Free As Love Shifts by Kat Barrett Page A

breath, he spun it slightly to the left, crawling forward. Then he backed up again, just as slowly. She had no idea how he was judging where the road was, but so far they were staying on it. This continued, a few inches at a time in a nerve-wracking fashion until the SUV was parallel to the fallen tree. He put it in park and then got out, opening the passenger’s door and leaning in to her. He gave her a very sexy kiss and then stroked her cheek, seeming to focus on her face for a moment as if he might never see it again. “I love you and the last eight months with you have been the most rewarding of my entire life.”
    “I love you, too. We are going to make it, all three of us.”
    “Lie and tell me that is a premonition.”
    “I don’t have to lie.”
    He swallowed visibly and got back into the driver’s seat. Demetri buckled his seat belt and in a sudden moment of inspiration, Ever opened the door, shoving it against the hinges and snapping it off. They had to get to higher ground to get around the fallen tree. She braced herself as best she could as Demetri gave it gas, the car jarring forward and careening into the embankment. It made it better than halfway across and then was consumed by the deep water, the motor dying as the car was flooded. Demetri scrambled to get his seat belt off and got out, climbing onto the roof. Ever slid the seat belt off, struggling to stay rooted to the car as she stood and shimmied her body around with Lash held tightly in her arms. She stood on the door casing as Demetri held out his arms. She had to think that he had locked his feet in the roof-racks so he could lean over. “Give him to me!” he commanded.
    Ever handed the child up to him and then grabbed the rack herself, pulling herself up onto the roof. Demetri handed the now soaked bundle back to her and carefully slid to the hood. He helped her down, the raging water threatening to take the SUV downstream as they leapt toward the trees. The land was slightly elevated here, the water covering only their shoes as they made their way to higher ground and around the fallen tree.
    The rain-soaked blanket was weighing her down and she stripped it off Lash, knowing that she was exposing the muzzle on his small wolfy face. It didn’t matter. She had no choice. If worse came to worst, she would remove it until she could get safely inside. “How strong did you make the tea?”
    “Really strong. I figured that it would be better if he was asleep for a while.”
    A loud crack resounded to their right and Demetri grabbed her, pushing her to the ground and falling over her. She felt his body jar as the sound of a heavy limb falling filled her ears. Demetri groaned loudly. “Oh fuck!” His voice was strained. “You are going to have to shift to my right and get this thing off of us or I’m trapped here.” She could feel his muscles straining as he fought to keep the full weight of the broken item from crushing her and Lash. Demetri used his arms and pushed upward with his body to give her leeway to shimmy out from beneath him. She put Lash down, removing her coat and throwing it over his tiny body.
    A large portion of a tree had come down on top of Demetri and she assessed it with her eyes. Ever wasn’t sure that even with her werewolf strength, she could move it by herself. She walked past him, and then back from the tree. Running at it, she buil t speed and then leap t upward. With her upper body tilted back, she slammed her feet into the wood as a child would take a slide into home base. The branch cracked, shattering at the impact point and twisting away from her. With half the tree now separated, she picked herself up from the mud and went to push the rest off of Demetri’s body.
    “Mommy?” a small voice filtered through the echo of the wind and rain, reaching her ears like a lightning bolt. Demetri was gone from her mind as she walked over to the coat and lifted it from Lash’s body. He smiled at her, his very human