Page 21 of Laird Of Her Heart

She was utterly helpless before such savagery.

“Stay back,” he murmured softly, positioning himself to meet this threat. The woman did not obey him. She crept along behind him, clutching his arm. He pulled out his dirk and waved his arms wide to make himself look bigger.

The wolf was not impressed. It padded closer and closer still, licking its chops. It growled again.

“Be careful,” she said.

He dared an incredulous glance at her. Be careful? “Stay back,” he snapped. “I want you to run when I attack.”

“You’re going to attack? That’s a wolf. And a big one too.”

“What would you have me do?”

“Throw it a chunk of meat.”

“In case you havena noticed, the only meat I have is still attached to my body.”

“Well you can’t attack it—”

But he didn’t have to. The wolf did the honors, leaping at him with a blood-chilling snarl.

They met in a macabre embrace. The force of the lunge knocked him to the ground. Sharp claws gouged at his leather jerkin and jagged teeth sprayed drool across his face as they snapped in a frenzy. It took all Dominic’s strength to hold it back. The only thought in his head was that he had to prevail… or she would die.

He could not allow that.

He could not let his failure be the cause of her destruction.

But it was clear. He was outmatched. His only hope was to take a swipe at the beast with his knife and hope he hit some vital spot. Trouble was, he needed both hands to hold it off. He tried to roll over, to pin the creature beneath him, but it weighed more than he did, and had all the leverage.

Slowly, but surely, the gaping maw closed in, near and nearer to his jugular.

A horrendous roar resounded through the clearing. Something that sounded like “Hii-ya!” and the wolf went flying sideways into the dirt. It rolled and then leaped to its feet again, but its attention was not on Dominic. It was on Maggie.

And it was really angry now.

“I told you to stay back,” he snapped.

“You were losing.”

“I wasna losing.”

She sniffed and muttered, “Were too.”

The wolf lunged again, straight at Maggie. Horror clutched at his chest, locked his throat, screamed in his veins.

To his astonishment she held still before this oncoming monster and then, at the last second, stepped to the side, slamming the butt of her palm into the wolf’s face.

It yelped, but whirled around to attack again. This time she hunched down and rolled to the side, landing another blow to the beast’s belly as he passed.

It occurred to Dominic that he was standing there gaping, which was not a very manly thing to do, so he leaped into the fray. Between the two of them they fended off another attack. The wolf, now panting, narrowed its eyes on them, contemplating the next incursion, but apparently it decided it had had enough.

It turned around and limped back into the woods.

His breath came in harsh gasps. His pulse raced. Sweat beaded his brow.

They’d nearly died. She’d nearly died.

“Oh my God.” Maggie stared after it, her mouth agape. Her breath was ragged, her color high.