the revolver from her jeans and flipped the safety off. Aiming ineffectually through the glass, she waited for more movement.
Just as she was ready to give up and make the long walk to the other side of the cabin, where she could hear snarls interspersed with the occasional yelp, two wolves raced into view, then turned to follow the first wolf she’d seen. She didn’t think about consequences or even give herself time to consider the wisdom of taking a shot. Instinct took over. She lowered the revolver and yanked the window open in a mad rush. If she could take out an isolated wolf or two away from the main action, perhaps she could remain out of sight, on the periphery. If she were lucky, no one would catch her scent clear on the other side of the cabin. She would make sure that any wolves unfortunate enough to enter her sights wouldn’t have the chance to alert the rest of the pack.
Almost as soon as she opened the window, both wolves skidded to a stop. They each began to turn in circles, noses in the air. Alarmed by how right Rafe had been about how powerfully their senses were attuned to the smell of human, Katie scrabbled with the revolver for a frantic moment before aiming at the wolf on the left, which was buff-colored and larger than its grey-and-white companion. As the beast swiveled to face her, raising its head to stare directly into her eyes, Katie exhaled and pulled the trigger.
The wolf fell and hit the ground as a nude, motionless man. His companion snarled and leapt toward the cabin. Seconds away from losing her line of sight on the smaller wolf, Katie aimed and took another shot. Then another. The small wolf’s head snapped back and a visible spray of dark blood stained the snow below. She caught a glimpse of a naked female corpse—perhaps the brunette who’d put on that sordid sex show earlier—before she eased away from the window and into the shadows, paranoid about the deafening crack of her gunfire. Her chest rose and fell as she fought to catch her breath, overwhelmed by the reality of what she’d just done. She had just ended two lives.
Two human lives, for all intents and purposes.
Because they weren’t just wolves, were they? Just like Rafe wasn’t just a wolf. They had folks who loved them. Mates. Children. A pack. They had probably even been capable of love and kindness, in their own way.
Katie forced those thoughts from her head. Those ‘people’ she’d just shot looked at her and saw a meal to be consumed or a body to be violated for their sick pleasure. Their pack-mates were attacking Rafe right now. They would have killed her or Rafe in a second, given the opportunity. She might be the only one saddled with the burden of a moral code tonight, but she wasn’t going to let it prevent her from doing whatever it took to survive. Or to protect what was hers.
Full of renewed determination, Katie took a deep breath and moved to the open window again. She raised her gun to aim, then froze, horrified by the sight that greeted her below. Four wolves stood over the bodies of their companions, each of them staring up at her with glowing eyes. Startled into action, Katie fired a wild shot that went far left of her intended target. Each wolf took off in a different direction, all of them advancing on the cabin. For seconds that felt like hours, Katie sat paralyzed, listening. Downstairs, Shilah barked madly as the sound of shattering glass filled the air.
The windows.
Aware that Rafe had probably only bought her a few minutes with his quick boarding job, Katie struggled to her feet and hopped from one joist to the next until she reached the open hatch. She slid the cover into place to seal the attic off, then rushed to the opposite window, determined to take another peek outside before she had to turn her focus toward defending herself. If she had any chance of helping Rafe in whatever battle he was fighting, she had to take it. Now that she’d taken that first shot, there was no point in stopping now.
The barking downstairs hit a frenzied pitch as Katie reached her destination. The sound of Shilah in full protective mode sent guilt crashing over her. She’d left Rafe’s dog—his brother, for God’s sake—downstairs by himself, unprotected and hopelessly outmatched