"Mary Janice Davidson - Wyndham Werewolves 03 - Derik's Bane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davidson Mary Janice)

He didn't duck, though he could see the blow coming. He should have ducked, but... he still couldn't
believe what was happening. His best friendтАФMr. Nice Guy himself!тАФwas challenging his authority.
Derik, always the one to jolly people out of a fight. Derik, who had Michael's back in every fight, who
had saved his wife's life, who loved Lara like she was his own.

The blowтАФhard enough to shatter an ordinary man's jawтАФknocked him back a full three steps. And
that was that. Allowances had been made, but now the gloves were off. Moira was still shrieking, and he
could sense other people filling the room, but it faded to an unimportant drone.

Derik gave up trying for the door and slowly turned. It was like watching an evil moon come over the
horizon. He glared, full in the face: a dead-on challenge for dominance. Michael grabbed for his throat,
Derik blocked, they grappled. A red cloud of rage swam across Michael's vision; he didn't see his
boyhood friend, he saw a rival. A challenger.

Derik wasn't giving an inch, was shoving back just as hard, warning growls ripping from his throat,
growls that only fed Michael's rage(rival! rival for your mate, your cub! show throat or die!)

made him yearn to twist Derik's head off, . made him want to pound, tear, hurtтАФ

Suddenly, startlingly, a small form was between them. Was shoving, hard. Sheer surprise broke them
apart.

"Daddy! Quit it!" Lara stood between them, arms akimbo. "Just. . . don't do that!"

His daughter was standing protectively in front of Derik. Not that Derik cared, or even noticed; his gaze
was locked on Michael's: hot and uncompromising.

Jeannie, frozen at the foot of the stairs, let out a yelp and lunged toward her daughter, but Moira moved
with the speed of an adder and flung her arms around the taller woman. This earned her a bellow of rage.
"Moira, what the hell? Let go!"

"You can't interfere," was the small blonde's quiet reply. "None of us can." Although Jeannie was quite a
bit taller and heavier, the smaller woman had no trouble holding Jeannie back. Jeannie was the alpha
female, but humanтАФthe first human alpha the Pack had known in three hundred years. Moira would
follow almost any command Jeannie might make . . . but wouldn't let the woman endanger herself, or
interfere with Pack law that was as old as the family of Man;

Oblivious to the drama on the stairs, Derik started forward again, but Lara planted her feet. "Quit it,
Derik!" She swung her small foot into Derik's shin, which he barely noticed. "And Daddy, you quit, too.
Leave him alone. He's just sad and feeling stuck. He doesn't want to hurt you."

Michael ignored her. He was glaring at his rival and reaching for Derik again, when his daughter's voice
cut through the tension like a laser scalpel. "I saidleave him alone."

Thatgot his attention; he looked down at her in a hurry. He expected tears, red-faced anger, but Lara's
face was, if anything, too pale. Her eyes were huge, so light brown they were nearly gold. Her dark hair
was pulled back in two curly pigtails.

He realized anew how tall she was for her age, and how she was her mother's daughter. And her
father's. Her gaze was direct, adult. And not a little disconcerting.