Definitely Dead

tightened around me convulsively. “Oh, God,” he said, “oh, God.” His eyes closed tight with his release, he kissed my neck, my cheek, my lips, over and over. When his breathing—and mine—was a little more even, he said, “Babe, I haven’t come like that since I was seventeen, in the backseat of my dad’s car with Ellie Hopper.”
    “So, that’s a good thing,” I mumbled.
    “You bet,” he said.
    We stayed clinched for a moment, and I became aware that the rain was beating against the windows and the doors, and the thunder was booming away. My brain was thinking of shutting down for a little nap, and I was lazily aware of Quinn’s brain going equally drowsy as he rehooked my bra at my back. Downstairs, Amelia was making coffee in her dark kitchen and Bob the witch was waking up to the wonderful smell and wondering where his pants were. And in the courtyard, swarming silently up the stairs, enemies were approaching.
    “Quinn!” I exclaimed, just in the moment his sharp hearing picked up the shuffle of the footsteps. Quinn went into fighting mode. Since I hadn’t been home to check the calendar symbols, I’d forgotten we were close to the full moon. There were claws on Quinn’s hands now, claws at least three inches long, instead of fingers. His eyes slanted and became altogether gold, with dilated black pupils. The change in the bones of his face had made him alien. I’d made a form of love with this man in the past ten minutes, and now I would hardly have known him if I’d passed him on the street.
    But there wasn’t time to think about anything but our best defense. I was the weak link, and I had better depend on surprise. I slid off the counter, hurried past him to the door, and lifted the lamp from its pedestal. When the first Were burst through the door, I bashed him upside the head, and he staggered, and the one coming in right after him tripped over his flailing predecessor, and Quinn was more than ready for the third one.
    Unfortunately, there were six more.

Chapter 20
    IT TOOK JUST TWO OF THEM TO SUBDUE ME, AND I WAS kicking and screaming, biting and hitting, with every bit of energy I had. It took four for Quinn, but those four succeeded only because they used a stun gun. Otherwise, I’m sure he could have taken six or eight of them out of action, instead of the three he took care of before they got him.
    I knew I would be overcome, and I knew I could save myself some bruises and maybe a broken bone if I just assented to be taken. But I have my pride. More practically, I wanted to be sure that Amelia heard what was happening above her. She’d do something. I wasn’t sure what she’d do, but she’d act.
    I was hustled down the stairs, my feet hardly touching them, by two husky men I’d never seen before. These same two men had bound my wrists together with duct tape. I’d done my best to arrange for a little slack, but I was afraid they’d done a fair job of it.
    “Mmm, smells like sex,” the shorter one said as he pinched my butt. I ignored his tacky leer and took some satisfaction in eyeing the bruise I’d given him on his cheek-bone with my fist. (Which, by the way, was aching and smarting over the knuckles. You can’t hit someone without paying for it yourself.)
    They had to carry Quinn, and they weren’t gentle about it. He got banged around against the stairs, and once they dropped him. He was a big guy. Now he was a bleeding big guy, since one of the blows had cut the skin above his left eye. He’d had the duct tape treatment, too, and I wondered how the fur would react to the tape.
    We were being held side by side in the courtyard, briefly, and Quinn looked over at me as if he desperately wanted to speak to me. The blood was running down his cheek from the wound over his eyes, and he looked groggy from the stun gun. His hands were changing back to regular hands. I lunged toward him, but the Weres kept us apart.
    Two vans drove into the circular drive, two vans that said BIG EASY ELECTRIC on the side. They were white and long and windowless in the back, and the logo on the side had been covered up with mud, which looked highly suspicious. A driver jumped out of the cab of each van, and the first driver threw open the doors to the rear of the first vehicle.
    While our captors were hustling Quinn and me over to that van, the rest of the raiding party was being brought down the stairs. The men Quinn had managed to hurt were damaged far worse than Quinn, I’m glad