Page 44 of Married to the Wolf

“I can’t even… I don’t understand…” Sophia pressed a hand to her mouth while she gathered her thoughts. “Okay, I get that you and Jack feel like he got the short end of the stick, but I’ve seen with my own eyes Sebastian working hard for your people. You think he should hand everything over to you so you don’t have to work for your money. Surely you get an allowance like all the others.”

“Small change.”

“Get a job!”

Harper let out a shriek of frustration and launched at Sophia, but she didn’t take more than a half step before Ava clotheslined her. The shifter hit the floor hard, and Ava followed her down and pressed a knee into her chest. Harper flopped about like a fish out of water, but her strength didn’t match Ava’s.

“You’re begging to die, aren’t you?” Ava said.

Sophia hurried over to the two and dropped a hand on Ava’s shoulder. “Don’t kill her, Ava.”

Her Guard sneered. “You’re telling me you think she deserves a break?”

“No.” Sophia straightened and smirked at Harper. “Let her live so she can keep living in a trailer.”

Amusement filled Ava’s expression. “You’re colder than I thought. Well, I’ll hold off until Sebastian gives me specific orders. Then if he tells me to, I’m taking care of her.”

“Fair enough.”

The fighting continued on through the rest of the day and into the night. Sophia couldn’t believe the shifters could go on so long. Her energy would have fizzled long before then. As she gazed out her window she could no longer see the wolves. An occasional streak of dark shadow and maybe what could be moonlight reflexing golden eyes was all she could make out. Frequently, a howl echoed across the night, sending chills down her spine. Any second she expected someone to come in and say the alpha, her husband, was dead.

I should believe in him more than that.

Yet, she was scared. With him in a weakened state, the outcome of the battle wasn’t clear.

At long last someone burst through the front door and shouted for Ava. She rushed from Sophia’s room, and Sophia hurried behind her. Sophia thought she recognized the man they met at the base of the stairs. He was one of the residents she met in the community that bordered the Skidaway River, which she visited with Sebastian not long ago. The man had the look of a lower class shifter, the ones without the ability to be alpha or to speak into another’s mind.

“Sebastian wants you to join the fight,” he said. “He’s having a hard time, and if he doesn’t get more support, we’re going to lose.”

“How hard of a time?” Sophia said in a trembling tone.

“Really hard. He needs a fresh Guard. Ava! He asked for you.”

Ava swore and started down the steps, but Sophia grabbed her arm. The shifter glowered at her. “Get the hell off me. I’m going to him. He knows I will always have his back.”

Sophia dug her nails into the flesh where she held Ava’s arm but not enough to break the skin. “Think with your head. He wouldn’t call you away from me.”

“He would if he’s losing strength. You’re just thinking of yourself and making sure you’re protected. If you’re that scared, you don’t have to worry. I’m leaving Diana and Darla here.”

“Come on, come on,” the man at the bottom of the stairs urged. “There’s no time to stand around arguing.”

Sophia ignored him and continued to talk to Ava. “You actually think I care more about my own safety than my husband’s? If so, you’re stupid. It would kill me if anything happens to him, but I also know Sebastian. He’s not taking my best Guard off me to come save his butt. Thank about it, Ava. Sebastian would never risk my life to save his own.”

Ava didn’t say the words “I agree.” She turned on the stairs and leaped from the step she stood on to the chest of the man standing at the bottom. He went down hard, having no time to jump out of the way. Ava grabbed him by the collar and yanked on him to bring him toward her before slamming him down on the floor.

“So you want to betray your alpha, huh?” Ava whispered in a harsh undertone.

The man’s head bobbled as she continued to jerk him up and down.

“No, I love our people. I want to keep us strong. If he stays with her…” His gaze flitted to Sophia, and his face twisted to an expression of hatred that took her breath away.

She stumbled back a little from the steps, and Diana and Darla circled her legs in wolf form. Maybe this was all a mistake. Perhaps she should leave and go back home to Texas where she grew up. She loved Georgia when she moved there three years ago, but it might not be for her.

Sebastian might…not…be…

Her throat closed because she thought hard about running far away this time—back to her hometown. She could endure the longing to be with Sebastian by divorcing him and finding someone else, someone who would just do. They wouldn’t be like the man she loved.

As she thought about what to do, a loud bang caught her attention. She gazed back at Ava and the man to find she had knocked him unconscious. Ava stood and walked to the hall closet. She opened it and brought out a baseball bat

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