakened from the event, she struggled to her feet and faced them.

  “Don’t hurt her!” She’d yelled the words but even to her own ears, the declaration seemed faint. “Please. No more. I’ll come with you.”

  A familiar frightening voice reached her and she turned to see the powerful Tomin Vronski watching her, a smirk on his handsome face. He was fully clothed, his shock of white hair, so much like hers, shining in the moonlight. Obviously he found her distress amusing. Anton shifted into his human form and stood beside him. Unlike so many others of their pack, he had dark hair. It was slightly long, framing a sharply edged face. Lana’s father looked at her disapprovingly and sent his stern gaze over her naked body. “For the sake of the gods, put some clothes on.” He glanced at Anton. “Go with her but make it fast.”

  Anton gripped her elbow and Lana shuddered at his touch. Her former fiancé, the man who believed he owned her, smiled unpleasantly. He leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Best get used to it, sweetheart. You’re mine now.”

  Frantic, she looked at her father as the sounds of lycan battle dimmed. “Don’t hurt Savannah. She hasn’t had her first shift. Even you wouldn’t hurt an innocent.”

  “Hm. I wouldn’t be so certain of that, daughter.” He looked past her shoulder. “Take the woman back to the clearing and if she gives you any trouble, tear her to pieces.”

  Savannah sent a fearful look in Lana’s direction as she passed with the two men who held her. Lana tried her best to convey her hope, love and confidence but then Anton roughly pushed her forward until she stood in the foyer of the house. He looked around, a sneer on his face, before turning his attention to her. “You’ve been fucking someone in this house. I can smell it. Y
ou stink of another wolf.” He leaned closer, his nostrils expanding as he sniffed her face. “Ah Lana, my dear, you have seriously underestimated me if you think I’ll let this go unpunished. You are mine.”

  Lana opened her mouth but Anton backhanded her across the face. The power of the blow propelled her across the room until she crashed into a wall. A framed picture crashed to the floor, its glass splintering on the shiny hardwoods. Blood filled her mouth, coppery-tasting on her tongue. Already her lip began to swell. Anton threw her jeans and tee shirt in her direction and they fell in a heap on her lap. “Get dressed. You’ve already cost me enough time and energy.”

  Praying as hard as she’d ever done before that Savannah had managed to call Moon, Lana pulled on her clothes and hurried back outside with Anton. Five wolves lay dead on the ground and others sprawled over the grass, injured, moaning in pain, but the Snow Wolf pack had no mercy for their wounded brothers and left them as they climbed into several large SUVs and headed out into the woods.

  Lana had a feeling her father wasn’t done with Moon because they stopped in the clearing by the creek where she and Mad had been spied upon by the white wolves days earlier. Piles of clothing littered the area and Lana realized they had parked here, undressed, and then shifted into their wolves before heading to Moon’s house to launch their attack. The Snow Wolves had made sure their scents were all over the area north of town and, knowing Moon’s men would investigate, sprung a trap.

  Assuming Savannah managed to call Moon, the Rogues and Wolf Creek packs would head back here for a final showdown. The only blessing to be found was that the Snow Wolf pack had seriously depleted numbers now. They’d begun with a dozen and now half were dead or lying injured in Moon’s yard.

  Please, please, let Savannah have gotten through to Moon.

  Ignoring the pain in her face from Anton’s blow, Lana worried about those she loved. Moon was as tough as any wolf she’d ever known but Anton was savage and lived without rules of any kind. He was an evil beast who would seek his revenge on Moon for encroaching on what he saw as his.