Emmitt didn’t give my nerves a chance to build.  Instead, he took me by the hand and led me to the truck.  He wrapped his hands around my waist and, with little effort, sat me on the open tailgate.  He hopped up next to me.  Shoulder to shoulder, we watched the sun set.

“I’m sorry about last night,” I said, finally working up the courage.

“Why?  It’s the best night sleep I had in a while.”

I rolled my eyes at him, doubting the truth of his statement.

His lips twitched at my expression.  “The longer I’m with you, the more I want to be near you.  When you first came here, being apart at night didn’t bother me.  You were only two floors away, and I’d started working on the apartment so I knew we would be closer soon.  Then, sleeping in a bed that smelled like you helped, but it’s been getting difficult again.”  He smiled ruefully.  “If you asked, I’d sleep on your couch every night.”

After the dream I had the night before, the offer tempted me; but I had to think of Liam and Aden, too.

“I’m not sure how Liam and Aden would take that.  They’d probably worry that we aren’t safe again, no matter what explanation we gave them for your overnight stays.  I don’t want to scare them.”

“We could always share your bed?” he half-asked, half-stated in a serious tone.

I floundered for something to say.  Share a bed?  Were we that far?

“No hidden agenda.  Just sleeping,” he said, amused.

I opened my mouth to thank him for the offer and to decline but never got the words out.

Emmitt’s head whipped up.  His gaze locked on the woods at the back of the yard.  Without looking away, he leapt off the tailgate, lifted me, and set me on the ground toward the house.

“Get onto the porch.”

His low voice worried me.  He took a step backward, trying to herd me in the direction he wanted while positioning himself to shield me.  What was out there?  Peeking over Emmitt’s shoulder was no easy feat, but I managed.

At first, the yard appeared empty.  Then, the deep shadows near the trees at the back of the yard moved.  I frowned, trying to focus on the area.

Two men emerged, but I couldn’t see them clearly.  I wanted to ask Emmitt who they were, but he reached for my arm and nudged me toward the porch as he’d ordered.

I took a step back, hoping to see more, however, he shadowed my move.  His skin rippled and started to sprout fur.  The first thread of fear started to creep in.  I glanced over my shoulder and backed up onto the porch step.  With the additional height, I could see past Emmitt.

The two men continued to advance.  Their bent, partially transformed bodies moved with a slinking stealth I found disquieting.

A cloud drifted away from the moon, briefly lighting the yard.  Moonlight caught pale skin, highlighting the odd elongated arch of a thigh before another cloud snuffed it out.  It’d been enough to recognize one of them.  Frank.  Fear bloomed.

Another cloud shifted.  Frank smiled at me before shadows obscured him again.

Emmitt growled low in warning.  Dread filled me.  We’d managed to stay hidden for a little over a month.  Why had they found us, now?  Thinking of my brothers sent another wave of fear crashing through me.  We couldn’t go back to the life we’d had.

The thought gave me courage to speak up.

“Where’s Blake?” I said in a voice that definitely didn’t sound fearless.

Both of the werewolves stopped their approach.

I took a breath and tried to sound more confident.

“Give him a message for me.  He won’t get what he wants.  I’ve seen it.”

I really didn’t know what I had seen but hoped it would give Blake a reason to doubt his plan.  Maybe even a reason to abandon it.

“You know nothing, little girl,” Frank said from the darkness.  “You just played dress up and sat at Blake’s dinners like the puppet you are.  If not for the curse that causes you to be born to humans, we would have wiped out humanity long ago.”  As he spoke, he began to shift further.  “You are nothing more than a tool.”

I wished I knew what he meant.

Behind me, the door creaked open.  A light footfall gave away Nana Wini’s presence, saving me from having to respond.  She moved just behind me, and I fought the urge to turn around and look for the boys.

The men in the dark shadows didn’t react well to her appearance.  Their faces extended forward, canine muzzles just starting to form.  Fingers contracted and nails grew longer, glistening ebony in the yard light.  The men remained on two legs, but those legs shrank as their torsos stretched.

“Leave now,” Nana said in a low and commanding voice.

Had she not been behind me, blocking my way, I would have been tempted to go inside.  It wasn’t a voice easily ignored.

“Quiet old woman,” the other werewolf growled.  The moonlight shifted enough that I recognized him, too.  The man from the movie theatre.  I cringed.  I’d jeopardized us all.

Nana’s furious snarl startled me.  I whipped my head around to look at her.  Bits of fabric flew at me as she burst from her lacey cardigan and tweed pants.  An enormous, snowy white wolf stood where she’d been.

She gathered herself and leaped over Emmitt and me, clearing the space between the porch roof and our heads with precision.  She landed lightly on her paws several yards in front of Emmitt.  Crouched and ready to spring, she gave a low warning growl that sent chills down my spine.  Neither werewolf budged.

Nana and Frank stared at each other.  For several minutes, they remained locked in a silent standoff.  Though she continued to growl occasionally, Frank did nothing.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to Emmitt, who still stood in front of me as a shield.

“She’s trying to talk to them through her link,” he said calmly.  His skin had stopped rippling once Nana had arrived.

Nana let out another furious snarl, and Frank laughed in response, a guttural taunting sound.  Her muscles bunched a second before she launched herself at them.  The half-changed werewolves burst into their own fur, meeting her onslaught.

The three collided with an audible thud.  I flinched and gripped Emmitt’s shoulder.

“Help her, Emmitt,” I said.

“Michelle, she’s an Elder.  She has more strength than Jim and I do combined, more than enough to take care of those two and several more.  You need me more than she does.”

My gaze never wavered from the swirling mass of fur and legs.  Frank and his friend, similarly colored, made it hard to distinguish who was who.  Thankfully, Wini stood out with her white.

I leaned into Emmitt.  My limbs trembled as I watched her evade bite after bite.  The two wolves were cunning and fought as a team.  Her speed and skill kept her just out of reach.  Then one of the wolves made a mistake and exposed his neck.  She almost had him by the throat when the other lunged forward and tried to take a bite out of her back leg.

Nana spun and tore into the one trying to sneak a bite.  He emitted a high-pitched continuous yelp of pain.  I hoped it was Frank.

The unharmed wolf used that distraction to go for Nana’s throat.  I made a small sound of denial and clutched Emmitt.  Nana coiled, and I knew she saw.

Using her hold on the yowling one, she tossed her head back, swinging the captured wolf into the other, effectively blocking the attack.  My jaw dropped at the show of strength.  Those wolves were as big as she was.  The hit wolf grunted at impact and flew back a few feet.  The wolf in her maw fell silent and looked a bit dazed.

She loosened her bloody hold, and he fell to the ground.  She backed up a step, crouched, and waited.

The bloody one scrambled to his feet and joined his friend, who was up and ready.  However, they didn’t make another attempt at her.  They turned and ran.

Nana Wini took off after them, almost catching them at the edge of the yard.  There she stopped and paced.