Down and Dirty: Ante Up by Moira Rogers

Author:Moira Rogers [Rogers, Moira]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-02-13T07:10:41+00:00

Chapter Four

The Full Moon Saloon was burning.

Though Thomas held her hand, Lottie stumbled down the street toward the building. The rising flames illuminated the night, and she easily recognized the soot-stained faces of the women outside. She found herself counting them as she ran, taking a mental inventory of who was accounted for. And who wasn't.

Thomas stopped only once, to snag a scared looking young werewolf who was watching the building burn with wide, shocked eyes. Thomas gave the boy a sharp shake and power flowed out from him, strong but steady. "Calvin, go fetch Jack and Ginny. Now."

The boy took off at a run.

Lottie caught sight of a tall brunette in the street. "Nancy!" She grasped the woman's shoulders and met her eyes.

"Nancy, did everyone get out?"

"I don't—" Nancy's words cut off in a cough, her thin shoulders shaking under the force of it. Thomas steadied her, and after a moment she straightened again and gasped out one name. "Sarabeth."

Lottie looked around frantically, her heart pounding. "Cora, come help Nancy. Hurry. I have to go inside."

"Lottie." Thomas waited until Cora had taken Nancy, then caught her shoulders. "Let me go in. Someone needs to make sure everyone's okay, and they trust you." 53

Down and Dirty: Ante Up

by Moira Rogers

"Cora and Shorty can take care of it." Something gave in the structure of the saloon, and a shower of sparks flew up amidst gasps and shouts. Terror streaked through her, and she took a deep, bracing breath. "Thomas, I can't stay out here. Not if someone is still in there. I won't!" He bit off a snarl and started toward the building, his fingers tight around her arm. "Fine, but I swear by all that's holy, Charlotte, if you get hurt I will yell at you for a month straight."

She bristled. "I don't have time for your supposedly not alpha-male bullshit. And if you get hurt, the same thing applies, so don't."

The steady pulse of his magic turned sharp and angry for a split second as he made a rude noise. "If I were Jack or Oliver you'd be locked in a closet in your own house still, so you'd best recognize that I am trying."

"So am I." Smoke billowed through the open door, and Lottie coughed as she stumbled behind the bar and thrust some towels into the rinse pan. Her eyes burned, and she could barely see. She tossed a towel at Thomas and headed for the stairs.

Whatever retort he might have given was lost in the roaring noise from the fire, but his hand curled around her arm before her foot hit the bottom step. "I'll go upstairs. Check down here."

There wasn't time to argue, even if she thought she might win. "Her room is the last on the right. Hurry." He ran off in the direction of the stairs, and Lottie coughed as she made her way to the kitchen. The smoke burned her 54

Down and Dirty: Ante Up

by Moira Rogers

nose, even through the towel, but she couldn't turn back.

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