Wild Instinct by Sarah McCarty

and until I get you back to Haven, I speak for him.”
    “Not in my opinion.”
    Kelon cocked an eyebrow at her. “Fortunately, your cooperation is not required.”
    Garrett smiled. “But you do need mine.”
    With a burst of mental energy, he broke Kelon’s grip.
    Move. He shot the command into Sarah Anne’s mind.
    Sarah Anne did, leaping behind him with gratifying speed.
    Donovan slid in beside Kelon. Daire stood. Damn, he wished Cur was here. The odds weren’t good.
    Take Megan and run. Now .
    He could feel the energy pouring off Sarah Anne in a wave of anxiety. Stress, fear, indecision.
    His claws extended, the bones in his face ached and stretched and his canines cut into his lower cheek. The cold, hard clarity that always preceded battle settled into his stomach as he met the other Protectors’ gazes. “My mate. My law.”
    “Haven doesn’t work that way.”
    “Mommy?” Megan was waking.
    “Then f—Screw Haven.”
    “You defy us, rogue, and we’ll kill you.”
    He smiled at Kelon. “You can try.”
    Go, Sarah Anne.
    Her boots scraped across the floor, but instead of going backward, she was in front of him, her slender shoulders squared. “No one is killing anyone. And no one is taking my baby from me.”
    Damn, he was going to have to take her in hand. From the shocked disbelief on the other men’s faces, they likely wouldn’t interfere.
    “You don’t have a say in this,” Donovan said, almost gently.
    “I have all the say. I’ve run before.”
    Shit. “A good time to run would have been thirty seconds ago,” Garrett pointed out. When he’d told her to.
    A flick of her fingers dismissed his reprimand. “I’m sick of chauvinistic men telling me what to do.”
    “Then you’ll just have to readapt.” He did not like the way Daire was shifting position.
    Sarah’s eyes flashed red as she snapped back at him, “Don’t you tell me what to do. I don’t wear your mark.”
    “Is that all that’s holding you back from obedience?”
    She bared those little canines at him. “Not at all.”
    “The child should be secured,” Daire interrupted. “She’s too important to risk.”
    “Garrett says he has her,” Donovan countered.
    Nice to know someone was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
    “Garrett wasn’t raised pack.”
    “Meaning?” Garrett wanted the prejudice out in the open.
    Daire met his gaze squarely. “Your instincts aren’t to be trusted.”
    And nice to know who wasn’t.
    “Like the one that says to take you down now?” he asked, taking Sarah’s arm and moving her behind him. A downward cut of his hand told her to stay.
    Daire nodded, as calm as ever. “Yes.”
    Power eased over the barrier of Garrett’s thoughts, cutting through his shields like a hot knife through butter. Shit. Daire. The merc was a telepath. And an incredibly strong one.
    “Shit.” With a hard mental shove, Garrett expelled Daire from his mind.
    Daire’s eyes narrowed. “You need more training.”
    “I had all that was available.” To a half werewolf with no future.
    “You trained yourself?”
    Daire sounded surprised. Who the hell else did he think there was? “Yes.”
    Daire’s eyes narrowed a fraction more before he nodded at Kelon and Donovan. “Don’t kill him.”
    Donovan sighed. “He’s not going to let us take the child if we don’t.”
    Daire nodded. “Understood.” He held out his hand to Garrett. “Give me your hand.”
    Give a physical conduit to a telepath who could rip his mind apart? The hell he would. “I’m not feeling sociable right now.”
    Not a muscle shifted in the other’s expression. “If you want the woman and your child, you’ll warm up.”
    Shit again. The ancient was powerful enough to make him do anything he wanted.
    “Don’t.”
    Sarah’s whisper poked at his hesitation. She stood there, clutching her baby, agony in her eyes. She knew as well as he what would happen. Wolves were not tolerant of telepaths. Sooner or later they’d kill