Page 63 of Salvation

He knows the second he sees her. That’s the easy part.

She remembered the moment she’d laid eyes on him at the door to the saloon the first time they’d met. How strong the pull was even then, how hard it was to see him hurry by.

The hard part is making sure he’s worthy of her,Todd had explained in a choked voice.

A teary cry broke from her throat, and the bear glanced back.

“Todd,” she whispered, staring into his impossibly blue eyes.

He chuffed, and it was a mournful sound. Then he turned back to their attackers and swung a paw spiked with four-inch claws.

Todd. Claws. Paws.

Holy shit.

Anna took a deep breath and dried the handle of the golf club with her shirt. Every movement seemed too slow, like her mind, but she had a grasp of the basics at last. Wolves, bad. Bear, good. Fight to the death.

And damn it, she was not going to die.

Her mind zoomed from the biggest overview to the tiniest details, like the fact that her hands were all sweaty, and she needed a good grip if she wanted to help Todd fight the wolves off.

“They want to kill everyone. Teddy, too,” she cried.

The bear bellowed and swept forward, going from defense to attack. Wolves snapped at him from all directions, darting in and out, working as a team.

Yeah, well. She could do that, too. Anna stepped forward, holding the golf club up, looking for her chance.

One of the wolves darted forward, focused entirely on the bear. She gripped the golf club with both hands and brought it crashing down between its shoulder blades. The wolf yelped, fell, and then crawled away, whimpering like she ought to feel sorry for it.

As if.

The other wolves bayed in outrage. The bear took another step forward, challenging them.

A challenge that was met instantly. Furiously. The bear — Todd? — took care of most of the assault, but Anna covered his left side enough to let him focus on driving them back. With a mighty swipe of the left paw, he hurtled one wolf aside. It yelped and lay still. The others cut in and out, looking for an opening.

All of the men were in wolf form now, and Anna didn’t have to wonder which was Emmett LeBlanc. If the scar hadn’t given him away, his commanding yips would have — yips that consistently sounded from the relative safety of the back of the pack.

“Coward,” she muttered.

He showed his teeth.

She cut the legs out from under the next wolf who ventured too near, and Todd finished him off with both sets of claws.

Both sets, she noticed. He favored the right paw, but it was just as effective as the left.

Deadly, in other words.

Still, they were one bear and one human against seven determined wolves. Whatever the wolves’ misguided mission might be, it drove them to risk their necks again and again.

Get them!She could practically hear the order coded into Emmett’s snarls.

The wolves hung back for one second then jumped forward at once. Todd lunged forward to meet them while Anna stood a step behind, swinging at the one wolf who seemed assigned to take her on. A smart one that waited for her to swing wide then attempted to dash in. Its teeth clicked together an inch away from her knee, and she stumbled back, landing on her rear.

Todd roared and loomed over the wolf, then reached out with a massive paw and struck. The wolf tumbled before crashing into a rock and going limp.

Deadly limp.

Todd looked at her, and she swore he was about to reach a hand out to pull her to her feet before he realized it was a paw.

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