Free The Protector by Sara Anderson Page B

to another
territory to hide would get her judged. Michael already judged her once for her
actions. He wouldn’t be so nice a second time.
    Blair
turned from the scene with warring emotions. You are being the ass here. Blair shoved aside her own voice of
reason and paid attention to the trail into town. She made it to her coffee
shop, shifted, and entered the code to unlock the door. Cole would be busy at
the campground for a few hours, which would give her plenty of time to get her
dough started.
    Blair
usually lost herself in the simple joy of preparing the dough, but this time
all she thought about was Cole. He had looked so sad and lonely while he had
been cooking himself pizza. Could the other women who came into her coffee shop
be right? Had Cole stayed alone and missed her? She had never paid attention to
him this last year, mostly out of fear. She knew her heart would break if she
saw him taking other women out.
    She
felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around with a scream of surprise
    Myra
was behind her, smiling. “I can’t believe I snuck up on you like that.”
    Blair
shook her head. “I was distracted,” she said as a way of explanation.
    “I
think I can take a guess who is distracting you,” Myra
said as she pulled the bag out of the laundry bin.
    Blair
snorted in disgust. “The more I try to ignore him, the more I think about him.”
    Myra
turned and gave Blair the look she gave her right before she started a lecture.
“Don’t you think you have punished him enough?”
    Blair
laughed, feeling guilty once again. She kept thinking the same thing. Not that
she had any plans of admitting that to Myra. “What the hell makes you think I
am punishing him?   He left me,
remember?"
    “Oh,
I remember, but I am the cause of all of this.” Myra picked at her fingernails
and refused to look up at Blair.
    Blair
felt the blood drain from her face. “No, you are not. Why do you even think
that?”
    “Because
it was my crying while Warren held me that scared Cole so badly.” Despite the
length of time that had passed, Blair saw tears filling Myra’s eyes. “It is
every mate’s nightmare, being told the one you love is never coming home. I
really wish Cole had been spared from seeing that.”
    Blair
shook her head. “You didn’t cause this, Myra. This is my mess. Whatever happens
with Cole and myself , all the responsibility is on my
own shoulders, not yours.”
    Myra
shook her head. “You two love each other and are just too bullheaded to know
it. When you finally realize that, I will be standing there saying I told you
so.”   She looked at Blair with her eyes
still shining with unshed tears.
    Blair
understood that look from Myra. She was up to something. She was just as bad as
Michael with her meddling. “You are up to something.” Blair gave her a
suspicious look.
      “Yes, I am. But you go ahead and keep right
on fighting Cole. I am going to enjoy the show.”
    Blair
thought about ordering Myra to mind her own business, but Myra never listened
to her.
    ****
    Silas
Clemmons stood outside of a town that he could not find on any map. His
brother, Levi, had vanished here five years ago. When he called around to
various police departments, none of them had seen Levi. He now knew his brother
had come here to do some hunting before the snow moved in. He’d received an
email with pictures of his brother’s body lying in the snow with a man standing
over him holding a gun. The email explained that Cole Milano, the sheriff, had
shot and killed him for hunting and killing an animal. Those assholes had murdered
his brother for illegal hunting. The outrage burned in his blood. The email
gave specific directions to the town and the best way to get revenge by going
after the sheriff’s woman, Blair. She would be easy to find as she owned and
operated the local coffee and pastry shop.
      The motherfucker that was the sheriff around
here would understand what it felt like to have someone close to