Shifters of Silver Peak: Mate For A Month by Georgette St. Clair Page A

out so fast he left a trail of burned rubber behind him.
    Marcus reached her just as she turned human again.
    He turned human too, his fur melting back into his skin, and then he was crouching in the parking lot. He stood up, glaring after the retreating van.
    “How did you find me?” she asked, in tears.
    His gaze seemed to swim back into focus, and he turned to look at her. “Small town. Everybody is in everybody’s business. Joyce called up Chelsea to yell at her that you seemed upset and I probably hurt your feelings.”
    “Oh. And you came for me.”
    “Of course I came. Did he hurt you?” His hands were balled into fists. Fur rippled in waves across his naked body, sinking under his skin and bursting out again.
    “No.” She swallowed a sob. “He was going to drag me away with him. Force me to marry him.”
    He shook his head vigorously. “I will never let that happen.” Then he glanced across the street. “What are they doing here?”
    She followed his gaze and realized that Marisol and Ambrose were standing there.
    Watching.
    Fury boiled up in her.
    She stalked across the street, stark naked, with Marcus following at her heels.
    “Eileen, really. Your behavior is completely unacceptable,” Marisol said, raking her with a severe look. “You are naked, young lady. Your mother would be—”
    “Don’t you dare even mention her, or I will chew your face off. My mother wanted me to marry for love. You knew Beacham was there? You watched him try to kidnap me, and did nothing?” she yelled at them.
    “We saw you go into the bar, and told him where you were so he could get you out of this horrible place. It was for your own good,” Marisol said in her soothing voice. “You haven’t been yourself since the day you got here.”
    Marcus’ wolf came exploding out of him, and he lunged at her, knocking her against the wall. As he stood over her, snarling and snapping, Marisol shrieked and whimpered, crying out, “It was for her own good! Her own good!” over and over.
    Ambrose let out a high-pitched scream and cringed away from Marcus. At the same time, a patrol car pulled up, lights flashing. It said “Sheriff” on the side.
    “Everything’s fine!” Ambrose told the sheriff quickly as he climbed out of his car.
    “Doesn’t look fine,” the sheriff said. Eileen remembered that she was naked and did her best to cover herself with her hands, although the sheriff was only looking at her face.
    “No, it isn’t fine,” Eileen said angrily. “My ex-fiancé tried to kidnap me, and these two set the whole thing up. His name is Beacham Haversham. He’s driving a maroon minivan with darkened windows and heading north on Main Street. I want to press charges.”
    Marisol gasped in outrage. “You can’t arrest him,” she informed the sheriff. “He’s a Haversham.”
    “He’s a what?” He stared at her in annoyance. “I don’t give a damn what he is. Kidnapping’s a crime here.”
    Marcus turned human again and rose to his feet. His eyes had that crazy light.
    “You two deliver a message for me,” Marcus said to Ambrose and Marisol. “To her father. And to that prissy little city Chihuahua Haversham. Any of you try to take her again, I will find you, and I will end you. I don’t care about the consequences. You’ll drown in your own blood, and so will whoever tries to come after her.”
    “He’s threatening us!” Marisol wailed at the sheriff. “You heard him, he just threatened us!”
    The sheriff nodded. “Yep. Welcome to Silver Peak. That’s the kind of thing that tends to happen around here when you try to kidnap someone’s mate.”

Chapter Sixteen
     
    Eileen sat up in bed, staring at her sleeping husband. Or mate.
    After the sheriff had showed up the night before, someone had found her a T-shirt, and she had filled out a complaint. Beacham had been tracked down driving at a hundred and twenty miles an hour as he tried to flee the area; they’d added speeding and reckless