Trigger

15

The man stepped back from the doorway, smiling. He gestured again for her to come in. Stormy shook her head, trying to communicate in rudimentary Russian. The guy shook his head again, the smile on his face arguing directly with the coldness of his eyes. He came out onto the porch and tried to grab Stormy’s arm.

She backed up quickly, almost falling down the stairs. He came forward solicitously, smiling even wider.

He’s bad news. Get the f**k out of here!

He was too close, right at the top of the stairs, looming over her. Suddenly he reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

Trigg barked, throwing himself between them. He snarled and snapped at the big man, pushing him away. Stormy stumbled down the steps, but Trigg paid her no mind as he went for the man’s throat.

Normally a man, even a big one like this, would be no trouble for him, but this guy knew something about fighting off dogs. That made Trigg twice as suspicious. The guy was obviously trying to get his big hands around his jaw, not minding the teeth. When Trigg struggled and slithered in his grasp, the man tried to grab his front legs.

Trigg knew these tricks himself. If getting charged by a large dog, a human could win by grabbing the jaws and wrenching them apart, breaking the jaw. If you were scared of the teeth or unable to grab the mouth, grabbing the front legs and ripping them in separate directions would split the breastbone.

You only know this if you’ve gone up against guard dogs.

Either way, he was vulnerable right now, and he had no choice. He shifted right there in the guy’s hands.

The big man took a step back, his eyes wide. Trigg didn’t wait. He slammed the guy in the chin with his fist.

The guy’s eyes widened with fury. He bellowed like a bull and charged, trying to tackle him. Trigg dodged the move and slammed the man with another punch. He flipped along the deck, finally coming to a rest on his face. Trigg stood over him, breathing hard.

“You got him?” Stormy asked nervously. Trigg nodded.

“He’s out cold.”

“What the hell is his deal?”

“No idea,” Trigg said, coming down the stairs. “I don’t want to stick around to find out, either.”

He ran down the stairs, taking Stormy’s hand. For a few seconds, he ran with her in human form.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked, concerned. She nodded.

“He barely touched me. I was a bit scared, but I didn’t get hurt.”

“Good,” Trigg said, adding the new threat of “psycho wood hermits” to the list of dangers he had to protect Stormy from.

“What should we do?”

“Get away from here, for a start. Let’s put a few miles between us, then I’ll figure out what to do.”

He shifted smoothly and began to stride out on four legs. He paced himself carefully to stay by Stormy’s side. She jogged with him, puffing a little but not complaining. The cool air rushed against his face. The far-off peaks still called to him, rising into the sky like forgotten mysteries begging him to discover them.

He glanced up at his mate, wondering if she would love the mountains too. It was so tempting to simply disappear with her into the savage, perfect wilderness.

But he had a GPS tracker in his neck, and a mission to complete. He growled low in his throat. He didn’t care about his freedom anymore. He did burn for revenge against Kory, but his love for Stormy was far stronger.

Trigg did the only thing he could do. He put it out of his mind and kept running, focusing on the snow under his paws and the clear air in his lungs. It was a skill he had developed over the years to help him complete difficult missions. One step at a time, one thought at a time. Don’t look too far ahead.

If he did, the way forward might become too twisted to follow. He focused on the next step and nothing more.

STORMY

They ran for quite some time. Stormy could tell this incident had rattled Trigg badly. He hadn’t expected to find random people out here.

Even though the cold air burned her throat and the ground was hard going, Stormy didn’t complain. She kept pace with the wolf, waiting for him to slow down. They entered a small clearing, and the wolf came to a halt, sniffing the air.

Rest a minute, he said. I’ll check out the area.

Stormy nodded, glad for the chance to catch her breath. She watched Snowflake pace the perimeter, noticing he never went out of sight, and often looked up to make sure she was exactly where he left her. She smiled to herself.

I’m running through a crazy wilderness, just about everyone and everything is trying to kill me, but I’ve never felt safer all my life.

The wolf trotted back to her, his big fluffy white tail held high like a flag. She loved the way he paced along, the bounce in his step showing how content he was. His soft, pointed ears stood straight up, and his starburst eyes were wide and full of love.

He bounced up when he reached her, putting his forepaws on her thighs. She bent down and buried her hands in his scruff, loving the soft, thick fur. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you for saving me,” she whispered. He let out a short, loud bark, tossing his head.

No thanks needed.

She smiled, standing up. He shifted before her, and she quickly handed him his long coat from the backpack. He wrapped it around himself and stood next to her, hesitating as if he wanted to put an arm around her shoulders ... but he didn’t do it.

Disappointed, she looked up into his face. He was staring distractedly at the tree line as if he was doing everything he could not to look at her. She wished he would turn back into a wolf so she could cuddle him again.

“Seriously, though, you did great,” she said softly. Trigg looked at her, his beautiful starburst eyes flashing at her. She saw something there, an expression that could have been sweet and tender but was gone so fast she couldn’t be sure.

He grinned. “It’s my job.”

“I thought that guy had you for a second before you shifted.”

He scoffed. “No way. He’s just a woodsman. I’m a professional.”

It seemed like he was holding back, but she didn’t press the issue. That guy had seemed very skilled for “just a woodsman,” but she wasn’t about to argue with him.