Page 26

TRIXIE

F or the third time in not even as many days, Trixie realized that her life was in peril. The first time had been prevented by Keith and Kyle. The second time, Hunter had rescued her from an ill-considered encounter with a moose.

This time, she was keenly aware that she was alone on the jobsite with someone who despised her, who was bigger and stronger than she was, and could probably make her death look like a tragic accident. Especially if he was willing to burn down the evidence.

“Look, you can take all the credit you want for this job,” she said coaxingly. “Take the extra overtime out of my share, if you want. I was never in it for the glory or the money.”

Jay was advancing on her, and Trixie had nowhere to do.

He could beat her to the ladder, and the only other way out was through the open doorway onto the unfinished porch with no rails.

Did he have a gun, or had he trusted his superior strength to take her out and wanted to make it look like an accident?

There was a screech of tires from the highway, and then the spit of gravel as someone took the drive too fast. Hunter? Trixie clung to the belief that he might get there in time. She just had to delay Jay.

Unfortunately, Jay had also heard the truck and knew his window of opportunity was narrowing. He darted forward to grab Trixie, and Trixie stomped on his foot with all of her weight.

He wasn’t wearing steel-toed boots, and he howled in pain and rage as Trixie darted to the side, trying to get to the ladder.

She made it to the stair opening and leapt for the top rung recklessly.

It rocked in place and Trixie had a moment of hope before Jay caught up with her and hauled her back by the arm, knocking the ladder over altogether at the same moment that a truck door slammed outside.

He punched her hard in the side and she gasped for breath.

Trixie struggled, kicking at Jay and trying to twist free. “You’re not going to get away with this!”

She heard Hunter curse and holler her name, and she shrieked his in return.

His footsteps were heavy on the floor below them and Trixie heard the scrape of the fallen ladder. Trixie fought with all her might as Jay twisted her arm painfully behind her and dragged her to the gaping hole in the wall.

“Let her go!” Hunter roared. He was on their floor, however he’d gotten there. Maybe he’d climbed up as a bear, but Trixie’s eyes were blurred with tears. Her shoulder and elbow felt like they might be twisted right out of their joints and her whole side was hot with pain where Jay had punched her.

“He plans to burn it down!” Trixie shouted. Jay had rightly expected to be able to overpower her, but he hadn’t counted on Hunter.

“You come close and she’s over the side,” Jay said, twisting Trixie’s arm until she had to cry out in pain.

This, Trixie thought furiously, is why you always have safety rails up. So that crazy business partners can’t threaten to throw you off of buildings.

“You’re a shifter,” Hunter snarled, keeping his distance. “You know that I am too. I could tear you into pieces.”

“Yeah, but she’d hit bottom first.”

Trixie was in agony, but she wasn’t willing to let Jay use her to manipulate Hunter. She fought him furiously until she could twist in his grasp and bite down on his shoulder. She might not be a shifter, but she still had teeth.

“Shit!” Jay flung her away from him and Trixie reeled, straight for the edge of the porch.

Trixie heard thundering steps and Hunter launched for Jay.

For one dizzy moment, Trixie was not sure who was who or where she was.

Her foot fell on open space and she was in a cartoon moment of pinwheeling arms before Hunter’s big hand caught her by the wrist and pulled her in, even as he swung his other fist towards Jay.

The porch trembled under Trixie’s knees and she turned to see them tussling at the edge.

Jay was hopelessly outclassed, and for one awful moment, Trixie was sure that Hunter was going to drop Jay right off the building.

It might not kill him, but it would definitely be something they had to explain to a trooper, and it would probably be a worker’s comp situation, since they were on the job site.

Trixie found herself caring more about the paperwork hassle than Jay’s health.

Before she could intervene, Hunter was hauling Jay up onto the deck and then holding him down by the neck. Jay lay still.

“Why’d you do it?” Hunter demanded. “What do you gain from stopping the house from being finished? ”

“I thought she’d give up,” Jay whined. “I figured she’d take the buyout I was offering if it was hard enough.”

Trixie felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her. “If you hated working with me so much, why didn’t you just say so?”

“It was never working with you,” Jay snarled. “It was working for you. Everyone says what a great foreman you are, how amazing you are. Great boss, perfect leader. It wasn’t my business anymore! No one ever said anything about me because you were hogging the spotlight!”

“Why didn’t you do something!” Trixie said in astonishment. “You could have been out there running the jobs at any point! I was picking up all the work because you weren’t there doing any of it.”

“Why should I?” Jay coughed.

“You didn’t want to do any of the labor, you just wanted all of the praise.” Trixie was disgusted. “So much that you were willing to sell your soul to get me out of the way. Did you think that the business would get anywhere without me?”

“I don’t need a bi—” Jay choked as Hunter’s hand tightened, and he hammered on the floor until Hunter relaxed it. “I don’t need anyone else. I know all the right people and can get whatever jobs I want.”

“Except that you can’t, can you?” Hunter’s voice was a low growl.

“They all wanted Trixie!” Jay snarled. “I told them she was leaving and they wouldn’t sign the contracts without her!”

Trixie was appalled and betrayed. “You told them I was leaving ? After I told you I didn’t want the buyout?”

“I was going to get rid of you one way or another,” Jay said sullenly .

“And that’s when you stepped up your sabotage from annoying to life-threatening,” Trixie said, horrified.

Jay looked suddenly cagey. “I didn’t threaten anyone’s life .”

“If that wall had collapsed, someone might have gotten killed,” Trixie pointed out.

“ Trixie might have gotten killed,” Hunter said in a dangerously quiet voice.

“You paid that hippy kid Feather to foul the generator and cut the studs. She was the perfect choice because if she got caught, it looked like it was just part of her existing agenda. And she was a wolf shifter, who could come and go without leaving evidence.”

“Well, I guess you’re a little smarter than you look,” Jay scoffed.

Hunter didn’t rise to the bait.

“What do we do with him?” Trixie asked numbly. She liked to believe the best of people, but Jay had definitely crossed a line here. “What do we tell the cops?”

“You could just let me go and no one needs to know anything,” Jay said desperately. “There are a lot of parts of the story that won’t add up.”

“You’re not just going to walk free,” Hunter promised.

Trixie’s eyes were still blurred with pain, but she watched as Jay suddenly seemed to boil in place and change into a furred shape with snapping teeth and slashing claws. He was smaller than a bear, but just as fierce, with a weasel face and muscular build.

A wolverine, Trixie realized, just as Hunter dodged back from his swiping paw and shifted also.