The afternoon exploded with the sounds of animals on the attack. The panthers went after TC on the car, the man screaming and jumping to the hard-shell top of the Lincoln. The wolf and Bear charged Chris, who stumbled backward, falling to his ass on the hard ground, and crab-walking backward until he hit the trunk of an oak. The tigers prowled the perimeter, just in case the men slipped past the others, which Lainie highly doubted. TC was jumping into the air, trying to reach a branch to climb up on, forgetting, she supposed, that panthers could climb trees. Chris had tears streaking down his face and a giant wet spot on the front of his pants. If he could shove himself through the tree he was backed against, he would to avoid the bear that roared at him, but one of the wolves—Alanna, Lainie knew—was behind the tree, snapping at the man, keeping him in place.Rance's wolf went straight to her, going immediately to the ropes at her wrists. She could break them, she knew, but didn't want

Noel Hastings loved the feel of the breeze on her cheeks whenever she walked through the woods, enjoying the unbeaten paths of Bull Creek as they explored their surroundings. The wind tugged at her skirt, caressing other parts of her body she left exposed to the elements, like her legs and the upper roundness of her breasts as they pushed out of her low-cut top. She relished in the crunch of the fallen leaves under her feet as she walked, the snap of tiny branches along the trail. Birds flittered from tree to tree, following them on their journey as squirrels chittered away, playing a game of tag among the oaks and pines that stood like sentinels guarding the quiet sanctuary. Noel even spotted a small otter scurrying across the dirt road and back into the brush that covered the landscape. Noel loved Tuesdays, the one day a week Wes Stapleton made sure he avoided Everglades, turning it over to Brianna Hughes to run for the day so he and Noel could have a day to themselves. Noel reached

"He really thought he could just buy the bar and run you off?" Noel asked as she piled empty glasses into a rubber tub. "That takes a lot of balls." She usually stopped by near closing time on her nights off to help Wes close up the place. He always told her she didn't have to come back, that she worked enough, but to her, being with him at work was better than waiting at home alone.Wes picked up another chair, flipped it so the seat set on the top of the table, and reached for the next. "From everything I've heard about this Order of Wardens, they have plenty of balls. And power to boot." He reached for another chair, glad the drama of the day was over, and he could bask in the quietness of the empty bar even if he knew there would be more trouble in the days ahead. Groups, such as the Order of Wardens, didn't go away quietly.As much as Wes loved owning Everglades, closing time remained one of his favorite times of the day. The rustic bar hopped during business hours, and the sharp

Wes' head pounded as if he had spent the night in the bottom of a bottle of his best scotch, and as he stretched, the bottle he forgot he drank fell from the bed, landing on the floor with a loud crack. He rolled over, his body groaning as he did, and stared down at the dark brown bottle. Or rather, at the pile of dark brown bottles. It took a lot of alcohol to get a shifter drunk, and from what he saw on the floor, he drank a lot of alcohol last night. He moaned as he rolled back over, allowing his head to fall into his pillow. His eyes closed as the reasoning behind his night making love to the bottle—bottles—came flooding back to him. Noel.He blew out a breath, trying to release his frustration and pain, but all that just aggravated his head. How could she not have told him she was already destined for another? How could he not have sensed that? Wes felt so stupid. For months, she lived in Bull Creek, even worked at Everglades, and not once had she even hinted that she had ran fr

Thursdays dragged at Everglades, and this one dragged more than any other Wes had endured. While he was used to there being fewer customers on these days, he usually didn't mind as much because it gave him plenty of time to play grab ass with Noel. Any other Thursday, Wes would have been praying for an empty bar, but today, he desperately prayed for Everglades to be full of patrons. The quietness would only make things more awkward with Noel. He had agreed to talk to Jake, but he had no idea what he would say to the man. The entire situation seemed stranger than fiction and Wes didn't do fiction."You look pretty glum." Glancing up, Wes saw Dimitri Everest standing there leaning on the bar. "Aren't bartenders supposed to be chipper?" the alpha of Bull Creek asked.Wes tried to force a smile, but doubted he pulled it off. "Kind of early for you to be here, isn't it? You never struck me as a day drinker.""True, true," Dimitri said, and by the look on his face, Wes could tell the man had