Love at First Mate - Dani Wyatt Page 0,28
the grizzly charges, drool streaming from the corners of his mouth and I bolt up, knocking the chair over as I step back to the sound of screams from all three of them, huddled together, trying to work the door knob. But even with three pea brains between them, they are in far too much of a panic to twist the deadbolt open.
I stumble back toward the kitchen when my calm, subdued amusement morphs into a new fear.
Raymond throws himself over the sofa, coming around to the back of Ragnar’s bear, reaching into the back of his pants and pulling out his own gun.
In front of me, Orwell does the same, coming back and putting the gun to my head and then shoving me forward like a sacrifice.
I fall into the grizzly’s butt and he turns on a roar to see it’s me, giving D just enough time to squeeze by and trip over the coffee table, leaving him flat on his back with Ragnar’s grizzly bearing down.
“Shoot it!”
“Get out of the way!” Raymond yells at me as the grizzly comes from behind me, but they are too stupid and too slow to see what’s coming next.
Ragnar’s grizzly leaps forward, taking D and Orwell down with each of his massive front paws as I back up, my heart racing as blood flows from both of them as they fall to the floor and start to crawl on gurgling screams in different directions.
The grizzly turns his head for a moment toward me, and I see the flash of Ragnar in its eyes as he growls and jerks his head toward the front door.
I spin, knowing in my heart he’s telling me to get out, and as much as I want to stay and watch the show, sometimes doing what Ragnar says is probably the right move.
I get one hand on the knob, the other on the deadbolt key, and turn, hearing the clunk of the lock as it opens. I start to turn the handle, but as I do there’s a deafening series of what sounds like loud fireworks.
I pull the door open, but look back for a second to see D laying on the floor, his arms extended, smoke coming out of the end of his gun and blood spurting from a wound in Ragnar’s bear’s jaw, as more blood begins to stream down his fur just behind his left shoulder.
“No!” I scream as the grizzly spins. This time it’s Orwell who’s struggled back to his feet and two more shots are fired into the bear.
“Keep shooting!” Raymond screams, turning over and pushing up on his knees, taking aim as Orwell takes another shot. “This fucking bear is not going down.”
I don’t know that much about shifters yet. I do know they are tough, tougher even than their animal counterparts, and I know they can heal, but I also know they are not immortal.
There are only so many shots that grizzly can take.
Fear clutches at my throat as the bear spins, leaping six feet and landing on Raymond, his jaws open, and with one swing of his head he clamps down and tears the flesh from the man’s throat, leaving his hand flailing in the blood for less than a second before the grizzly takes him by what’s left of his neck and shakes him until he goes limp.
Blood flies in a splatter across my yellow walls as Ragnar turns toward the others, but they now have him flanked, guns drawn, as terror courses through me.
“No! No!” I scream, wanting to stop everything. To stop time. This isn’t what I want. I ran away to start a new life. Quiet. Normal. I wanted a banker or an accountant. Someone stable, sturdy…boring.
I didn’t want this.
A man that can kill with the swipe of his paw. Crush bone in his teeth. What was I thinking, getting myself involved with Ragnar?
A shifter.
Still, I lunge forward, running to Ragnar, wanting to stop whatever this is. To hold back the tide of violence. But I know it’s futile. And yet, I have to try.
Another shot rings out just as I get to him. He roars, up on his hind feet, the tops of his ears brushing the ceiling as fresh blood flows from another gunshot wound on his neck.
“Stop this!”
I turn in the center of it all. Ragnar’s grizzly already lunging forward, swiping at the gun with his paw, but instead of connecting with the outstretched arm aiming the pistol, his claws dig into my