Wild Instinct by Sarah McCarty Page B

her from head to toe. “Garrett.”
    “What?”
    “Your mate is tired.”
    “I’m fine.”
    Garrett’s hands on her shoulders moved subtly. The tight muscles relaxed and a comforting haze settled over the worry in her mind.
    “I can’t leave Teri.” She looked so still, so lifeless, so close to death.
    “You can’t do her any good in here.”
    She swatted at his hands. “Stop telling me what I can and what I can’t do.”
    His response was to lift her and her daughter into his arms and carry them over to a boulder. Easing her forward, he slid his big body behind hers. She had to admit that it was much more comfortable resting against him than the rock. And it felt so good to have his strength to lean on.
    The last brought her up short. She couldn’t let herself rely on Garrett’s strength. She didn’t even know if she was going to stay with Haven.
    Meg struggled in her arms.
    “Megan, stay still.”
    Daire held out his hand and beckoned with a twitch of his fingers. “Let the child go.”
    “She’ll just be in the way.” It was too dangerous. Meg would reveal too much. She felt a pull on her consciousness. Daire looked up and, once again, she was staring into those bottomless eyes.
    “You know that’s not true.”
    “She’s just a baby. What can she do?”
    He didn’t blink. “More than you understand.”
    That was probably true. Megan’s gift had been growing along with the rest of her. She looked at Teri, remembered that moment when Teri had thrown herself between Megan and certain death. Whatever Teri needed, she would get. Sarah Anne would just deal with the consequences when they came calling. She let Meg slide down her body.
    Garrett’s fingers slid down her forearm. Shivers chased up her arm. She whipped her head around. Garrett’s eyes had that same bottomless feel as Daire’s.
    “If I thought there was danger, I wouldn’t let her go,” he whispered in that calm manner.
    She believed him. Kissing the top of Meg’s head, she whispered, “You do as Mr. . . .” She didn’t know his last name. “You do as Mr. Daire says.”
    “Yes, Mommy.”
    Sarah Anne let her daughter go. Meg rushed to Teri’s side, sinking with a peculiar grace to the floor beside her.
    “Oh, God . . .” Please protect her.
    Garrett’s hands slid up her arm and around her shoulders, giving her something to brace against as Meg revealed all.
    “What do I do?” she heard Megan ask.
    “Pick up her hand.”
    Megan did, stroked her little fingers over it with an eerie competence and then brought it to her cheek while Daire watched.
    “What is he doing?”
    Garrett looked at her. “I don’t think he’s doing anything.”
    Which meant Meg was doing everything. Whatever that was. “What are you doing, baby?”
    Meg glanced in her direction as if it should be obvious. “I’m giving Teri happy dreams.”
    There was no way anyone could misinterpret the child’s meaning. No way anyone could mistake the otherworldly concentration in her expression.
    Daire looked up at Kelon and Donovan. “She has a lot of talent.”
    The look Kelon and Donovan exchanged did not give Sarah Anne a warm fuzzy. Neither did Garrett’s curse.
    Megan was different, and now they all knew it.

Eight
    IT was her worst nightmare come true. It would be hard enough for the child to live among werewolves as a human, but anything more different from the species would just be too much. Weres were not tolerant of “different.”
    Garrett’s hand tightened on her shoulder for an instant as his thumb rubbed at the top of her spine, seemingly finding the tension within her and dispelling it in outward shivers of relief.
    “Easy.”
    There was an odd depth to the order. If Sarah Anne hadn’t been focusing so hard on Megan, it would have stolen her attention away. She shook her head. She couldn’t afford that. Megan and Josiah were the only things she had in the world. It was up to her to keep them both safe. Even if she had no idea how she