Close Protection by Mina Carter Read Free Book Online

avenging angel, bending pixies into pretzels as he fought to reach Zane’s side. She had to admit, the wolf and the gargoyle made a damn impressive team.
    Another pixie headed her way, a la Wolf Airlines, so she ducked behind the remains of a table. She sure hoped her insurance was going to pay for all this. Pixie damage. Was there even an option for that?
    “The police are here,” someone yelled from the other side of the room. A second later the blue and red flashing lights streamed through the window.
    Then the shit hit the fan.
    Screaming at his men to retreat, Roth took his eye off the ball. Zane lunged, grabbing the pixie around the waist to haul him into a deadly embrace. Bloody splattered on the floor, Roth’s body jerking as Zane’s claws tickled his intestines. Cops streamed in through the shattered door, guns out and trained on the two paranormal warriors in the middle of the room.
    “Everyone freeze!”
    And everyone did. Apart from Zane, who just growled and tightened his grip on Roth. The pixie whimpered, his skin pale as the contents of his circulatory system flowed down his legs.
    “We got a feral. Get Simmons in here!”
    Shit. Ashlee shot to her feet, panic filling her as a new guy stepped through the door. Dressed like the rest, his vest had ‘Paranormal Suppression Unit’ printed on the front.
    “No! Don’t, he’s not feral.”
    Shoving the table out of the way, she stumbled to get between Zane and the police. She’d seen the news; she knew what they did to feral wolves. They called it mercy. She called it murder. A game to see how much lead they could put into the wolf before it died.
    “Ma’am, gonna need you to step out of the way. It’s a dangerous animal. It needs to be put down.”
    “Fuck.” Trent’s low voice joined the conversation. She whirled around to find the gargoyle back in human form, his hands out to show he wasn’t armed and a concerned look in his eyes as he looked at his colleague. “C’mon Zane, man. Drop the toy and let’s go home.”
    Zane growled, lips curling back as his eyes shifted from the police to Trent and back again. He shifted his stance, hind claws digging into the soft wood of the floor. Obviously he considered both a threat. Trent swore softly and backed up a couple of steps, leaving Ashlee in front of him.
    “Miss, you might want to back off,” the gargoyle rumbled in a deep voice, the worry easy to hear in his gravelly tones. “I’ve never seen him this far into his wolf before.”
    Ashlee had actually started to back up when Trent’s words clicked with something in the back of her mind. Wolf. The first time they’d met, Zane had asked her how she’d commanded his wolf. She blinked, and stood firm. That was it. She had to command his wolf.
    “Zane. Put him down. ”
    The command rang clearly through the trashed room. The cops went silent. Trent went silent, with an aura of ‘I hope you know what the fuck you’re doing,’ and even the terrified customers in the corner went quiet. In fact the only person who wasn’t quiet was Roth, who was crying softly, no evidence of the handsome model-type she’d first met in his terrified, blood splattered face.
    Zane’s eyes, all yellow-gold now with no hint of the blue of humanity, locked onto her. Fear made itself at home in the back of her mind, yammering suggestions about running, but she ignored it and met Zane glare for glare.
    “Put. Him. Down.”
    Zane bared his teeth. Vicious fangs almost as long as her fingers.
    Fuck. He wasn’t buying it. How the hell did she ‘command his wolf’?
    “Get in position.” Simmons muttered quietly to the men around him. “We’re going to need to take him down.”
    There was shuffling and Zane flicked an ear in their direction but didn’t take his eyes off Ashlee.
    She folded her arms, and plastered her best pissed off expression on her face. Sure, she was quaking in her boots, but she was female. She could do ‘I’m fine’ until she was blue in