The two younger—though by no means young—men placed their guns on the ground. The older man tightened his grip on the shotgun.
A very naked Debra stepped out from behind a tree. “Hello, Thomas. Remember me?” One right hook laid him on the ground.
Slade shot across the clearing, stripping off his jacket and wrapping the warm leather around Noah. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just tired.” Noah’s smile fell short of sincere. “I need a couple of steak dinners.” His teeth chattered and he slipped his arms into the jacket sleeves.
All around, wolves returned to human form, confiscating guns and hauling the men out of the woods. Did they even feel the cold? Slade shivered, just watching them.
The man on the ground lay still. Debra moved to a handgun lying nearby.
The old man snatched the gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Noahjerkedonce,thenfell, clutching his stomach.
“Why, you no good mutherfucker!” Debra shrieked. “I would’ve killed you years ago if I hadn’t promised Valerie.”
Valerie? Who was Valerie? Thoughts for another time.
“Noah!” Slade crashed to his knees, spotting a hole in the leather and peeling open the jacket. The hole extended into Noah’s abdomen. Oh, God. Shot. Please no. No, no, no, no, no! Slade stripped off his T-shirt, heart lodged in his throat. He pressed the cotton to the wound. “If you shift, will you heal?”
“Maybe a bit,” Noah managed to get out through gritted teeth, his face scrunched into a mask of pain. “First, I gotta shift.”
For a moment, Slade flashed back to the night they met. Then, Noah had been shot as a wolf and shifted to human. Would the opposite process work? “Can you shift?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“Please try. This looks bad, Noah. Really bad.” God, they hadn’t come this far to lose Noah now.
Noah tried for a smile, which turned into a wince. “Not my first time getting shot.”
“It damned well better be the last.” Slade half turned. “Mac! I need help over here.”
Mac came running. “What’s wrong?”
Slade sat on the ground, sliding Noah’s head into his lap. “He’s shot. He don’t know if he can shift.”
Mac dropped to his knees, clutching one of Noah’s blood-stained hands in his. Slade tried to ignore the sheriff’s nakedness. “You gotta try, Noah. I need you to shift. C’mon.”
“Tired, so tired. If I could rest for a minute…”
“No!” Slade snapped, a little more harshly than intended. More softly, he pleaded. “Stay with me.”
“Get that jacket off of him,” Mac barked. “Hurry!”
Slade did as told.
“Okay, Noah. This is as necessary as it will be painful.” Mac bared his teeth in a grimace, doubling over and letting out an agonized moan.
Nothing happened. Then, like time-lapse photography, Noah started changing, hair sprouting from his face, teeth elongating. Finally, he writhed in Slade’s grasp, letting out a tormented scream.
“What the hell are you doing?” Slade barked at Mac. While he’d hate to take on the sheriff, he would if he had to.
“Shhh…” A firm hand gripped Slade’s shoulder. He looked up into the face of Noah’s aunt. “Don’t break his concentration, whatever you do.”
“What’s he doing?”
