The Shepard's Agony by Mandy Rosko

trying to circle back. He can smell me in here with you.”
    Gwen was amazed he’d been able to track her at all if she’d been in a truck. David must have carelessly left the windows down in his haste to escape with her . Nothing that would leave a very fresh scent with the traffic on the highway, no matter how few cars there were at such an hour, but it would explain why it had taken him so long to find her.
    “Then , we need to leave now. They might see us, but we can’t stay here,” he said.
    Gwen nodded. He was right, she had to go. She couldn’t stay to help her packmates kill his brothers and he couldn’t stay to do the same. She didn’t care if John or Dianna saw her, she was technically a hostage, but what if the Shepards saw David? What reason would he have to run away from them?
    She asked him this question while he opened the door and poked his head out to be sure all was clear.
    “Then , I’ll have a lot of explaining to do,” he said, grabbing her by the wrist , he pulled her outside and toward the truck . The night air was cool on her face and smelled wonderful and fresh compared to the dusty motel room Gwen was glad to finally be leaving.
    They both ran to the driver’s side of the truck.
    Shepard rai sed a brow at her. “I’m driving,” he said.
    “This is my dad’s truck, you wouldn’t get ten miles without it breaking down on you. I’ll drive.”
    “But …”
    She could tell he was struggling with the idea of letting her drive and fought the urge to stamp her foot or maybe even punch him. They didn’t have the time for his problems with letting women drive.
    “ Go already ,” she snapped.
    “Fine ,” Shepard muttered, running around to the passenger side and jumping in.
    As long as she kept the truck running , he was fine with having her drive. He didn’t want to have to pull over into the next motel again anyway.
    Gwen climbed in the truck, suddenly halting with the key halfway in the ignition, her mouth parted.
    “ What is it?” David asked a s Gwen jerked out of her daze and started the truck.
    “It’s nothing.”
    ***
    Hunched low to the ground in the bushes, John growled an angry rumble deep in his chest when Gwen climbed into the driver’s seat with the human who’d taken her. He didn’t know what she was doing, but he had no doubt she was being forced to do it.
    Gwen!
he called to her mentally, watching her stall her actions for a second before she started the truck and drove off, ignoring his call.
    It was easy enough to figure o ut that the man with her was a hunter . What his intentions were with Gwen was still unknown, as was what he was blackmailing her with to make her comply with him.
    Another gunshot sounded and he yowled when his ear exploded.
    Shot, he was shot. John dashed toward the nearest cover he could find to inspect the damage . He brought a paw up to rub against his ear, suppressing a whine with the horrible sting. His ear was gone.
    ***
    Gwen’s skin crawled when she heard the shot. Something bad happened, but she couldn’t go back and find out.
    Shepard reached a hand out to touch her shoulder, keeping the other on his gun in case he would need it to defend himself, from her . Luckily, s he kept her eyes on the road and welcomed the comforting touch.
    Shepard didn’t say anything , allowing her to drive in peace , both wondering what their next move would be until an idea came to Gwen. She jumped with enthusiasm and shared it with him.
    “We’re going to a vampire’s house?”
    She didn’t expect Dav id to understand. Vampires and werewolves were natural born enemies. Like oil and water, the two didn’t mix. But , Evey was different. She wasn’t born a vampire, she was turned, and she wasn’t raised with the prejudices that the others were, not to mention she lived in the area. She could help them by sending a message to Bill and her father. For a fair price.
    “Where does she live?” David asked.
    Gwen told him . Though she’d never