Free FireWolf by Viola Grace

Driving through a blizzard angry is stupid, Hailey.
    She took her foot off the gas and her car stopped fishtailing immediately. Sometimes you had to talk to yourself to see sense.
    Her grip on the steering wheel was so tight she had to make her hands relax. As soon as her body was calm, her mind flew into uproar again. Her damned grandfather sold her! To the highest bidder, no less. She hadn’t stayed to see who won the auction, but had used her father’s talent to get herself into her car and away from the insanity.
    She still couldn’t believe it. Her mother had begged her to go to the gathering when her grandfather had lowered himself to ask her to a wolf pack event. He had disowned his daughter for marrying outside the clan, but seemed to be unbending for her daughter.
    If only they had known then that he was planning to sell the last of his bloodline to anyone willing to pay, they would have told him to shove his invitation up his furry tail.
    “Moronic son of a bitch.” Hailey muttered, then laughed at her phrasing. He had even had the gall to sedate her for the auction. That was the thing that made her want to burn his whole place down.
    He had led her into the ballroom and shown her to the men gathered there. Two had struck her as being intent on having her. One was a pale, beautiful man with silky black hair and eyes that froze her soul. The other was all warm brown colors from his tanned skin to his dark hair and friendly brown eyes. Those eyes hadn’t been friendly when they looked at her though, they had been intent.
    The chalky man was looking at her like a bug, an elegant bug to be sure, but a bug nonetheless. Mr. Brown was far more interested in her body than a stranger had any right to be. It had both warmed her and triggered her instinct to run. That instinct was not a good thing in a room full of wolves and other predators, but the adrenaline did start her other talent burning through the sedative that she had been given.
    While the bidding got underway, she had simply floated lightly to the door and away from the room full of wolves. Only the gazes of Mr. Pasty and Mr. Brown followed her and neither of them said a word. They merely kept bidding as her price climbed higher and higher.
    As soon as she got to the doorway, she slid through and then started to run. The guards had not been prepared for her hands to flame as she grabbed them and shoved, but finding her car keys in her pocket required that she calm down enough to not melt them. In her rear view mirror, she had seen the doors open and men spill out into the yard like ants from a disturbed anthill.
    Hah! Sell her, would they? They would have to catch her first and she had horsepower versus their wolf power. A final bit of fury accidentally escaped and she melted the tires of the cars in the driveway. Whoopsie.
    Hailey chose the mountain pass as the fastest way home. She had called her mother and let her in on her grandfather’s diabolical plan. Mom had been furious and she had promised to wait until Hailey was at their place before telling her dad. Andrew McMaster would be enraged and it would take his daughter being safe in front of him to keep him calm.
    The mountains ended up being a foolish choice. Her car was slowed with the heavy snow and the visibility was almost nil.
    As she slowed to turn a corner, she could swear that she saw a wolf out of the corner of her eye. Larger than a wolf had any right to be he was running beside her car. That was distracting enough, but when what looked like a black eagle darted toward her windshield, she lost control of her vehicle and the next thing she knew, she was wiping a bleeding nose and fighting free of the deflated air bag.
    She unbuckled her belt, thankful that she had instinctively buckled up. Good habits saved lives. The front of her car was buried in snow, she would be able to melt it out, but if there was loose dirt under the front wheels, she would create mud. It would be better to call