The Shepard's Agony by Mandy Rosko Page B

trusted!”
    Shepard tensed as he realized his latest mistake.
    “I didn’t mean—!”
    “ You can stay out here and walk , you asshole!” Gwen slammed the door and locked it before Shepard could grab for the handle . She then sped off, kicking up rocks and dirt at him as she escaped.
    Shepard could only stand there and watch her go, kicking himself for being a fool.
    What had he been thinking? Shooting off at the mouth like that when he knew how she’d react. What did he expect her to do? Join in and agree with him? Of course not.
    Shepard sighed when the tail lights of the old truck went out of sight. He could never be with Gwen, but if he wanted his last memories of her to be good ones then he had to accept that she was different. Not human, but not bad.
    Shepard frowned and sat down on the pavement, crossing his legs to think.
    He loved her and , despite everything , he
still
wanted to be with her . If she really was the wonderful person he thought she was, then didn’t that mean he had to give the same chance he was giving her to the other Weres? He didn’t think it was right to kill them, but that didn’t mean it was easy trying to erase years of conditioning by his father and brothers . However , if he wanted her forgiveness, he would have to.
    It was probably best that she threw him out.
    Spitfire . He grinned at the thought.
    If she hadn’t been born a werewolf, she would have been a wildcat. Still, somewhere inside himself , he really doubted she would leave him with so many dangers out searching for him . All he had to do was sit and wait for her return. Hearing a howl off in the distance, he checked that his gun was in its holder, the one that was loaded, and silently hoped she wouldn’t take her time getting back.
    He waited a few minutes and began wondering if he was wrong in assuming that she would come back for him . It was the n that he spotted a van on the road.
    Shepard rose to his feet and stepped out of the way . Hiding his gun beneath his wife -beater shirt , he waved his arms in the hopes that the driver would give him a lift.
    It wasn’t slowing down . He also didn’t notice that it was a black truck and not a van until it passed right by him, the faces of his brothers in the windows.
    They were going after Gwen.
    “ No, no, stop!” he roared, but they left him in their dust. He tried to think of a way he could warn Gwen, but she didn’t so much as have a cell phone on her and there was no way he could outrun two trucks to get to her first.
    A low growl behind him said he was no longer alone. Shepard spun and saw a large wolf, head bent and teeth bared, snarling at him before it lunged.
    ***
    Gwen’s foot held the gas pedal to the floor, trying to outrace her fury . It was turning out to be an even bigger speed demon than she was . She banged her hand on the steering wheel and pulled over to the side of the road. She continued to hit the wheel again until it dented, then clutched it and seethed.
    She needed to breathe, needed to calm down. She couldn’t leave him back there no matter how mad at him she was.
    He’s a h
unter. He’ll be fine.
    She shook it away, it didn’t matter ; to leave him would be the kind of behavior he was weary of in her. Dark, dangerous, and uncaring . Uncaring was the last thing she was where he was concerned, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
    Gwen put her chin on the dented wheel at the defeating thought. Love or no love, caring, whatever, she was afraid of him. Her pride didn’t want to admit to that either, it didn’t want to own up to being afraid of anything. As a hunter , his first priority should have been to kill her first and ask questions later. Hunters were the kind of people she grew up being warned against. Normal children were taught not to get into cars with strangers, she and the others were taught what the signs of hunters were. Children or not, they would kill them.
    Witches, she could handle . Vampires, she could handle. Zombies