Love or not, he meant them no harm. The reverse was not true, so she could not stay.
She was dimly glad the book was hidden as she stepped forward. “Let’s go.”
“Why did you bring him to our home? What could you expect except active war?”
She looked at Asher to see him clutching the leather around his neck. She didn’t know the personal significance, but she knew that meant he was close to shifting.
She closed her eyes. “Please, just let us go.”
The chainsaw revved.
They were not going to be that lucky.
Asher took off the paperclip.
“No.”
“You’ll bring me back.”
“Asher, no!”
He ripped off his shirt and flowed into the wolf. Its gray fur seemed to glow in the sun.
Then, before she could speak, the chainsaw, lightning, a net, and a sparkling potion all came hurling toward them.
The world turned on its head, and all air left her lungs as the wolf knocked her to the ground. When reality stopped spinning, she found the wolf standing over her with one paw possessively laid on her chest.
She put her hand around its foreleg to try to get it off her because, while it was only a little bigger than a normal wolf, it seemed to be twice as dense. However, the moment her fingers touched fur, a connection snapped into place between them, and she was thrust into the labyrinthine mind of the wolf. Impotentrage warred with ancient protective instincts that clashed with a deep urge for self-destruction.
As they rolled again to avoid the next round of projectiles, Penn caught sight of a glistening fang and a drop of venom on the tip of long canines.
“Damn,” she whispered, in awe of this proof of the snake.
“Hold still!” someone shouted.
She wrestled to a crouch as the wolf kept dodging and deflecting.
“We mean you no harm!” she shouted, her hand woven into the fur at the wolf’s scruff, whether to keep up with it or stop it, she wasn’t sure. She tried to reachAsherin there, but there was no hint of him. She was so terrified he was gone but couldn’t worry about that now.
“You bring a wolf into our home and send a stampede after us and you dare say you haven’t caused us harm!”
Penn bit her lip rather than point out the stampede cameafterthey attacked her and she’d told the animals not to hurt anybody, but she doubted that would help her.
The wolf growled.
They had to get out of here.
She looked around wildly. She had no idea how to make that happen without bloodshed and nearly sprawled on her face as the wolf nudged her back, preparing to leap.
Give me a minute.
It looked back at her with such a human look of incredulity, it hurt her heart.
She crawled back toward the house frantically with a half-formed plan to retreat when her knee brushed a garden hose.
It might be enough of a distraction…
She closed her eyes and sought out the animals around. She couldn’t cause another stampede, not in Silver Spring, but shehad one little task to attend to. She found the animal she needed asleep in a hollow of a nearby tree.
