As soon as Heather raced for the door, Baird went after her. Calla jumped him, knocking him against the wall. She held on to him in a tight body hug. He cursed her as he tried to peel her arms and legs off him.

In her panic, Heather struggled to get the door unlocked while Calla fought to keep Baird from going after her. She prayed Heather would manage to get out of the house before Baird could shove Calla aside and reach her. He finally managed to jerk Calla away from him, nearly making her fall. She regained her balance and tackled his whole body again before he managed another couple of steps toward the entryway.

Heather threw open the door and it banged against the wall. She sprinted outside.

Calla felt a tiny bit of relief, but she held on to Baird, afraid he might still be able to catch Heather before she got very far on the driveway. He finally shook loose of Calla, cursing up a storm. She jumped on his back as he headed for the door.

“What do you want? You got your money!” Calla yelled at Baird.

“I wanted you, damn it, Calla. Giving your parents that loan was to tie you to me in the first place. Your parents were indebted to me. You were always the good little daughter. When you wouldn’t agree to come back to me, I had to play that card. To save your family from financial ruin, you were supposed to return, beg me to take you in, and—” he said, struggling to get her off his back, but she held on as if her life depended on it. Which she was afraid it might.

“And then I was supposed to give you my savings? Sell my carriage house and hand you the profits? Turn over my income to you? My savings would have paid for the money you borrowed from your pack. When my parents paid off their debt to you, any repayment of the loan would have been your money and not your pack’s. Except for the commission your brothers and cousin would get from the deal. Isn’t that right?”

“The money would have been ours,” he corrected her, still attempting to reach the doorway and stop Heather.

Heather was screaming, yelling, trying to get the men’s attention as she ran for the manor house, her boots pounding on the cobblestone driveway.

“Nay. You would have controlled every aspect of it,” Calla said, still struggling. “Cearnach was right. Once a pirate, always a pirate. Your loan has been paid back, one hundred percent legally. You have no control over me or my parents.”

He finally reached the door and saw how far Heather had gone. Instead of going after her, he slammed the door and locked it. Calla jumped away from him, now that he was unable to go after Heather in time. He had murder in his eyes. “You mated that bastard, didn’t you?” His mouth twisted with hate. “You put me off for a whole year and you’ve already mated him? You’ve been dating him for what, two weeks?” He glanced around at the packing boxes. “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? I thought you had sold your house to help pay your parents’ debt, but you wouldn’t have had time.”

The fury in his voice scared her.

She raced for the back door, but he quickly caught up with her, grabbed her, and held her pinned against his body this time. She struggled to free herself, but he was too strong.

“Let. Go. Of. Me,” she growled, trying to infuse her voice with as much steel as possible to hide her fear.

How long would it take before Guthrie and the others came to rescue her? She had to delay Baird, though she was afraid he’d just attempt to kill her rather than allow Guthrie to have her for his mate.

Baird tried hauling her toward the back door.

“Nay, let go of me, Baird! Your pack has its money back. You don’t need me any longer.”

“They have the money back, aye. But the only way they’ll forgive me for taking it in the first place without the pack members’ mutual consent is if I mate with you and bring your income and properties to add to the pack’s holdings.”

“I’m already mated to Guthrie. For life. You just said it yourself. You know I can’t mate you.”

“I don’t care. I still need you.”

“Or what?” she asked, still fighting to free herself as he made headway to get her to the back door.

“Or I’m out. The same with my brothers and my cousin who conspired with me. We’re all out. Without a pack. Without money. Power. Nothing. So you’re coming back with me.”

“You think the MacNeills will allow it?” she said, trying to reason with him.

“I don’t have any choice. Can’t you understand that?” he said, angered.

“You’ll be alive, Baird.”

“I’ll be nothing.”

There was no reasoning with him. She couldn’t free herself from him, no matter how hard she tried. He must be parked out back. No matter what, she couldn’t allow him to take her with him.

All she could think of doing was shifting. She’d never tried it before when she was fully clothed. She’d never heard of a lupus garou managing to shift while wearing clothes.

But she was desperate. If she had her wolf’s teeth, she could bite him. Even with her just making the shift, she knew he would have a hard time holding on to her.

She called on the urge to turn, her body stiffening slightly, and he quickly said, “Oh, no you don’t.”

She saw his fist right before he struck her, and she tried again to pull away. He hit her hard. Pain radiated through her skull, preventing her from concentrating enough to complete the shift. A flash of recall of when he’d done it to her before followed. She wished to God she had her wolf’s teeth bared. Then her world instantly dissolved into inky blackness.