He whirled on Loren, his fists clenched, claws shooting from his fingertips. “You had no right! You didn’t ask me!”
“We don’t have to ask you! Warden law supercedes local law!” Loren barked at him.
Roxanne was trembling violently, her face white. She clutched at the table, looking as if she were about to be sick.
They’d hurt his woman.
Steele went blind with rage, and shifted. His fangs shot from his snout, and all the colors melted into tones of black, white and gray, and his clothes fell away from his body.
He lunged at Loren, knocking him flying. Jerrico shifted and launched himself at Steele.
Roxanne grabbed a cast iron frying pan, ran across the room, and swung it at Jerrico, knocking him off Steele. Jerrico staggered, dazed, as Steele and Loren rolled on the floor.
Suddenly there were more snarls and growls tearing through the air. Dash was there, running through the house in wolf form, and he also launched himself at Loren, snapping and snarling at him. Jerrico was stumbling, trying to get his bearings. Roxanne backed away, clutching the frying pan in front of her chest.
A silvery gray female lynx ran into Steele’s kitchen. It was Isadora, and she had handcuffs dangling off of one leg. She hissed at Loren, crouching low, and an ugly feline growl rumbled up from her throat. She swiped at him several times with her claws extended like long, curved daggers, and Loren froze where he crouched, his eyes moving back and forth between his opponents.
After a minute of growling and hissing and snarling, everyone shifted back to their human form. Roxanne’s eyes were almost bugging out of her head.
“What are you?” she cried out. “Where am I? How did I get here?”
Jerrico groaned, rubbing his head.
“You son of a bitch,” Steele growled. “I should rip your throat out. You made it worse! She had her memory back and she was fine! Who knows what you’ve done to her now?”
“That’s because that rank amateur from the Silver Forest pack totally screwed up her head! I could see inside there. He got things all tangled up,” Jerrico snapped at him. He walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a frozen pack of peas and placed it on his head. “Your girlfriend packs a mean wallop.”
“Your girlfriend is human? That is so bad-ass,” Isadora said admiringly. Figures she’d approve, Steele thought; always the rebel.
“I’m your girlfriend?” Roxanne said wonderingly, and it made Steele’s heart ache, because he wanted it to be true so badly.
“What are you two even doing here?” Steele demanded, without answering Roxanne.
Dash looked offended. “I arrested her, but then I got a call from the station saying that a Warden was headed to your house, so I swung by to see what was going on.”
Isadora held up her hand and shifted it into a paw, extended a claw, and used it to pick the lock on the handcuff, which fell off her. She bent over, picked it up, and tossed it over to Dash.
“I told you to stay in the car,” Dash growled at her.
“And I never do what I’m told. You should know that by now.” Isadora flashed an infuriating smile at him. “Besides, I came in here to help you two bozos. I thought someone was trying to murder you. You know these jerks?” she inclined her head at Jerrico and Loren with a scowl.
“I am the Chief Warden of the Shifter Nation, and you are all in serious trouble.” Loren’s face was dark with rage. “You don’t attack a Warden during the course of his duties.”
“Bring it,” Dash growled. He was a Beta, but a mouthy one. “I was defending my pack member and boss.”
“You’re not Chief Warden of my nation.” Isadora leaned back against Dash’s counter. “I answer to the Council Pride, and they’ve pretty much just washed their paws of me.” The Council Pride ruled over feline shifter matters that couldn’t be dealt with by individual prides. A mention of the name Isadora Mosswood was enough to set them to hissing and snarling and shaking their heads in despair, Steele had been told.
“Why were you arresting her?” Steele demanded. He was getting sick of having to play kindergarten cop for these two.
“I found her on our property, with a bunch of jars, and she refused to say why, so I arrested her for trespassing.”
“I was there to pick berries. Accidentally crossed your property line. Oops.” Isadora shrugged. “Seriously, Dash, get the night stick out of your ass. I mean, excuse me, is your family desperately short of blackberries?”
“Who puts berries in jars?” Dash asked suspiciously.
