Wolf at the Door (Wolf Winter #3) - T.A. Moore Page 0,61

go?”

Danny looked at her and then away. He had played human too long if he was embarrassed by nakedness. A split second later, Danny jerked his head back and looked down.

“Are you pregnant?” he blurted.

Bron rolled her eyes at him. “No, I’ve just not farted for a while,” she said. “Is that what you learn at your fancy human schools, how to state the obvious?”

“I just…. Mam never said,” Danny spluttered.

“Why would she?” Bron asked. “You’ve not met it. Why would you care more about it than your own sister? Gods, you’re dumb.”

“Yeah, well, I bet that baby can’t wait to be born so it doesn’t have to listen to you all day,” Danny shot back. “I just rescued you!”

“Rescued by a dog,” Bron said. “I’ll tell everyone that.”

Jack tightened his hand protectively on Danny’s shoulder. “Danny, come on,” he said. “She’s what she is.”

“Don’t tell him what to do,” Bron snapped. “He’s not your pet.”

She shoved him out of the way, getting a growl from Jack, and threw her arms around Danny. For a minute she must have forgotten that he was the dog, because she squeezed him so tightly he grunted.

“I bet you were scared,” she said. “But I told you it’d work.”

Danny rested his face against her dark curls. “Yeah. You did.” He looked up at Jack. “Now we need to get out of here before the prophets realize we’re alone. Mam’s looking for a fire, but—”

Jack gave Gregor a baffled look for a moment—at least their sibling hatred was straightforward—and then shook his head. “But we’re not,” he said. “Danny, get Bron and the kids out of here. Gregor and I will cut the dogs loose. They might be prophets and monsters, but they’re still just blood and bone. We can end this.”

No. They couldn’t. The dogs would die, and Gregor supposed he might too in his current state, but they could hurt the prophets enough that they’d be easy prey for the wolves.

“Let’s go,” he said as he peeled John from around his neck and passed him and the pup to Danny. Shauna scowled at the dog but allowed Gregor to pass her off to Bron.

No one questioned them as they joined the prophets, ragged furs stitched tightly around their naked bodies, as they fled from the thick, oily smoke that filled the house and into the heart of a storm.

One prophet stumbled over Shauna, gave her a startled look, and opened his mouth to raise the alarm. Gregor grabbed him by his stolen skin, dead fur rough and scratchy against his fingers, and yanked him.

Wolves killed with their fangs and their endurance, long bloody hunts over hills and woods until they’d worn their prey down for the end. But Gregor had grown up a farm boy too. He’d wrung the necks of chickens, snapped a car-struck fox’s neck to put it out of its misery. He broke the prophet’s neck with a sharp twist before the man could shout anything. The prophet wasn’t dead, but he didn’t need to be. Gregor dropped him to the ground and left it to the snow to cover him.

Bron flashed him a quick, sharp smile, scooped up Shauna, and ran after her brother.

The dog was probably more use to her and the baby than he was.

It was harder to dismiss the thought than it had been—even anger wasn’t enough to burn it out—but Gregor pushed it to the back of his mind and followed Jack’s footprints around the side of the house. He’d already broken open the kennel cage and was dragging them out.

He stopped, caught on… something.

Rose stepped up behind him and laid a rebuilt hand on his shoulder. The nails still hadn’t grown back on her fingers, and she pressed down with the tender nubs.

“I ruined you,” she said. “Hate me for it if you want, but you hate him more, don’t you? I can help.”

Gregor steeled himself against the terrible lure of her beauty, tried to believe in the ruin he could see out of the corner of his eye. “I already told you,” he said. “I don’t want any wolf from you.”

“Liar,” she purred. The alien bulge of her swollen stomach pressed against him, hot and too soft. He wanted her, a hook in his balls, and he wanted to scrape off the skin she’d touched. “You are a wolf born, Gregor, your da’s true heir. All you are is want. You want your wolf, my grandson, your pack… and I can give them