“No. She’ll come out soon enough.” Charlie stepped back, lifting the rifle as she did so.
Daniel held up his hands, palms out. “Hey, hang on. I don’t know why you want to plug me full of holes, but can’t we talk first?”
She laughed, but the sound held none of its usual warmth. With the rifle at her shoulder and her head tilted at the sights, she waved it from one man to the next, including Blane and Reese. “Stay out of the way, guys.”
“Babe, don’t do anything stupid.”
Blane snarled at his brother, letting some of his wolf side emerge. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d stayed where you were.”
Anderson held his hands up. “Charlie, please put the gun down. No one wants to hurt anyone.”
“Change.” Anger washed over Charlie’s face, taking her beautiful face and making it less than perfect.
“What?” Daniel shook his head, pretending he didn’t understand her.
“You heard me. Change into your werewolf forms. I want Reese and Blane to see you.”
Anderson inched closer to his cousin as Blane tried to get closer to Charlie. “We don’t know what you’re talking about. How about if I call Shannon out here?”
“I already told you no.” She thrust her chin toward him. “Now start shifting or whatever the hell you call it and make with your werewolf side.”
Blane and Reese exchanged a pointed look as Blane took another step closer to her. If someone didn’t get the gun away from her, things were going to go downhill real fast.
“Do it!” Charlie put Daniel in her sights. “I’m not bluffing. I will kill you if I have to and take my sister home.”
“Charlie!” Shannon flung the screen door wide and bolted down the front steps. “No!”
Shannon’s shout surprised Charlie, giving Blane the opening he needed. He lunged at her in the second that she pulled the trigger. They hit the ground together, knocking the rifle out of her hands. It went off, but Blane was too preoccupied trying to wrestle her into submission to see if anyone had gotten shot. Reese rushed to snatch up the gun then shouted for him to get her out of there.
Blane grabbed her around the waist and, holding her off the ground, whirled toward the road.
“Let me go! Shannon, help me.”
Even as a human, Blane was strong, but Charlie was stronger than he’d anticipated. He paused, got a better hold on her, and threw her over his shoulder. She struggled against him, beating her fists against his back.
“Put me down. I have to save Shannon.”
“Shannon’s fine. It’s Daniel you should be worrying about.”
“Blane, damn it. Let me go!”
“Charlie Newman, you stay away from me. Do you hear me? Stay the hell away from me and my mates.”
“Shannon?” Charlie kicked harder. “Shannon, you don’t know what you’re saying!”
“The hell I—” But the rest of Shannon’s retort was hidden behind a growl.
He tightened his hold on her legs and kept moving as fast as he could back to his pickup. She finally quit fighting against him, but he suddenly wished that she hadn’t. Once she stopped, she used his back for leverage and lifted her head to look toward the house.
“Oh, my God! Blane, turn around. They’re changing.”
He didn’t need to turn around to know what was happening. If Charlie’s shot had struck Daniel as he thought it had, Daniel’s inner wolf was taking over, ready to fight, and changing his human body into his werewolf form. By now, Daniel was probably halfway through the transformation. His werewolf blood would heal him as either a human or a werewolf, but anger usually led to a quick change into the wolf form. And if anyone had a right to be angry, it was Daniel.
Snarls and growls filled the air, letting him know that Daniel wasn’t the only one changing. Anderson and maybe even Shannon were changing. There was no telling what Reese might do.
Would they come after Charlie? Werewolves were very protective of their mates, and if one of them was attacked, they wouldn’t hesitate to shift and go after the attacker. If Anderson and Shannon were changing along with Daniel, Charlie was in a shitload of trouble. He just hoped Reese could calm them down.
Blane made it to the pickup, pulled the door open, and flung Charlie onto the driver’s seat. Pushing her to the passenger side of the vehicle, he turned the key, threw it in gear, and slammed the accelerator to the floor. Dirt billowed behind the truck as it sped down the road away from Moonbeam Ranch.
* * * *
“I told the truth. Did you see them?” Charlie squirmed into a sitting position then twisted around to look out the rear window. Although a part of her was terrified by what she’d seen, another side of her was thrilled. Blane and Reese had to believe her now.