Free Changeling Dawn by Dani Harper Page A

his hands to reveal a large black handgun with a wood grip.
    Kenzie felt her breath catch in her throat and immediately tried ntiately tto tamp down her reaction. He was too perceptive not to notice, however.
    “It’s air-powered so it’s bulky,” he explained. “Looks a lot worse than it is. I got enough of a look at the cub to get a good weight estimate, so she should be fine.”
    “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. Can’t we wait for the trap?” Her voice caught on the word trap and she swore inwardly. Her past was poking at her with a sharpened stick.
    “Dr. Macleod— Kenzie .” He knelt at the edge of the dig next to her. “The cub’s too skinny. It can’t wait until next week. It’s weak and it may hole up somewhere and die before we can find it.”
    “We could feed it, put out food for it. Keep it going until we get the live trap.”
    “It’s in danger from more than starvation. Think about it—it’s amazing that a predator hasn’t snatched it by now. If we’re going to save it, we need to do it now.”
    She took a deep breath, then another. Put a hand to her head. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I just, well, I’ve had some bad experiences and now I have a thing about guns and traps and such.” And that was a whole lot more than she’d intended to tell him or anybody else, but it was all too easy to talk to Josh Talarkoteen. She’d have to be more careful around him.
    “I’m going to see if I can come up with a rabbit. The cub needs to eat and we need bait. Is that going to be a problem for you?”
    “No. Not at all.” Her feelings had nothing to do with squeamishness. In fact, she should have thought to Change to her lupine form and hunt something for the little cub herself. But that would have made it dependent, and it wasn’t fair to turn a wild animal into a pet. “In fact, I’ve seen some snowshoe hares over by that tall stand of spruce.”
    Jeez, the man was efficient. She didn’t hear a thing, but it wasn’t long before she scented the gamey tang of rabbit. She looked up in time to see him carrying a big brown hare by its enormous hind feet, and laying it near the bushes at the far end of clearing, about 50 yards from her dig. It was downwind of her, and her inner wolf reacted with interest. She wondered what Josh would say if she told him she caught rabbits—not to mention much larger game—on a regular basis. She’d bet that would raise his eyebrows a little, then wondered why the idea of rattling his calm demeanor was so appealing.
    Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Josh plant himself in a stand of alder across the clearing, no doubt deliberately ensuring she was out of the line of fire. This was a man who would be careful of such things, a man who protected those around him. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she did. Kenzie lay on her stomach on the ground, reaching down into her first square and working a tiny spot with the point of a trowel. She didn’t want to think about Josh right now and she especially didn’t want to watch what was going on. Besides, if she acted naturally and did what she normally would do, the cub wouldn’t be suspicious, would it? That was all she could do to help. She just hoped the young wolf wouldn’t pick up on how much she was having to quell a rising sense of panic. It wasn’t a cage, it wasn’t a pit, but the little creature was walking into a trap just the same.
    The breeze picked up. Even leaning down into the earth, the gently moving air brought her the essence of the freshly killed rabbit. She scented the hungry cub approaching it. Knowledge suddenly shot through her like lightning, certain knowledge that the scent was all wrong....
    width=" “Stop!” she yelled, springing to her feet even as the echo of the gun lingered in the air. She ran, covering the ground at inhuman speed, her inner wolf a hairsbreadth from breaking free. Josh hadn’t moved and she shoved him roughly aside, looking