Page 25 of The Seven Rings
“Real or not, it’s in the way. Back up slow. I don’t think throwing wineglasses at it will do much. We need a rock, a big, thick stick. Something.”
As they took a step back, the wolf, dark as the night, stalked forward.
Yoda’s barks grew vicious, guttural in a way Sonya hadn’t known he had in him.
“We have to stay calm,” she said as she struggled not to just cut and run. “She wants fear.”
“Hard not to give it to her. But… why didn’t it just jump us from behind? Maybe it can’t. Just can’t.”
It looked at her, Sonya thought, with a kind of feral hunger that turned her blood to ice. “I don’t have it in me to test that theory.”
In that moment, to her shock, Yoda, snarling, snapping, charged forward. “Oh God, no.”
Even as she rushed after her dog, the cat streaked by her.
Both cat and dog leaped, and what had been the wolf dissolved into smoke.
Because her legs gave way, Sonya sat on the grass. “She didn’t expect that. She didn’t factor that in.”
Yoda sniffed at the smoke, sneezed twice, then hurried over to Sonya.
“They protected us.” She gathered Yoda into her arms. “A little dog and a snooty cat.”
“She wanted us to run.” Cleo picked up Pye and stroked. “It was close, but we didn’t. She wanted us to scream—again hair’s breadth, but we didn’t. And you’re right, she didn’t expect a sweet little dog and a slinky cat to fight.”
“But they did.” Steadier, Sonya got to her feet. “A damn good day.”
“That’s right.” Stepping over, Cleo tapped her glass to Sonya’s. “Here’s to us and our fierce defenders.”
With a nod, Sonya drained her glass.
Chapter Four
Sonya plowed through the week, juggling work projects, taking virtual meetings, and completing a mood board for the additional Ryder project.
She stood studying it when Cleo came upstairs.
“I just checked the Friday spaghetti sauce I’ve got simmering. I got enough going it’ll do for lunch tomorrow if—”
She caught sight of the board. “Well, you work fast.”
“They need the basic pose ideas to get the wardrobe. Mood and activity matter as much as sizes.”
“You’ve got this guy decked out in ski gear, skis included, and a crapload of snow.”
“They want some winter sports shots. They’re doing a model search and hiring a photographer. One of the Ryders has a chalet in Switzerland, so skiing, sledding, snowman building, and so on. And they want my input.”
“First, they really respect your work and your brain. Second, they’re seriously going all out.”
“They do, and they are.”
“And this would be me at the tiller of a small sailboat, and again, doing yoga in a garden.”
“It would.”
“I approve.”
“Good, so did the powers that be.”
