Snippet Saturday: Fight! Fight!

It’s snippet Saturday again! And even though we’ve got a release on Tuesday, there were no scenes to pick from Sanctuary Lost that I felt met the theme without giving away a little too much of the plot. What’s that theme? Action! A fight scene, to be specific, and Cry Sanctuary happens to have a couple. In fact, the heroine of Cry Sanctuary knows how to wield a mean champagne glass.

I’ll be honest, Donna & I fight with fight scenes. It can be hard to coordinate the action, to decide what everyone’s going to do and how to make it work. Of all the things we have to write, without a doubt fight scenes are the hardest. But I like this one…and what came after it.

* * *

Keith Winston is tired of fighting. The war between werewolves and wizards rages on in Europe, but he’s come home to Red Rock, Montana in hopes of finding a bit of peace. Instead he finds more strife as he struggles against the pack’s dictates that he resume his place as the alpha’s right hand man.

When he rescues a new wolf on the run, he knows his instant attraction to her could cause trouble. What he doesn’t expect is to find himself embroiled in another battle that goes against all his instincts–and his heart.

Abigail Adler learned about the existence of werewolves only when she became one. With her life threatened by a corrupt alpha, she flees to the only sanctuary she knows: Red Rock. While she’s grateful for the pack’s protection, she chafes under its unbreakable rules of conduct–except when it comes to submitting to the passion Keith stirs in her.

Then her tormentor kidnaps her sister in an attempt to lure her out of hiding. To save her, Abby and Keith must be willing to do the very thing that could get them all killed–break all of the rules.

* * *

Alan sat in his chair, his calm, civilized mask falling back into place. “Your sister isn’t leaving. We can’t let her go, not when she’s seen this much. But she’s not like you. She’s not strong. Not a dominant personality. If we didn’t need her to ensure your good behavior… Well, there are plenty of nice young men in the pack. Men like your friend, Dylan. More loyal than him, obviously, but men whose tastes aren’t too…exotic. She could be treasured. Cherished. She could learn to be happy.”

She wasn’t ready to consign Brynn to a life of finding adequate happiness in not being smacked around or abused. “Sounds lovely.”

One of his perfectly groomed blond eyebrows swept upwards, and he reached for the walkie-talkie on the table. “I bet you’re a poker prodigy,” he murmured before pressing a button on the side that sent the walkie crackling to life. “Ronald, why don’t you let Morrison pay our young guest a visit. Twenty minutes should be sufficient. Stay there and make sure he doesn’t break any bones. And if Abigail leaves the room during that time, have Joseph shoot her. In the leg, of course. Nowhere fatal.”

She clenched her hands tighter, and jerked as her nails pierced her skin, slicking her palms and fingers with blood. “Don’t—”

The speaker crackled. “Problem, boss. The girl’s gone.”

Alan shot to his feet, his fingers tightening around the walkie until she heard the metal creak in protest. “What? Where the hell could she go?”

Whatever answer could be offered was lost in a deafening explosion that shook the walls. The walkie-talkie went dead, and he stared at it in confusion.

Abby didn’t wait. She grabbed the glass and cracked it against the desk, breaking off the bowl, and leaving the base and jagged stem in her hand. He turned away, and she lunged after him, driving the glass into the side of his neck.

Even his roar of pain couldn’t drown out the second explosion. His hand flew back, crashing into her face with enough force to send her flying. Her back hit the wall and she slid down, the remains of the glass he’d shattered earlier digging into her hands and thighs.

There was blood everywhere, spurting from Alan’s neck and soaking his clothes. He tore the stem of the glass free and staggered back, one hand rising to brace against the wound as the other groped at his side for the gun there.

Before he could reach it, the door exploded inward. The man who’d dragged her from the schoolhouse flew inside, glazed eyes staring sightlessly upwards as he landed limply, his neck at an odd angle. Keith stepped through after him, his gaze skipping past Alan and going straight to her.

A loud, angry howl made the skin on the back of her neck prickle. As Abby struggled to move, a large wolf bounded onto Keith’s back, knocking him into the room. His pistol flew from his hand and skittered across the floor, bouncing off the wall. Abby snatched it up, biting back a cry of pain when it drove broken glass deeper into her palms.

There was no way she could risk shooting the wolf on Keith, so she raised the gun and fired at Matthews, hitting him in the side.

A third explosion sounded, close enough to rock the building and so loud it made her ears ring. A light fixture fell to the floor to her right, shattering into a hundred shards of razor-sharp glass. Several pictures on the far side of the room shook free of their moorings and crashed to the floor, the sound lost in Alan’s howl of pain.

His side was bleeding, but he tore his hand away from his neck and her stomach flip-flopped in terror when she realized the wound had stopped bleeding. Rage filled his eyes, which had shifted from blue to an eerie, terrifying gold. There was nothing human left in his face as he curled his hands around the edge of the desk—a desk that probably weighed two hundred pounds or more—and sent it flying across the room at her.

Abby lunged and still barely got out of the way before it crashed into the wall, splintering the freshly painted boards. The gun went off again, startling a shriek out of her, and she lifted it, aiming at Matthews. She closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger over and over, emptying the gun.

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In the mood for more action? Check out our fellow Snippet Saturday participants: Shelley Munro, Anya Bast, Cynthia Eden, SJ Day , Vivi Anna, Jaci Burton, Mandy Roth, Michelle Pillow, Juliana Stone, Sacha White, TJ Michaels, Maura Anderson, Beth Kery, Jody Wallace , Eliza Gayle, Kelly Maher, Elisabeth Naughton, Taige Crenshaw, Beth Williamson