Face pale.
Eyes wild.
He pointed the weapon toward the house.
Toward the storm cellar door. He must have seen Trigger moving Sadie there.
Something inside me snapped.
Not wildly.
Not blindly.
Coldly.
Completely.
“Put it down,” I said.
Gerald laughed.
A sharp, ugly sound.
“You think you can keep her from me?”
“Yes.”
His finger tightened on the trigger.
I raised my weapon.
“Last warning.”
He turned toward the house.
Toward Sadie.
And fired.
I fired once.
Gerald cried out.
His leg gave out beneath him.
He crashed into the grass.
The gun flew from his hand.
For one breathless second, everything stopped.
Then Gerald dragged himself toward the trees.
Blood darkened his jeans.
Wolf burst from the far side of the pasture.
“Gerald! Don’t move!”
