Page 127 of Break Out the Girl

London freezes mid-laugh, his posture turning rigid.

Beside him, Taliesin’s entire body goes taut, the playing cards slipping from his fingers to scatter across the table. His nostrils flare, putting me on instant alert. My snake hasn’t picked up on anything yet, but I don’t have their hearing.

“What?” I demand.

“Vehicle,” Taliesin says, getting to his feet and turning off the overhead light. “Sky, Basil, Rory, get into the back bedroom.”

London is already moving to open the door, half-yelling and half-bleating a war cry. “They’ll never take my freedom!” He shifts and springs away faster than I’ve ever seen him move.

Basil, being the contrary little bastard he is, picks up his favorite tire iron, then stands outside the bedroom as Aurora hustles a terrified looking Sky inside. Fine. He can be the last line of defense.

“Plan?” I ask Taliesin, shocking myself that I’m deferring to him.

“Presume the worst. Take them out before they’re anywhere near Rory and the kids. Unless it’s obvious they’re not a threat.”

Merde. I sprint out into the gray pasture, running through the skeletal apple trees behind Taliesin, until he shifts and takes off in wolf-form.

Ahead I can hear the growl of an engine. Headlights cut through the late afternoon gloom. Rounding a corner, I see it. A sleek, high-end, heavily armored black Elite SUV.

It’s skidding to a stop as London bars the way, a metal fence post in his muscled goat-arms.

He looks completely unhinged. “Come on then, you wankers!” he shrieks, rushing forward. “Try it, I dare you!” He leaps onto the hood of the SUV, then swings, the iron smashing into the windshield.

The glass spiderwebs, but doesn’t break. Again, he swings, and again. Taliesin is growling and snapping, looking equally wild.

But I just stop.

There is something about the aura coming from inside the vehicle. And even though I can’t see through the tinted windows, everything clicks into place.

“LONDON! STAND DOWN!”

But the faun is too far gone.

Fine. He asked for it. I launch myself at the goat, narrowly missing getting swiped by the fence post, then grab his face. “STOP.”

My hypnosis doesn’t take. I can feel it sliding off him. But instead, strangely, it is my word that gets through—like the maniac actually listens to me.

“Shane?” He’s shaking with adrenaline.

“Friend, not foe,” I say calmly, still holding his cheeks. “It’s safe.”

I’m aware of Taliesin pausing his frenzied growls, I turn to him. “Safe.”

London slides off the hood and onto the muddy track, trembling and pale, while the wolf shifts back to his human form.

In the moment of silence, the SUV door opens and a suave, slightly annoyed looking man slides out. “For fucks sake,” he snarks. “That’s quite the welcoming committee, de Vaux.”

I shrug. “C’est la vie.”

But when we meet eyes, I can’t stifle a grin.

“Welcome to my new normal, Cosmo.”

46: AURORA

“Shh, Sky, just breathe. We’ll never let anyone take you, I promise.”

We’re crammed into the small gap between the mattress and the wall, half-hidden under the pile of zebra-stuffies. She’s trembling hard, and almost hyperventilating.