Page 9 of Bewitched Before Christmas
It was him they wanted. Maybe he could negotiate a safe passage for her. His life for hers. He shot above their heads as a warning and to let them know he was armed. He’d take as many with him as he could. But if there was any way to save her, he would do it.
Suddenly, they stopped their circling and sat on their haunches as though waiting. But for what? Behind him, Lola gripped onto his coat and pulled herself to her feet, pressing up against him, her breathing fast and ragged. “Are we going to die?” she asked.
“Hopefully not.” He thought for a moment, and right now, he wasn’t too proud to ask for help. “You’re a witch. Can’t you do some sort of spell?” He had no clue what witches did. They were shrouded in mystery. Though it was believed they possessed powerful magic.
“Sorry,” she said. “I don’t know any spells. I haven’t actually learned any yet.”
Great.
He looked around, searching for anything that might give them an advantage, a little cover. A few feet away, a huge boulder stood by the edge of the road. Holding the pistols in front of him, he backed up slowly. The wolves behind him stayed put. He fired a couple of shots over their heads, and they parted. At least Lola would have some protection and they wouldn’t be able to come at her from behind.
A ripple ran through the waiting wolves, and directly in front of him, they parted. A man strode through. All in black, a mask covering half his face, though Lachlan recognized him from the meeting earlier. Now he also wore a sword at his back, the jeweled hilt visible above his left shoulder.
He stopped a couple of feet away. “You care for the wee lassie?” He waved a hand in Lola’s direction. “Drop the guns, and we’ll let her live.”
Lola’s fingers tightened on his coat.
“Shoot me,” the man continued, “and they’ll rip her to pieces before your eyes. There are too many of us.”
The wolves inched closer. The circle around them was three deep. He hadn’t realized the pack was so big. Would he have been more careful if he’d known? Probably not. Perhaps Sean was right, and he had a death wish. If it was only himself, he would have fought. But he couldn’t protect her against so many.
He lowered his arms and let the pistols fall to the snow.
The man smiled. “Sensible.”
“Why?” Lachlan asked.
He shrugged. “Like all your kind, you underestimate us. Maybe we have no wish to join your Council.”
“You could have just said no.”
“But this is so much more fun.”
The man was a dick. “You said you’d let her go.”
“Actually, I said we would let her live.” He smiled. “Not really the same thing.”
Lachlan gritted his teeth. “What do you want? I presume if you wanted us dead then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. So get the fuck on with it.”
The man studied him, head cocked to one side. “You know, you really don’t sound like you come from here at all. Tell me, was it easy to turn your back on your home, your friends, your family?”
What the hell was he going on about? “I have no friends and no family. They’re all dead.”
“Convenient for you.”
“What do you want?”
“Trey here”—he waved a hand at a golden wolf who sat close by—“has taken a liking to your little friend. I promised him he could have her.”
The golden wolf sat back on its haunches, a big happy grin on its goofy face.
Lachlan would kill the fucker if he got the chance.
The man in black leaned closer. “After I’ve had my fill, of course. New wolves are always offered to the alpha.”
Rage filled him. His vision blurred to crimson and his fangs elongated. Fucker better not touch her.
“Lachlan, you’re scaring me.”
