Read The Guardian (The Wolfe Series) for Free Online Page B

at the man who was just stepping out of the river.
    As soon as Arturo stepped out of the water he sensed he was in trouble.  Jake leapt, not waiting for the coyote to recognize the danger he was in or to risk the coyote turning and grabbing one of the crossers to use as a hostage.
                  Arturo reached for the hand gun that he always wore on his right hip but it was already too late to draw and fire at the black demon.  He fell back into the water when the giant wolf hit him, knocking the breath from his lungs as the wolf sank razor sharp teeth deep into the man’s neck, effectively severing the jugular.  The man didn’t have a chance to utter a word, a gurgled cry the only sound that escaped from his throat as the torn jugular vein spewed his life’s blood into the water of the river.  Jake waited several more moments before releasing his death grip on the dead man and watching the body float away down river.  Jake turned to face the family that had stopped in the middle of the Rio Grand, a look of horror covering their faces.
                  Jake growled low in his throat, warning the father that he would be allowed to go no further.  The man took one look at the giant wolf’s fierce eyes and motioned his family back toward Mexico, all the while glancing over his shoulder to make certain the monster wolf wasn’t following them as they waded once again back into the deeper water. 
                  Jake raised his head and howled, a long drawn out howl that sent shivers down the spines of those hurriedly fleeing back across the river.  The howl was meant to intimidate, and not just the crossers he’d rescued.  This was his and his brother’s territory and the howl was meant to let others in the area know that in no uncertain terms.  Interference here would not be tolerated and those that tried would face the harshest of punishments.
                  Jake raised his head and howled again . . .

C hapter E ight
     
     
                  “ D id you hear that?” Laurie asked as she and Julie walked the final block to the Ritz where they were meeting Luc for lunch.  Laurie stopped and tilted her head, listening with all of her senses as the echo of the howl faded.
                  “Here what?” Julie asked breathlessly, struggling a little bit to keep pace with Laurie’s long-legged stride.  The new Manolo Blahnik pump s she’d purchased for the occasion were killing her feet and she chided herself for not knowing better than to wear new shoes when they were going to be doing so much walking.  She glanced at Laurie’s much more sensible flats and sighed enviously.  “I didn’t hear anything.”
                  “It sounded like an animal in pain.”  Laurie cocked her head again, but the sound did not repeat itself.  Startled, she grabbed Julie and pulled her out of the way when a very large black dog with a studded silver collar dashed out of the alley in front of them and took off down the street. 
    “Did you see which way he went?” A harried-looking policeman asked as he ran out of the same alley moments later.  “Big black dog,” the policeman elaborated when the women hesitated to answer.
    “That way,” Laurie pointed in the opposite direction of that which the dog had taken.  “He ran that way.”
    “Why did you tell him that?  You know the dog went the other way.”  Julie pulled her jacket back down over her hips and straightened her hair, her heart still beating a fast tattoo in her chest.  “That dog probably bit someone.  It’s probably one of those killer dogs that you read about in the papers every now and then, sometimes even attacking and killing their own family members.”
    “No, he wasn’t a bad dog,” Laurie explained, although she was certain the howl she’d heard hadn’t come from that particular dog.  In fact she was almost certain it hadn’t come from a dog at