Rock Harbor Series - 03 - Into the Deep Read Free Page A

huddled together, talking softly.
    Lola Marcos squeezed Bree’s hand when she and Naomi joined the group. “Bless your heart, chiquita . Those poor children.” Her gray hair, straight as seaweed, swung against her shoulders.
    Nora Corbit was the opposite of Lola. Where Lola was round and soft, Nora was thin and sinewy. But her stern face wore the same expression of compassion. “I still can’t believe it,” she said.
    Bree nodded. “Thanks for staying to help out.” She heard Samson growl, a hostile sound she rarely heard from her good-natured dog. She whirled to see what was wrong. He approached the woods and stopped in a stiff-legged stance. His ears laid back, snarls like she’d never heard issued from his throat. Her gaze went past him to Davy, and she gulped.
    A gray wolf was five feet from her son. Its teeth bared, it crouched as if to jump on the unsuspecting boy. A crushing weight on her chest smothered her warning, and only a strangled cry emerged. Time seemed to stop as she saw every detail of the wolf’s menacing approach. A patch of hair was missing from its back right leg, and the pointed teeth it bared at her son seemed to grow.
    She felt as though she moved against the power of Superior’s waves as she sprang to grab Davy, but with an easy bound, Samson put himself between the wolf and her boy. He planted his body as a guard.His feet sank in the mud, and the growl he uttered was unlike any Bree had heard from her placid dog. He lunged at the wolf, and the wild animal drew back just before Samson’s teeth would have sunk into its throat.
    Bree’s feet finally carried her to her son. She snatched Davy to her chest and ran to the cottage. Naomi was on her heels with Timmy in her arms. Lola had Adrian. With the children safe, Bree turned to watch. The wolf fell back then circled the dog. Samson seemed no match for the heavier, more muscular wolf, but stood firm. Its teeth snapping, the wolf leaped on Samson. The two animals melded into a snarling ball of fur with occasional flashes of bared fangs. The sound of snapping teeth nearly froze the blood in Bree’s veins.
    “Stay here!” Bree told everyone. She thrust Davy into Yancy’s arms. She needed a weapon. Frantic now, she charged around the house to the Jeep. Her bear spray was in her ready-pack. She flung open the door and dragged the sack toward her. The battle behind her reached a frenzy. She upended the backpack and dumped the contents on the wet grass. Her hand finally closed around the bear spray. She popped the top off then rushed back to her dog.
    But Samson needed no help. With a last growling lunge, his teeth clamped down on the wolf’s leg. The wolf yelped and managed to struggle away, then crashed headlong to the woods. Samson started to go after him.
    “Samson, no!” Bree shouted.
    Her dog shook himself, then turned toward her and whined. He looked toward the woods and gave a final growl, then trotted to Bree, satisfaction and triumph in every line of his body.
    Bree fell to her knees and embraced him. “Good boy,” she cooed, running her hands over him. He had some bites that would need treatment, but he was too proud of himself to flinch when her hands touched the injuries.
    “Man, that was really something!” Ian Baird rushed to where she knelt with the dog. “I’ve never seen a dogfight like that.”
    “What an incredible animal,” Nora said. “He saved your little boy. That wolf would have had him in another second.”
    “I’ve never seen the like,” Yancy panted, rushing to join them.
    Bree buried her face in Samson’s fur. He smelled of wet dog and blood. She felt disjointed, like she would fall apart if someone said another word. “I love you, Samson.” He licked her face, and she began to cry. It was either let the tears fall or faint, and tears seemed the stronger of the two reactions.
    “He’s going to need tending,” Naomi said. Her face was the color of the white beach below them. “You take him to