It had been hours since the clock had struck midnight, but Taylor wasn’t the least bit tired, the cards were falling in his favor, there was a nice stack of bills on the table in front of him, and the next deal was his. The faces gathered around the table had ceased to look quite so scary after a few hands, and he’d started to have fun a few hands later as he became a little more confident none of them were going to try to kill him. He’d been balancing his wins and losses carefully, taking a little money from all of the men around the table, hoping they wouldn’t notice if it were spread out.
Picking up the cards, he began to shuffle, looking around the table, trying to decide how much longer he should stay and push his luck. “Ante up,” he called, continuing to shuffle, not missing the unhappy looks on the other players' faces. “I think this will be my last hand, I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, but I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated your hospitality.”
“Yeah, and taking our money,” one of the men said, giving him a dirty look. “You’re awfully good at this game, almost makes me wonder if you’ve had some help.”
Poised to shuffle, he froze, then looked up at the man. “Are you accusing me of cheating?” he asked, letting the cards fall to the table.
“Do you think I haven’t felt your magic all night? Do you think I’m some kind of a fool?” the man demanded, getting to his feet. “You’re cheating, I don’t know how, but you’re using your magic to manipulate the cards or something, and I’m putting a stop to it right now. We don’t appreciate cheaters around here, boy. They have a tendency not to live very long.”
Taylor slowly got to his feet, looking over at Stan for help, but this time, the older man just sat back and crossed hisarms over his chest. “Dicky here might have a point,” he said. “Something doesn’t feel right about tonight. Maybe you did cheat, maybe Dakota taught you how to do it.”
Sensing instantly that he was in trouble, Taylor backed away from the table, cursing his stupidity for getting involved with such a rough crowd. He realized that it was going to cost him several hundred dollars. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that he had a clear path to the door, and he had to fight the urge to turn and run. Instead, he took one slow step after another toward the door, keeping his eyes on the men.
He was almost there when the door flew open and a man came rushing in, a woman trapped in his arms. “We’ve got a trespasser,” he called, his voice full of excitement. “And she’s a real beauty.”
***Emily***
Emily resisted the urge to fight as the man dragged her through the door, it wouldn’t do any good and only exhaust her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t looking for an opportunity to escape. The man’s arms around her might have felt like a vise, but she was smart and quick, she’d find an opening and take it or go down trying. When he abruptly threw her to the ground, she was too surprised to seize the opportunity and fell hard instead, bruising her hip when she landed.
Momentarily breathless from the pain, she lay crumpled on the floor, trying to fill her lungs with air, afraid that she was going to pass out. “I found her snooping around out front,” her captor called, walking over to her. “I’m going to give her to the highest bidder, boys, when you’re done with her, I’m sure she’ll be happy to tell us what she’s doing here.”
A cheer filled the room, and she felt the first pang ofpanic stir to life in her gut. She’d taken off without telling anyone where she was going, so worried about Taylor, she hadn’t thought of her own safety. Now she could see that had been a mistake, she was in big trouble, the kind of trouble that could get her killed if she didn’t do something and quick. Lifting her head, she struggled to her feet even though her head was spinning, then pulled her hair back from her face before bravely looking around the room.
She felt Taylor’s panic before she saw him across the room. “Emily,” he called, pushing his way through the crowd toward her. “What are you doing here?”
“I came looking for you,” she said, so relieved to see him that she didn’t care if everyone heard how badly her voice was shaking. “I should have been more careful, I know better, I just wasn’t thinking…”
“Now isn’t this cozy, they know each other,” her captor said, taking a step toward them. “What do you think, boys? Should we do a two-for-one tonight? One of them to feed your thirst for blood and the other to feed…well, I think we all know what she’ll feed…”
The room filled with laughter, and a few men called out bids. “Now hold on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” one man called out to the crowd. “I think you should all get to see what you’re bidding on. After all, we want this to be fair and square.”
There were hoots and whistles. “Come on, honey, take it off. We want to see some skin,” a man shouted from the back of the room. “Let us get a good look at the goods before we start bidding.”
When her captor started toward her an evil smile on his face, Taylor stepped in front of her blocking his path. “I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Taylor said. “You don’t want to tangle with me.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” the man said, puffing up his chest. “I’m not afraid of you, college boy. Get out of the way, and maybe I’ll go easy on you. Either way, you’re going to watch while we have some fun with the pretty little lady.”
“You can try,” Taylor said, his voice deeper than normal. “But you’ll have to come through me to get to her.”
Forcing the fear and panic away, Emily reminded herself that she was a trained professional, and took a quick look around. “Taylor, there’s only one man between us and the door,” she whispered. “I think we can take him together and make a run for it.”
“We can give it a try,” he said, starting to back toward the door, then looking over at her. “Emily, these guys are very dangerous, they’re dangerous in ways you can’t imagine. I might have to do something I don’t do in front of very many people; I just want you to remember that it’s still me and I would never hurt you.”
The words had barely died on his tongue when the doorman got to his feet. “Where do you two think you’re going?” he sneered at them. “We’ve still got some unfinished business, college boy. You and your girlfriend shouldn’t have come here.”
Hoping to use the power of surprise, she waited until the man reached for her, then turned the tables on him, flipping him onto his back and knocking the wind out of him. She made a run for the door, Taylor right behind her, but before she could get there, the doorman was on his feet and standing in their way, his eyes filled with rage. A second later, the air around him began to crackle with energy, and she froze, bracing herself, but she wasn’t sure for what.
“Shit, Emily, get over here,” Taylor yelled, pulling her behind him but not before the doorman suddenly disappeared replaced by a huge wolf.
For several long seconds she couldn’t make her lungs work, couldn’t wrap her mind around what she’d just seen,then out of the corner of her eye, she saw several of the other men in the room disappear. When she turned her head and saw the dozen or so wolves slowly making their way toward them, she couldn’t help the little cry of fear that escaped from her chest. She looked over at Taylor, expecting him to be as freaked out as she was, but he was completely calm, his eyes traveling from animal to animal simply assessing the situation.
“Emily, listen to me, you need to run as soon as you can,” Taylor ordered. “Don’t wait for me, just go, get in your car and get out of here. I’ll catch up to you down the road.”
“Taylor, I’m not leaving you here alone,” she hissed at him. “I don’t understand what’s going on, but they’ll kill you, I can’t let that happen.”
“Just remember what I told you,” Taylor said. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”
Taylor pushed her toward the door, and the air around him began to shimmer. A wave of power made her entire body feel as if it was vibrating, and then he was gone, replaced by what she could only describe as a dragon. For several long seconds, all she could do was stare at the creature, taking in every detail of its huge muscular body, the enormous wings tucked onto its back, the shimmering emerald feathers, the giant talons, and the sharp beak.
