Free Half Wolf by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom Page A

this party. She came hurtling back, aiming for the monster’s chest with a short, sharp-tipped wooden stake. Putting all her muscle behind the strike, she hit the place in the vamp’s chest where a man’s heart should have been, and drove the stake deep.
    That was all it took to send one unholy bloodsucker back to wherever it went in the hereafter. The creature exploded into a funnel of swirling gray ash.
    “Dust to dust,” Rena said. “One down.”
    “Make that two,” Devlin announced with a fierce guttural growl as a second explosion came from the area between the trees.
    Michael knew they had lucked out with this batch of fledglings.
    Silence returned quickly, and as though nothing had happened to disturb it...which was exactly the way Michael had wanted things to turn out. Until, with his extraordinary connection to Kaitlin, he perceived the trouble she was in and whirled on all fours.
    * * *
    The guy beside her was blond, built like a brick house and looked capable enough to handle most of the things life might throw his way. Her new guardian, Cade, was the epitome of a modern-day Viking. Attractive. Make that a real heartthrob. And also a werewolf.
    Cade’s green eyes, similar in color to both Michael’s and Rena’s, stared straight ahead, never once veering from the path he led her down. He was concentrating on their surroundings. Kaitlin sensed his reluctance to break their silence.
    “Is something there?” she asked.
    He held up a hand and shook his head, gestures indicating that speaking wouldn’t be a good idea at the moment. There had to be more company up ahead. Dread began to blossom inside Kaitlin over what that company might be.
    With a firm hand on her shoulder, Cade urged her to pause. They stood side by side for a minute, listening, waiting. Then Cade stepped in front of her, acting as a protective shield against whatever was going to show up. Because something was.
    Kaitlin couldn’t see anything past Cade’s powerful shoulders and didn’t need to. Her neck stung with pain that was like having to suffer through her terrible ordeal all over again. In this case, her wound had become a built-in vamp-o-meter.
    Cade spoke to whatever hid in the darkness that lay beyond the meager glow of the closest light pole. “This place isn’t for you. Come to think of it, I don’t know anywhere that is.”
    Sounds reminiscent of radio static caused the back of Kaitlin’s neck to chill. She froze. Cade tensed.
    “I’m sorry.” Cade spoke to one particular spot as if he saw something there. “Was that your reply? Maybe fangs hinder speech?”
    “Now isn’t the time to taunt them.” Kaitlin hated every heart-stopping second of this confrontation and formulated a plan to move to another city if she got out of this with her life and limbs intact. She would take her family with her.
    Not sure if she could handle another vampire sighting, she made a pact with herself to finish her thesis elsewhere. To hell with it. To hell with Michael, werewolves and...
    “Vampires,” Michael said, finishing her internal remark as he, Rena and the other Were in the pack approached.
    Kaitlin spun to look at them with her heart hammering. Cade remained motionless enough to have been turned to stone, his laser-like gaze hovering on that spot in the distance.
    “Didn’t trust me?” he said to Michael over his shoulder.
    “Finished early,” Michael returned. “Nothing else to do, so we thought we’d join you.”
    “Everyone likes company,” Cade said.
    Kaitlin’s attention was on Michael. In human form and completely naked, he was breathtaking. His tarnished bronze skin glowed with a hint of perspiration. He looked like a shaft of moonlight carved into solid form. Without clothes, he seemed not quite as human, and twice as formidable. When confronted with all that pulsing, molded muscle, even she wanted to get out of his way.
    More hissing sounds broke up their reunion. The sounds were close. Kaitlin’s panic