Page 15 of Out of Peril

The girl looked at me for only a second. I noticed the tears streaking down her face. And then she threw herself into my arms.

“Thank you for saving him.”

She started to cry hysterically as I held her.

The beast walked away and then sat there staring at us.

“He's okay. We're all just fine. I won't let anything bad happen to you,” I told her.

“You can't trust him, Maya. He's a Collector, remember?” the boy said.

She slowly stiffened in my arms and pulled away.

“I'm not a Collector,” I tried to tell them, but the two of them just glared at me.

Maya suddenly looked around. “Where's Lindsey?”

“She walked down the beach. She probably shifted and is resting. She has to be tired.” Then he turned to scowl at me. “Thanks for saving me, but you can’t have her. We're free now. We’re never going to be part of your collection.”

I had to admit, I was impressed by these two half-pints. They spoke well above their years and with a fierce protectiveness for my mate. There was no way they could possibly know who she was to me, but their mom was special and mine. That made these two mine too.

“I'm not collecting you or your mom.”

“She's not our mom,” Maya blurted out. “We aren't siblings either.”

“Yeah, Lindsey just protects us. We're family,” Dante explained. “That's what family does. They look after each other.”

“Lindsey taught as that.”

My heart fluttered. There had to be good in her for her to adopt and protect these two innocent children.

“I'm not going to hurt you. I'm one of you. Well, I'm not a witch.”

I started to take my clothes off to show them.

Maya shrieked. “Pervert!”

“You're disgusting. Get the hell away from us. Lindsey should have dropped you in the ocean.”

I sighed but quickly stripped and then shifted before them.

Their eyes widened in shock at the appearance of my large wolf.

“He's a shifter?” Dante asked.

“A wolf,” Maya added as she walked over to pet me. “Hi boy.”

Internally I groaned. I wasn't anyone's damn pet.

“Get a stick, Dante. Maybe he wants to play fetch.”

That was it. I shifted back and crossed my arms to glare at her. “I'm not your pet. I'm just showing you that I'm a shifter too.”

“Are you sure you don't want to play fetch?” Dante asked, looking disappointed when I snarled at him.

“It could be fun. We'll probably be here a while,” Maya said.

I pulled my boxers back on but left the rest of my clothes on the beach. The kids were right, we could be here for a while and that meant I needed to get us shelter and food. They were just kids and it was now my responsibility to take care of them.

---