Page 19 of Furever Loyal
“Oops,” he yelped, going down in a heap as the wooden door exploded into kindling.
Instead of stopping or slowing down, the unknown Canim had just lowered his shoulder and accelerated. Now he plowed into Kincaid’s midsection, sending him flying. Kincaid grunted as he bounced off a metal workbench, denting it, and was flung face first into the floor as it abruptly changed his momentum. He barely managed to get his hands up to stop his head from rebounding off the concrete.
“Can you hurry up and win?” Haley hissed from underneath the table, her presence catching him by surprise.
“I am winning,” he said. “Everything is under control, don’t worry.”
She rapped her knuckles off the dented sheet metal of the tabletop. “This is under control?”
He shrugged. “Mostly.” Then he had to move aside to avoid being attacked again, yelping at how close the punch came.
“Stop running away.” His foe was getting angry.
“Make me,” he called back. “I would gladly stay, but I need to find out why your boss has such a hate on for me. If you tell me that, I’ll happily beat the shit out of you.”
“I told you, I don’t know. I don’t even know who you are.”
“I don’t believe you.” He ducked under another swipe, this time pausing just long enough to slam a fist into the man’s kidney as he slipped past.
“Well, that’s too bad,” the Canim said, wincing in pain as he straightened. “Enough.”
Kincaid relaxed for a half-second until he realized the man wasn’t asking for a truce but was declaring he’d had enough of Kincaid—and was going straight for Haley now.
Something in his mind snapped, and Kincaid went berserk. He leaped over another table and flung himself at the enemy. His fists rained down like hammer blows as he bore the man to the ground, roaring with anger as images of Haley being harmed flashed through his mind.
He picked up the wolf shifter, hurling him clear across the warehouse. As he did that though, his enemy kicked out, catching him in the head. The blow rocked Kincaid around, driving him to his knees, even as he heard the crash when the man slammed into racks of tools on the far wall.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he snapped.
Haley’s strangled cry brought his head around to look at the pile of debris and human across from him. Except it wasn’t human any longer. Not completely at least. Clothing ripped as the Canim shifted, his joints jerking and reshaping even as thick whitish-gray fur started to sprout over his skin. Bones cracked as the shifter’s face rearranged itself, jutting forward in a muzzle.
Bone-white teeth flashed as the wolf scrambled to its feet and snapped at him, reddened eyes glaring daggers before it rushed forward and threw itself at the rear door. The metal swinging door ripped from its hinges and the wolf disappeared outside.
Kincaid ran to the door, but the creature was long gone, leaving no trace, other than the door’s claw marks. He didn’t give chase. Although the wolf was larger than anything native to the planet—at least, anything that currently lived, outmassing even the extinct dire wolves by over a hundred pounds—it was still faster than he was, in either form. The fight was over.
Pulling the door closed as best he could, he turned to regard the warehouse. Maybe he would find something in here?
“Haley?” he called, ducking down to peer under the tables when she didn’t immediately respond.
His blood still boiled at the image of the Canim going after her, but he forced the anger down. He’d protected her. It was safe now, she could come out. He even told her that, searching around for anywhere she might have taken refuge.
But she wasn’t there.
His eyes followed the trail of wooden splinters from the door and back into the office area just as the door clunked, unable to close completely. She was taking off.
“Aww shit.”
Kincaid ran after her. He’d hoped she hadn’t really seen what happened. All the lights had been off inside, only the few small windows letting light in, but apparently, it had been enough. She’d seen the wolf—whether or not she’d seen the man change was up in the air, but he remembered the noise she’d made. That told him all he needed to know.
She’d seen it happen. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Kincaid hadn’t expected to run into a fully-fledged member of High House Canis. Not out here, in some nothing business. What the hell had he been doing here?
That’s not your concern right now. Go get Haley. You need to talk to her. To calm her down before she does something stupid. Like, call the police.
He darted out the door, moving faster than any human. Immediately, he looked at the SUV parked across the street, but she wasn’t there either. Footsteps sounded to his right, and he took off.
He had to find her. Before she did something even he couldn’t protect her from.
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