Someone who could stand at her side, the way Colin stood next to Jay. Eden grabbed Lorelei’s hand and squeezed it once. “I need you to keep the others out of my way. If someone comes through that door, I’m giving in to the wolf. And I don’t know if she’ll know how to stop fighting once she starts.”
“No one else is running into this fight,” Lorelei murmured. “No one else could. Just you.”
Footsteps whispered on the other side of the door. Eden released Lorelei, inhaled deeply and caught the scent of wolf and something sharp, almost metallic. No, not a scent, a taste—like chewing tin foil. It raised the hair on her arms and curled her lips back into a snarl as the doorknob twisted slowly.
In the corner, Tammy whimpered, high and terrified, and Eden knew who was coming for them, even if she didn’t recognize the tall, coolly handsome man who pushed open the door.
Lorelei snatched a pistol out of the back of her waistband. “Get out, Christian. Now.”
Talking, not shooting. If Eden were any good with firearms, she’d have snatched the thing out of Lorelei’s grasp and shot the bastard herself, but distraction now could prove fatal. “Shoot him,” she whispered, dragging power up from the depths of her being.
Christian laughed. “Shoot me? Lorelei doesn’t shoot people. Lorelei rolls over like a good bitch and does whatever it takes to keep a man distracted. Don’t you, pretty pet?”
Her jaw clenched, and she gripped the butt of the gun so hard her knuckles turned white. “I’ll find a way to do it this time,” she whispered. “For them.” Her thumb eased the safety button off with an audible click.
Christian laughed again, a sound full of grating disdain riding dominant power. It shredded through Lorelei and smashed into Eden, and for the first time she recognized the true difference between them. Lorelei swayed as if the power had snuffed out her will.
Eden felt nothing but rage. Clean, sweet fury.
The gun slipped from Lorelei’s limp fingers, and Eden caught it in midair. Time constricted as the wolf flooded her, turning an awkward grasp into a smooth spin. Grab the gun. Push Lorelei back toward the others. Eden swooped up to face Christian as she squeezed the trigger.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one who was fast. Her two bullets sank into the doorframe as Christian disappeared into the hallway. She lunged after him, still firing, aware of only one thing. She had to drive him away from her people, away from trembling Lorelei and terrified Mae and Tammy’s little boy, who had seen so many monsters already.
Silence in the hallway, not even footsteps. And then Christian’s voice rang out from nowhere. “You might as well put it down, sweetheart.”
Eden edged into the doorway and peeked in both directions. The short hallway leading to the front bedrooms stood empty, all of the doors still shut. To the right, the craft and sitting room was a cluttered mess, stuffed with Mae’s sewing and stacks of unpacked boxes, but no wolf. Not unless he was hunched in the blind corner opposite the sliding door.
Lifting the gun, she took one careful step forward. “I won’t have any problem shooting you.”
“Won’t you?”
The disembodied whisper shivered past her. Eden spun toward the front of the house again, but no one was there.
The metallic taste had returned, sharp and bitter in her mouth. Magic. “You’re such a fucking coward you need to hide from a bunch of women and a crying kid?” she demanded, straining to listen for the reply. It had to have a direction.
A low, husky laugh. “Do those mind games work on the shitheads around here?”
She swung in the direction of the sound and fired, but the bullet dug uselessly into the far wall. “I’m not the one playing hide and seek.”
“No.” A door slammed across the hall—Zack’s door. “How many bullets will that little gun hold? How many have you fired?”
Eden groped behind her for the doorknob and hauled the door shut behind her. With her back against the solid wood, Christian couldn’t get into the room without going through her.
She almost hoped he’d try. Right now she thought she could gladly rip out his throat without shifting forms first. “Almost enough bullets to bring backup. Want me to fire a few more out the window to bring the men running?”
“You could try.” A force slammed into her hand, knocking the gun free. It landed with a thump and skittered down the hall.