Page 20 of First Love

Now that Jasper had made me feel safe, my subconscious was loosening the reins. Well, I’d tighten them back up because I wasn’t about to fall apart. That brutal gypsy pack won if I did.

Jasper turned around after rinsing his glass and smiled at me. “Hey. Did you decide to come out here for that drink of water?”

The question had finished reaching my ears when the glass doors to the left of the fireplace exploded into the living room. I ran for Jasper, intent on protecting him from the threat my wolf senses had detected, but he ran for me too. He pushed me behind him as a dark figure marched into the house, a gun raised at us.

“You don’t need to shoot.” Jasper used his body to back both of us toward the front door, as Sammy raced down the hallway, teeth bared and barking up a storm. “I’ll give you money if that’s what you’re after.”

I desperately wanted to get in front of Jasper. I could survive a bullet wound, assuming that gun wasn’t loaded with silver. Jasper, on the other hand . . .

I didn’t even want to think of him getting shot.

The intruder kept advancing, his gun never wavering off us and completely ignoring a downright feral Sammy. “Sure, I’ll take money, but what I came for is her. Job’s not finished unless the entire pack is wiped out.”

Shit. My nose was too full of Jasper and Sammy and this house. I hadn’t smelled that this guy was a wolf, but I smelled it now. And it smelled exactly like the scent left behind at Uncle Noah’s house.

“You son of a bitch.” I wrestled around Jasper, but he stood firmly in front of me, his dog lunging and retreating toward the intruder. I didn’t want to hurt Jasper by trying to move him aside. I needed at this guy though. I had a chance to make him pay for what his pack had done to mine. He might have thought he was here to finish a job, but I’d be the only one finishing anything.

“Amelia.” Jasper’s voice made me focus on him as he looked over his shoulder at me. “Is this one of the bad guys you mentioned earlier?”

“Definitely,” the bad guy answered before I could say anything. “Now get out of the way, human, or I will go through you.”

“Human?” Jasper puffed out a breath. “Right, because you’re subhuman.”

“Try superhuman,” the guy said, his eyes flashing.

Jasper pushed us farther back. “The moment that glass broke, the police were alerted. They’re on their way right now.”

“Fantastic.” The guy angled his gun. “Got me plenty of bullets to go around.” He looked at me. “But one of these bullets definitely has her name on it.”

“And why is that?”

I knew Jasper’s strategy was to keep the guy talking long enough for the police to show, but the police would be of no help here. This fucker would hear the cops coming and put bullets into them before they had a chance to reach for their own weapons.

“Because she wasn’t supposed to survive today. She was supposed to be with the rest of them.” He used his gun to point at me. “She’s supposed to be dead like her family.”

“Okay,” Jasper said slowly, still backing me toward the front door. His arms had swayed back to keep me close behind him, and I loved that his instinct was to protect me. A true mate would do that exact thing.

But we weren’t true mates. Not really. We couldn’t be. As the stronger species in this scenario, my duty was to protect him.

“Jasper, let me at him,” I half growled. “I can take care of this.” I should have taken care of it before leaving Montana. I honestly didn’t think they’d send a Scouter after me so quickly though. I’d hoped I’d be well under the protection of the Sinclaire pack before this situation happened. A pack was definitely what I needed right now.

Not a single human male in paw print pajamas and his fluffy dog that got carried to bed.

“How much money will make you go away?” Jasper asked. “I have cash on site. You can have all of it if you walk away, man.”

“I’ll be taking that cash,” the guy said. “But my Alpha ain’t going to be satisfied unless I bring her dead body back with me. No amount of money is worth having an Alpha pissed at me.”

“An Alpha?”

I could practically hear the wheels in Jasper’s head turning. He’d read enough werewolf books to know what an Alpha was.

Sammy decided he had an opening and clamped his jaws onto the guy’s leg, but one werewolf growl and a flash of fang had that dog running back down the hallway.

“What the hell?” Jasper stood stunned, gaping at the guy.

“Surprise,” the douchebag said. “Monsters are real buddy and they have good aim.”

He fired off a shot, and Jasper’s body kicked back into mine before he fell to his knees then flat to the hardwood floor. The sickening thud of his body echoed in my ears.