damn it to hell. he didn't want her out here in any danger.

the men had to be concerned, even though she was a smaller female. she still had one hell of a mouthful of sharp teeth if they tested her strength or willingness to attack-and they were still in human form.

she quickly let duncan know she was with him-part of his team, so to speak, and not there needing his protection. her deep growl pierced the sounds of paradise, of the breeze tossing palm fronds and the waves beating and sliding over the beach, of the shuffle of sand. her growl was 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 them, as if her first wolfish statement hadn't had the right impact, warning 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 him. but he didn't want her anywhere near them.

"shit," big 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 men had to recognize 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 damned grateful for that.

the other man turned his attention back in the direction of duncan, the bigger threat.

"shift," the man said under his breath, undoubtedly figuring big talker could hear him while duncan was too far away to make out the whispered word. or maybe thinking duncan would mistakenly believe he cursed instead of giving the order to shape-shift.

duncan knew shelley would fight them. he just didn't want her getting hurt.

he lunged for the man who had taken charge of the situation and knocked him to the ground, growling and threatening 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, she moved in closer to the remaining man, watching duncan as he bit at the man's hands, his teeth exposed for a killing blow. the man was trying to keep duncan from reaching his throat while grabbing for duncan's muzzle. duncan was considering his options as he snarled and snapped and cut the man's hands with his sharp teeth. kill him, maim him, let the bastard go.

the bastard held up one arm to block duncan's teeth. with his free hand, he slipped a dagger from beneath his shirt.

knowing the man was armed, duncan was certain that if he let him go instead of killing him, he would come back to murder duncan and take shelley against her will.

it didn't matter that the man hadn't had time to shift. he'd intended to murder duncan, and if duncan had given the two men a chance to shift, shelley would have gotten into the battle and could have been seriously hurt. he made the decision, the correct one as far as a werewolf's thinking went, and bit into the man's hand, gripping the knife to neutralize the threat to himself. the man screamed in pain. duncan lunged for his throat one last time, severing the spinal column in a killing 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 him like this, in such a black mood with only one thought in mind-to kill before being killed.

he glanced up at her. shelley looked in the direction of a car engine rumbling. duncan sidled up to her, nuzzling her to come with him. he wanted her in the house before he made his next move. this time she was not leaving the 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 image of him killing the wolf-man, shelley locked the villa, per duncan's instructions after he made her go 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 him in wolf form and help if he needed her.

her argument 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 him through the back patio's glass doors until he'd disappeared from sight, headed in the direction of the dead man. she expected to hear the rental car engine start after several minutes and that he'd take the body away to some other location. the car never moved from the driveway. she was left wondering what 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 swim in that part of the ocean again. she couldn't help worrying about his safety if he did swim out into deeper water with the bloodied man, potentially drawing sharks into the area.

she wasn't sorry for the man. she'd known as soon as he whispered to his partner in crime to shift that they intended to fight and kill duncan. he was only one wolf against two. not that she wouldn't have done her part, but she would have been at as disadvantage against the bigger males. the man had been armed with a knife, and even though werewolves had faster healing capabilities than humans, she knew that if he had cut duncan in a lethal place, he could still have died.

she knew that's why duncan hadn't hesitated to attack the man who appeared to be in charge and that he'd worried if he didn't survive, she'd be left on her own. his mate.

she was glad the other took off running like a scaredy-cat. unless he got more backup, she really didn't expect he'd return anytime soon. but what if he ran to sal and the two of them came back seeking revenge?

she knew that duncan had to have taken the wolf-man's body somewhere, but not where. shivering as the adrenaline spiking her body and readying it for a fight began to drain from her bloodstream, she waited and paced, anxious that duncan was taking way too long to return to her. a million scenarios raced through her mind. the police would catch him carrying a dead body over his shoulder. sal's other wolf would have changed into his wolf form and caught up to duncan to avenge his buddy. sal himself and the other remaining wolf would gang up on duncan. what if there were more than just the two?

she so wished duncan had allowed her to watch his back. they were in this together, as far as she was concerned. but the warrior in him insisted that he take all the risk, damn it.

nearly an hour later, duncan materialized out of the dark, stalking toward the villa, his face grim with a warrior's stern expression, a battle obviously fought and only partially won. it would only be done when his clan's money had been returned.

she opened the door for duncan, and before she could do anything or say anything, he locked the door, seized her hand, and hauled her back to the bedroom. "i'll join you in a minute," he said, leaving her next to the bed. he looked displeased, but she didn't think it was with her. unless he was pissed off that she had approached the men in her wolf form from behind and growled. yeah, she imagined that he planned to take her to task for that.

she wouldn't have done anything differently. she had been staying downwind from duncan the whole time he'd been scent-marking their territory around the villa-and even around sal's as a heightened threat to let the man know duncan was serious about shelley being his. she had added her own special scent to ensure that everyone knew they were a pair. duncan wouldn't have been aware of it. when he went wherever he did to dispose of the dead man, duncan would discover what she'd done.

maybe that's what he was pissed off about it. she wouldn't have reacted in any other way.

she hadn't believed sal would send some wolf muscle their way.

without another word, duncan went inside the bathroom and shut the door, the shower coming on again. not to wash away the blood, though. he had already done that in the ocean, and his clothes were salty and wet from the sea. now he was removing the salt and sand from his skin and hair and clothes.

she wanted to wait for him before she undressed and crawled into bed, wanting to hear what had happened. she figured he needed to think about what had occurred and what he thought best to do next without talking it over with her first. so she did what she thought best. took off her clothes and returned to bed and waited for him to join her.

he soon left the bathroom but he didn't join her right away. with a towel wrapped around his waist, his skin glistening with water droplets, he said in a low, reassuring voice, "i'll join you in just a few minutes, shelley. sleep. i won't be long."

he lifted his phone from his pants and stalked out of the room. she knew then he was calling his brother to tell him the news.

that meant she wasn't part of the package when it came to dealing with the bad guys. in his estimation, she was only the maiden in distress. annoyed to the max, she harrumphed at that and decided she wasn't about to wait for him to join her in bed. she was going to go to sleep, damn it, and pretend she didn't care what he'd done.

closing her eyes didn't shut her brain down. not until he climbed into bed with her and pulled her against his hot, hard body-and knowing tomorrow would bring all kinds of new trouble-did she finally fall asleep.

early the next morning, duncan seemed to be in deep thought, his expression dark as he went about preparing breakfast before he got a call from ian. was his brother telling him cearnach's arrival time that night? duncan and shelley hadn't made love since the previous night, not that she hadn't been in the mood, but duncan seemed so absorbed in what had happened that she didn't feel he was interested.

he hadn't talked to her about the men last night. she didn't bother broaching the subject because she figured she'd get a lecture. if he even thought about lecturing her, they were going to get into a fight.

shelley's phone began ringing, and she hurried to get it. good thing they had both turned off their phones last night, or she was sure she would have been awakened way too early. when she answered the phone and saw it was wendy, shelley was not happy. "wendy, did you call my mother and tell her i was rooming with a wolf?"