Ezra shook himself, shifted fully to wolf, and sprang at the men, knocking aside those trying to surround and bring down Zander.
Rae longed to shift—the wolf in her growled and squirmed, her hands turning to claws and back again. But she couldn’t abandon the sword, especially now that she’d broken it. She couldn’t let the humans get their hands on it.
But Zander was fighting for his life. He and Ezra, even in their animal forms, couldn’t last against this many, and what if more of the guys were armed? What if the bartender—or worried neighbors—called the cops?
“Rae!” Piotr was shouting to her. He waved at her to follow him before he jumped into Zander’s truck and cranked it to life.
Rae’s feet didn’t move. She couldn’t leave Zander to fight on his own. She had to help him.
Protect the sword. Eoin’s directive pounded into her head.
This sword had been stolen once from their Shiftertown, when Daragh had been killed, which had nearly led to disaster. Rae couldn’t let it be taken from them again.
Her instinct to go to Zander, though, to protect him, warred with her need to protect the sword.
The anguish of it tore at her. Was this what being Guardian meant? Having to choose between protecting those she cared about and always being Guardian first?
Her dilemma was solved by Zander. He sent another human to the ground with the swipe of one big paw, then he bowled over two others and galloped back toward Rae. Ezra sprinted after him, the long-legged wolf overtaking and passing the bear.
Piotr had the truck in motion, pointing it down the road to the marina. Ezra’s wolf chased it like a dog after a car, until he leapt and scrambled into the truck’s bed. At any other time Rae might have laughed at the sight, but she was too terrified for him and for Zander.
Zander ran straight for Rae. He smacked into her with his shoulder, not knocking her over but using the momentum to send her up onto his back.
Not quite. Rae had to scramble to get on top of him without stabbing him with the sword or dropping his coat. She had the feeling he’d be very upset if she dropped the coat.
Rae clung to Zander’s back, feeling the immense power of the bear beneath her. Zander ran with lithe ease, catching up to the moving truck.
Behind them the shotgun went off again, boom! Men yelled and sirens sounded.
Zander’s white fur rippled beneath Rae’s fingers. In one place on his shoulder, the white was tinged with red.
“Zander,” she gasped.
Zander growled in response, vibrating Rae’s body.
The truck was just ahead of them, tailgate open. Rae stifled a shriek and held on as Zander gathered himself and leapt for the pickup’s bed.
Ezra was already there. He squeezed his wolf body into a corner as Zander landed, paws scrabbling on the bottom of the truck’s bed until he was solidly on board.
The momentum made the pickup lurch and spin. Piotr cranked the wheel until the truck righted itself, then he stomped on the gas, sending the vehicle screaming down the road toward the marina.
He looked back at the trio in the bed and pumped his fist into the air. “Woo-hoo!” he cried. “Zander, you do know how to party.”
* * *
Police sirens dogged them all the way to the docks. Zander’s shoulder hurt but if he stayed bear it wouldn’t be so bad.
Piotr was driving like an insane man, pushing the truck down the narrow spit of land, the flashing lights dropping farther and farther behind them. If he made one mistake and slid the truck off the road, they’d crash into rocks and sand and tumble into the sea.
But Piotr had been driving the back roads of this part of Alaska all his life, in all weathers, in vehicles so broken down it was a surprise they worked at all. Piotr kept the truck going at a speed that would get him arrested and imprisoned, but they made it to the marina in one piece.
Piotr spun the truck to a halt in front of the dock that led to Zander’s boat. “Go!” he cried. “I hold them off!”
How he would, Zander had no idea, but he galloped down the dock, still bear, and onto the boat, Rae and Ezra following.
Tanner and Johnny, who hadn’t gone home even after all these hours, rose and watched a polar bear, followed by a young woman with a sword, followed by a wolf, run onto Zander’s boat. Zander shifted when he reached the deck, his wound ripping pain through his shoulder.
“Zander,” Rae’s voice came behind him. “He shot you.”
“Only a little.” Zander didn’t slow as he made his way into the pilot house, where he pushed the starter. He checked his fuel—he had enough to get to the port he had in mind, where he’d need to refill. “Go see if Piotr’s all right.”
Rae gave him an exasperated look, tossed his duster down, and hastened outside, still clutching the sword. Ezra stood on the foredeck, wind in his fur. His feet were planted on the gunwale, watching as Piotr angled the truck to cut off the two police cars and a sheriff’s SUV at the end of the dock.
Zander slid on a pair of sweatpants against the cold but didn’t bother with a shirt—he’d have to fix his shoulder first. He got the engine going, checked everything he needed to check, and made ready to pull out.
He moved to the doorway to see that Piotr had abandoned the pickup. Piotr was running faster than a bulk-muscled man should be able to, down the dock to Zander’s slip. “Go!” he yelled, making shooing gestures.
The police had leapt from vehicles and moved around Zander’s truck to chase him. Johnny and Tanner came off their boat and untied Zander’s before Zander could move to do it himself.
“Go on, man,” Tanner called to him. “We got your back.”
Zander lifted his hand in acknowledgment. Tanner and Johnny slipped the boat’s ropes free and tossed them on deck. Zander waved his thanks, returned to the wheel, and backed the boat carefully out of its place.
As he picked up speed he heard the thump of Piotr landing on the front deck and Piotr’s laughter.
“I have to come with you,” he called to Zander through the pilot house window. “If I get arrested, my wife, she kills me.”
Ezra, still a wolf, sat at the rail, watching the dock recede as Zander took them out into the harbor. The police halted at the slip and simply watched them go.
“Won’t they chase us?” Rae asked. She stood in the doorway, her hair and jacket she’d borrowed from Zander stirring in the breeze.