Page 21 of Teeth To Rip & Tear

I wasn’t fool enough to think they weren’t there for me. Maybe they were there to spy on me, or maybe Joel had planted drugs in my home. Who knew? I just wanted to get into my house and behind the safety of a stoat door before Ieven entertained a conversation with my ex-husband. Especially when Faith, his new child-bride, made it clear that he was lying about his visits.

No one at the Locket police department seemed to care that Faith Hilltop had just turned sixteen—or that Joel was an officer in his thirties with a wedding ring already on his finger.

The pregnancy felt like a kick in the teeth after everything.

Though I didn’t want Joel anymore, I had always wanted a child. Someone to love unconditionally, to nurture and teach.

I took a deep breath, unable to clear the image of my own child from behind my eyelids.

Blood. So much blood.

Maybe that was why I put up with so much from Joel? Because somewhere deep down, I knew his words were true.

I’d been the one to lose our child.

I couldn’t keep her safe in my belly. I was defective. A bad mother.

I shook my head, rolling it from side to side on the steering wheel.

Kaleb didn’t speak but placed a wolfy paw on my shoulder. I felt the weight of his arm and the length of his claws, and though he’d meant for the action to be comforting, it just reminded me of how dangerous wolves were and why I’d asked them for protection.

I wished I could lie, even just once. To assure Kaleb I was fine when I wasn’t. Instead, I exited the car and opened the passenger door to allow the silver wolf to hop out.

I felt a dozen judgmental eyes watching me from the driveway.

Kaleb lifted his nose, sniffing the air.

Then I smelled it, too.

Gun oil. Gun powder. Metal.

More than a standard police issue gun for each officer, the scents on the air suggested an arsenal.

Kaleb nipped my leg, dragging me up the stairs to the front door. My heartbeat hammered in my chest, but I didn’t dare look back.

When I’d imagined Joel coming for me, it had always been in the dead of night. Joel was as subtle as a hammer, fueled by self-righteousness and the need to look like the good guy. I hadn’t expected a mob of humans. There were laws for a reason, and Fae were firmly in the supernatural closet even if Demons were out and proud.

I didn’t even own a gun!

I slammed the door and slid down the wood until I sat on my butt.

Kaleb let out a yip, and I realized he was right. I needed to get away from the door. A screen and a piece of wood wouldn’t stop a bullet. I needed to close the curtains. Would my wards even stop a bullet? They refused entry to those that meant me harm, but a bullet doesn’t mean anyone harm—it's the person firing it that does.

“What do I do?” I whispered. “I can’t call 911. Theyare911!”

Kaleb shook out his fur.

“Call the wolves?” I echoed, somehow reading his wolfy body language. “What can they do against guns?”

Kaleb’s orange eyes blinked slowly and somewhat sarcastically.

“Me?” I jabbed my thumb against my chest. “What can I do?” the question bounced around my head. My gifts lay in small magics. Party tricks.

My grandmother had many books in the basement, but even if I somehow found a defensive spell amongst the hundredsof leather-bound volumes, getting a spell to work the first time was a crapshoot at best.

“Maybe I can reason with them?” I sounded hysterical even to my own ears.

a voice echoed in my ears, so slight I wasn’t sure I heard it.

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