Free Heart Mates by Mary Hughes

swatted.
    She ran all the way to Aunt Linda’s, clutching King to her chest. Her hand trembled as she unlocked the bookstore door. She darted in and slammed the door behind her. She was out of breath—not just panting, but the kind of wheezing rasp from scoured-off layers of lung.
    King, despite bleeding from numerous scratches and abrasions, licked her face like he was trying to reassure her . The sweetie. The imbecile. Why had he attacked Killer like that? Man-Killer was gross, but wolf-Killer was big, fast and deadly.
    The instant she could breathe without danger of puking, she set King down and locked the door. Although even gross, human-Killer would have hands. The lock wouldn’t keep him out.
    Her palms broke out in a cold sweat. Sticking them under her arms, she peeped through the window. Without magic, she was a sitting duck.
    No, the wards were up. Although could a magical creature break though them? Or worse, Auntie might have wanted to let them in. It would be just like her to weave in a loophole.
    A profound longing surged through Sophia—she wished Noah were there. Then she wouldn’t worry about Killer as wolf or man.
    King gave a pained yip.
    “What’s wrong, sweetie?” She immediately dropped her own worries to kneel beside the dog. “Are you hurt?” She parted his blood-smeared fur, looking for wounds. The fur was too thick for her to see anything.
    She had to get him to a professional. But the only vet was miles away, and she wasn’t sure her car would make it.
    Her eye landed on a flyer, tacked to Auntie’s “Local Businesses” bulletin board. Matinsfield Happy Tails Pet Store blazed across the top, and just below New Grooming Salon NOW OPEN!
    She nodded. Maybe not a full-fledged omen but surely a good sign, literally. “King, I’m taking you to the doggie salon.”
    “Yip, yip.” King barked rapidly, as if he was trying to talk her out of it.
    She silenced him by scooping him up and hugging him to her bosom. He again stilled, then wiggled happily.
    She didn’t want to stop to hunt up more leash string, so she kept the dog firmly clasped in one arm as she let herself out, locked up and hurried across Main, eyes open for pissed-off wolves.
    Her cell phone rang, startling her so badly she nearly threw up her heart.
    The ringtone was her cousin’s, her terror the same as getting a call at three a.m. Lungs pumping, she pulled out the phone.
    It was pulsing red. 911 emergency. She nearly cracked her cheekbone answering. “Daniel? What’s wrong?”
    “The first knell has struck.” He intoned it, the solemn wizard prince frighteningly removed from the playboy she knew Daniel to be. “ You have been chosen to carry the burden.”
    “Burden? Me?” The words hit her with an almost physical blow. Then… “Wait. Are you talking about that crazy poem?”
    Last October Daniel had discovered the Avignon Quatrain, fabled lost prophecy of Jean-Dion d’Avignon. Supposedly a sort of treasure map, they hadn’t been able to decipher it.
    “But it’s been nearly a year,” Sophia sputtered. “We decided it’s a fake.”
    “ You decided it’s a fake,” Daniel said in his normal baritone. “Mostly because it named you first.”
    “It doesn’t name me .” Why did everyone insist Blue meant her? She was hyperventilating. King yipped and licked her chin. “Total coincidence my last name is a color. And anyway, prophecies are all image and metaphor. Clear only in retrospect.”
    “It’s a little more specific than you make out.” He recited the Quatrain.
    HEART beats for a wolf and a Blue
    MIND is focused by Light
    SOUL belongs to those who are True
    The KEY unlocks the Night.
    “So there’s a wolftoo.” Noah was a wolf. Her body shimmered. She ignored it. “Big whoop.”
    King gave a short yowl. She was squeezing him so tightly she was in danger of crushing his ribs. She let up immediately.
    “Cousin Arianna had a vision. She says Heart, Mind and Soul are pieces of the Key. She’s