Silver Fox (Silver Shifters 2)

She peeked out in time to see Joey in silver fox form leap up onto the snowmobile. A fan of long, fluffy tails whapped the tall man clean out of the vehicle.

The weapon tumbled to the snow a few feet away. The short guy dove for the weapon, hands outstretched to grab it—but one of the twins in wolf form leaped on him from behind, smashing him flat into the snow, and the other landed hard on the tall guy next to Joey.

In moments, it was over. Both men were down in the snow, each with a wolf on top of them. Joey shifted back to human form and tossed a handful of ropes from the Jeep to the transformed wolf twins.

“Tie them up!” he ordered, and looked wildly around for Doris. As soon as he spotted her, he ran toward her.

She fell into his arms, chocolate and all. He hugged her tightly against him. She felt his heartbeat racing as fast as hers as he whispered. “You were magnificent.

But please don’t ever do that again.”

Her legs were like water, and she was grateful for Joey’s strong arm around her. “I’m sorry about the chocolate all over you.”

He huffed a quiet laugh. “Would it be wrong to say that under other circumstances I’d like to lick it off you?”

Her answer was to stop and face him. Next thing she knew they were locked in a bone-melting, time-halting, turning-every-organ-to-liquid-fire kiss.

“Hey, Uncle Joey!” Vanessa’s voice interrupted them. She was stark naked and standing on the tied-up blond guy to keep her bare feet out of the snow. “What are we going to do with these two?”

Joey turned, keeping his arm around Doris as if he never wanted to let her go. “We’ll call the police from the house. You two make sure they don’t go anywhere, but clear out if any of their buddies show up.”

Vanessa mimed a salute. “Yes sir, Uncle sir!”

Vic had shifted too. “Day-am, you were awesome, Doris,” he told her, eyes wide with admiration.

“Totally,” Vanessa chimed in. “I did not know you were such a badass. Best. Decoy. Ever!”

“I’d rather not be a decoy ever again,” Doris admitted. “How did this happen?”

“It’s our fault,” Vanessa said. “We were banging the snow off the Jeep and didn’t pay attention and suddenly they were there. I think they were lying in wait to see who came to get the Jeep.”

“So we ducked behind it, got out of our clothes and shifted to run, but then that guy shot above us. We stopped,” Vic said. “They started yelling at us to go with them, but then Uncle Joey showed up to help.” He flashed a brief grin at Doris. “And then suddenly you were there, doing the zombie shuffle from behind the tree.”

“I’m always going to be glad I saw that,” Vanessa whispered, eyes shining. Her teeth were beginning to chatter.

“Why don’t you two shift back before you get hypothermic?” Joey said. The twins shifted back to their wolves, and each sat down on one of the prisoners, tongues lolling out in lupine laughter. To Doris, Joey added, “How about we get you back to the house so you can change. That stuff is freezing on you.”

“I know,” Doris said, picking at brittle stuff sticking to her eyebrows. “Who would have thought chocolate would itch so much?” She looked back at her tracks through the snow, and suddenly her legs ached at the idea of slogging through that much snow. “It’s going to be a long, tiring walk back.”

Joey gave her a sly smile—a very foxy smile. “Have you ever wanted to ride a snowmobile?”

NINETEEN

JOEY

Joey had driven snowmobiles in the mountains a few times, but it was never like this, with his mate wrapped warm and delightful around him from behind. He had offered her a chance to drive it, but she preferred to ride, snugged up against his back with her head resting on his shoulder.

On the ride back, he explained the situation to Xi Yong on the mythic plane. Xi Yong replied that he would use the house phone to call the police and send them up to retrieve the criminals. He also told them that the snowplow had come and gone, and the family was making plans to leave that afternoon.

Joey halted the snowmobile before they reached the house, though his fox complained bitterly of the dramatic entrance they would have made. He pulled the vehicle off into the edge of the trees, and wrapped his arms around Doris.

“Want to find out what happens when all nine tails come out?”

“I guess so?” Her eyes were bright with both anticipation and nervousness.

He gathered himself and shifted. In a tremendous bound, mate and all, he cleared fifty feet of road and landed in the snow just outside the driveway leading to the Lebowitz house. Then he shifted back.

Doris took a few gasping breaths, and then she said, “Why didn’t we just walk?”