“Yeah, not quite yet, Summer.” The largest of the cats grabbed her by the elbow, effectively clipping her wings. “And who the fuck is Aura Lee?” He spat onto the floor. “You messing with this wolf, giving him free samples, and he doesn’t even know your name? When there’s so many cats would put a ring on it for you?” He shook his head in disgust. “Your uncle wants to see you.” He nodded at the thugs holding Brick. “Bring him to Cal’s office.”
But Brick wasn’t an untried cub any longer. And his female would not be wrested from his grasp. A howl burst from his throat, loud enough to curdle their cottage cheese. He martialed a flurry of long and patiently practiced t’ai chi moves, kicked out at his captors and caught them off guard. The moment their grip on him relaxed, he quickly shifted. He knew his mature wolf loomed huge and formidable, bigger than any of them, when the crowd edged back in fear.
Baring his fangs, he forced them to retreat with unholy snarls, his gaze traveling from one to the next as if they were Hungry-Man Backyard Barbecue and his inner dinner gong had rung.
He hunkered onto his haunches, gathering muscles, preparing to spring at the male holding Summer. To tear the creep’s throat and heart out, for daring to lay a hand on his…mate. Put a ring on her? Fuck that shit. Only one male would do that.
Mine. He growled. With lethal athletic speed, he went Cape Canaveral aerodynamic, launching his bulk into the air.
“Not today, wolf. Not in my house.” Cal Seven, the owner of the saloon and casino, stood in his office doorway, a shotgun on his shoulder, aimed unerringly in Brick’s direction.
Stinging pain seared into his back, his hind quarters, his shoulders. He dropped like a boulder, crumpling to the ground.
***
When Brick came to, he lay on a parquet wood floor, a throw rug blanketing his naked human form. Cotton balls —hell, an entire cotton field, boll weevils included, grew in his mouth. Clouds rolled through his head, black and stormy. No blood. But darts of pain, as if he’d been pin cushioned by a swarm of bees.
“Tranq gun,” a deep voice drawled above him. “What we use to subdue a feral animal in our midst. Before we decide if the creature’s rabid and needs to be put down. Took about ten rounds to topple you.”
He cranked his heavy eyelids open. Cal Seven leaned back against his desk, arms crossed over his chest. Behind him, on the wall, a vast map of the mountain. Red pins dominating. A sprinkle of green pins where Los Lobos should be. His beast yowled, jabbing frenzied claws into his flesh. Great. Skin needled inside and out. He’d probably leak from all the punctures if he had something to drink. Speaking of which…his mouth had gone totally Mojave.
The saloon owner nodded toward the long-barreled gun resting on its butt end at his side. “Don’t make me plug you again, wolf. Don’t think my niece would be happy with that.”
“Summer,” he croaked, his mouth dry, his lips cracked.
“I’m here, my darlin’.” Her voice soft, sweet, the soothing lilt he lived for. He turned toward the sound. She huddled, dispirited, in a chair in the corner of the room. Not tied down that he could see. But something seemed to subdue and constrain her natural ebullience.
“What did he do to you?” A belligerent growl. But the residual effects of the drugs sapped his demand of true force.
“Nothing.” She couldn’t disguise her bitterness.
“I’ve managed to convince my niece the time has come for her to take a mate. And to choose one of her own kind.”
“Niece?” he echoed.
“Oh, did she neglect to mention that? Daughter of my beloved sister. Revered female of the Goldspark Clan. Of which I’m alpha. A princess of priceless worth. Destined bride of an estimable cat. Beyond the touch of a packless no-account loner.”
Cal’s words dealt him a series of blows more crushing than the pummeling he’d taken so many years earlier in The Den. Summer? His Summer? His beautiful, daring, high-flying raven? His Aura Lee? Niece of the alpha of the Goldspark Clan? Promised to a fucking cat?
His wolf rebelled. Howled.
Brick rose to his feet with a roar. “Not while I live.”
“Yeah, well, that’s kind of the point, wolf. The trade Summer’s agreed to make. She’ll take the mate I pick for her. Mother some kits for us. And I’ll let you live.” Cal actually smiled. “Oh, and you’ll remove yourself from my mountain. Never show your hide anywhere near Shady Heart again”
“Your mountain?” he echoed.
Cal gestured at the game plan on the wall behind him. “Soon enough. Magnum pretty much sold you wolves out. Gave up more and more territory every year for a couple of handfuls of gold. But I don’t trust Drew to do the same. Or honor his father’s agreements with me. My bulldozers are getting ready to plow Los Lobos into the ground even as we speak. Just waiting for the word. But my niece has convinced me to spare one wolf. That’d be you.” The lethal grin broadened. “Deal?”
His mouth stuffed with dryer lint, he barely mustered enough saliva to spit. His drugged limbs weighed him down. Or he’d lunge at the motherfucker and tear out his throat, claw off his head. And that would definitely not endear him to the female he craved.
“Brick, please.” Summer’s voice, beseeching him. “If anything happens to you, I’ll die.”