“Anyone who wants to make them into jam. I’m sorry you don’t like my berry picking technique.” Her tone was openly scornful. “Exactly what nefarious deeds do you think I was going to carry out with those jars?”
He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. “With you, who knows.”
Steele was done listening to the two of them act like idiots. “Both of you, get out. Dash, you will drop the charges. Isadora, next time I see you put your paw one inch over the line, you will be sitting in a jail cell for thirty days straight. If you want Dash to put handcuffs on you so bad, just ask him out on a date. Out!”
“I do not – the nerve!” Isadora looked appalled, and turned and stalked out of the room.
Dash followed her, spluttering and looking mortified.
Roxanne was still cowering in the corner. “Those men turned into wolves and attacked you.” Roxanne’s eyes were like saucers. “You turned into a wolf. I know you. Who are you?”
Steele shot Loren and Jerrico a look that promised death if they pushed him any further. “You two, you came into my house uninvited, treated me with disrespect, lied and manipulated me, and caused harm to this woman. You will leave my house, now.” He let out a long, low growl and let his snout extend, flashing fangs at them. “I will contact you when Cody comes by, and I will tell you what he finds out after he’s examined her. Until then, I do not want to see you on my property.”
Loren looked at Steele. “You haven’t heard the last of this.”
Chapter Eleven
“I’ve seen you before, and I can’t remember where,” Roxanne said, her voice rising in panic. “I don’t know where we are right now. Is this your house?”
“It is my house, and you’re safe here. A medical expert is coming here in three days, and he’ll be able to help you,” Steele said, putting his hand on her arm gently.
She took a deep breath, and seemed to calm herself a little bit. “Are you sure? What kind of medical expert is he?”
“The kind who can fix the type of problem we’re dealing with here.”
Roxanne looked dazed. “I believe you. I don’t know why, but I do.”
“Let’s go in the living room,” Steele said. He glanced at the front door. He’d actually locked it, which he’d never done before. He didn’t want Loren and Jerrico to barge back in.
Roxanne followed him, and she sank into the couch, looking around the room in bewilderment and wonder, as if seeing it for the first time. Steele wanted to run after Jerrico and strangle him, but he couldn’t leave Roxanne alone. He sat down next to her, and put his arm around her. She leaned into him, feeling soft and warm and smelling like flowers. This would be his idea of heaven, if circumstances were different.
“That man said I was your girlfriend. Am I really your girlfriend?” Roxanne asked, looking up at him with her beautiful, chocolate brown eyes.
Steele considered this. “Basically, yes. I am completely committed to you. I won’t be with any other woman.”
“We met when you rescued me from a car accident. Didn’t we?” She rubbed her face.
“Yes.”
“And then we dated? Did we? I think we did.”
Steele managed a rueful smile. “It’s complicated.”
“You can turn into a wolf. That girl can turn into a lynx. Can I turn into anything?”
“A sex goddess.”
That one made her laugh. “That’s good to know. If I were going to pick a super power, that would be a good one.”
She glanced through the door into the kitchen, and the aftermath of his fight with Loren and Jerrico. “That’s a big mess in there. We…we should clean up.” There were overturned chairs and broken pieces of crockery and rugs wrinkled back and kicked into corners.
She went back to the kitchen, knelt down and began picking up the pieces and putting them in the garbage.
As the two of them cleaned up the kitchen together, Steele felt his heart squeezing in his chest. This was what he wanted. He wanted this woman, with him, forever. He wanted to joke around with her, do chores with her, cook for her, then pick her up and carry her into his room and make her moan with pleasure. He wanted to come home to her every night.
Could he really let Cody erase her from his life a second time? Did he have any other choice?
His cell phone, sitting on the counter, rang, and he grabbed it. It was his uncle, Vince Battle, Alpha of Timber Valley.
“Steele. Would you care to fill me in on what’s going on?” Vince barked at him. “I’ve got some very pissed off wardens howling for your head.”
Steele bit back a snarl. His wolf didn’t like to be challenged like this, but Vince was an Alpha, and his uncle, and he had the right to be worried about the welfare of the shifters in Timber Valley, and everywhere else for that matter.