Free Skin Walkers - King by Susan Bliler

warning. 
    “I’m on a coalition to protect wolves.  He’s an opponent.”
    “I want you off that committee.”
    “No!” she gasped.  “I’m not quitting just because some crazy rancher doesn’t like what I’m doing.”
    “Damn it, Lilly!”  King’s voice rose, “THIS ISN’T A FUCKING GAME!”
    His shout had her face flushing in anger.  “And this isn’t StoneCrow!  I follow orders within those walls.  Outside, my time is just that.  Mine! ”  She stalked to the door and jerked it open, “Good night, Mr. Mulholland.”
    King stood seething in her kitchen for several tense moments before finally stalking to the door.  “Fine.  You don’t want my protection.  You don’t get my protection.”  He exited the apartment and barely cleared the threshold before Lilly slammed the door on him.
    Climbing into his humvee, King was seething.  He’d have Monroe talk to Lilly in the morning when she arrived at work.  She needed to understand that she wasn’t the only one at stake.
    Pulling away from the curb, King eyed the street.  No sign of the moron.  Hopefully, he’d learned his lesson and wouldn’t be back.

Chapter 10
    The words that buzzed through the mist had King freezing in his tracks.
    “Shots fired!  Shots fired at the main gate!”
    King was to the door before Monroe had even fully risen from his chair. 
    “Lilly’s been shot!  One shooter.”
    King tore off down the hall, his hand itching to pull the pistol that was secured in the holster at his hip.  Outside of Monroe’s office, King dashed to the railing that lined the hall and looked down over the lobby.  He jumped the rail and partially shifted his arms to wings to catch himself as he dropped the three stories to the main floor.  He wanted to be at the main gate, not racing to it.  He dashed out of the building and just outside the door to the manor, he shifted in mid-stride.  Arguably, a hawk may have been faster, but he needed to sink the claws of his mountain lion’s form deep into the earth as he propelled himself at breakneck speed down the length of dirt road that wound its way from the main compound down the mountain to StoneCrow’s, recently erected, front gate. 
    “We have the shooter in custody.  I need medical here now.  Lilly’s hurt bad !  Get me some fucking help down here!”
    It was 8 am.  Lilly always showed up to work at precisely 8:10am.  He knew where she would have been ambushed even before the information sliced through the mist.  He passed over a black humvee as it raced up the winding road toward StoneCrow. 
    Fear shook him as he approached the gate and saw Lilly’s car riddled with bullet holes.  The windshield and side windows had been shot out and crimson stained the gray leather interior of the now empty driver’s side seat.  King inhaled sharply.  Blood.  Lilly’s blood.  The scent of it enraged him more than it should have.  She wasn’t his.  Now, even with her gone the scent of her fear lingered in the air mixed with anger.  Not hers.  The shooter’s.  He’d attacked Lilly with one sole intention.  Killing her.
    Shifting back to his human form, his clothes regenerated with his flesh, clothing him just as he’d been before he’d raced down the mountain.  King let his gaze sweep over the area while information was exchanged through the mist.   
    Monroe was being informed that Lilly had just arrived at the infirmary and was being rushed into surgery.  When word came across that Jenny wasn’t sure if Lilly would survive, King had to fight down the unreasonable fear that seized him. 
    He had no claim to Lilly.  She was Monroe’s personal assistant, and as such he’d interacted with her often, but she wasn’t his.  Lilly was strong willed and refused to take any shit from Monroe, which instantly endeared King to her.  But it was her determination, her competence, her quiet reserve that he thought of when he was alone.  He’d thought of her often, a