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The h she was a smaller female She still had one hell of a ness to attack--and they were still in human form

She quickly let Duncan know she ith hi his protection Her deep growl pierced the sounds of paradise, of the breeze tossing pal over the beach, of the shuffle of sand Her groas a discordant sound like his had been It didn’t belong in the idyllic islands, a predator’s threat that had to have rarely been heard here, if ever

She growled again at theht i them to disappear or else She wanted to be taken seriously Duncan knew beyond a doubt that she intended to attack if they made any move to harm hi Talker said, half looking over his shoulder in the direction of the she-wolf’s growl and unable to see her, just like Duncan couldn’t The nize her voice was not as deep as a male’s That she was half the threat that Duncan was

She was playing it safe, though, keeping out of view Duncan was darateful for that

The other man turned his attention back in the direction of Duncan, the bigger threat

"Shift," theTalker could hear him while Duncan was too far away toDuncan wouldthe order to shape-shift

Duncan knew Shelley would fight theed for the e of the situation and knocked hi to rip him to shreds

The other man tore off toward the road where Duncan suspected they’d parked a vehicle Shelley didn’t take chase, for which he was glad Instead, sheDuncan as he bit at theblow The rabbing for Duncan’shis options as he snarled and snapped and cut the man’s hands with his sharp teeth Kill hio

The bastard held up one arm to block Duncan’s teeth With his free hand, he slipped a dagger fro the o instead of killing hiainst her will

It didn’t matter that the man hadn’t had time to shift He’d intended to iven the two otten into the battle and could have been seriously hurt He made the decision, the correct one as far as a olf’s thinking went, and bit into thethe knife to neutralize the threat to hied for his throat one last ti blow

He wished he hadn’t had to do so in front of Shelley He suspected she hadn’t ever seen a wolf kill a man before Or at least he assumed she hadn’t He hadn’t wanted her to see hiht in lanced up at her Shelley looked in the direction of a car engine ru her to come with him He wanted her in the house before hethe villa if he had any say about it

Proud of Duncan for taking care of the threat but unable to clear her head of the i the wolf-man, Shelley locked the villa, per Duncan’s instructions after he o back inside She had wanted to come with him, but he’d refused What if the other man returned, and she was alone? But in truth she was part of this and didn’t want to be left out She needed to stand by him, no matter what happened She needed to be with hiument fell on deaf ears

After Duncan had shifted, cleaned up, and dressed, and she was locked inside, he left her alone in the villa

She’d watched hilass doors until he’d disappeared froht, headed in the direction of the dead ine start after several minutes and that he’d take the body away to some other location The car neverwhat Duncan had done with the dead man Hauled him into the ocean? Swam out with him into the surf? Fed him to the sharks?

If Duncan had, they’d better not swi about his safety if he did swim out into deeper water with the bloodiedsharks into the area