“And when she tried to move you out of her path, you tried to hit her. I mean, what else was she supposed to do when you’re bullying her and there are three women against one?” Lexi said.

  “It seems to me—given that she’s a highly trained combatant, knowing several forms of martial arts and combat maneuvers—you would realize it’s not a smart idea to mess with her,” Jade said.

  The wolf in Kate had wanted to fight it out, but she was glad her friends had shown up to save the day so she wouldn’t have to resort to anything more violent. She might have felt good about it, but Derek might have thought she should have reined in her wolf tendencies more.

  “She started it,” Brenda said, finally moving out of Kate’s way, Brenda’s girlfriends already backing off as if they finally realized Kate could kick their butts too.

  “Are we in kindergarten?” Jade asked.

  “She has been seeing Derek behind Brenda’s back,” one of Brenda’s friends said.

  “No, she hasn’t been,” Lexi said.

  “And I would never give Derek an ultimatum to marry me. If we’re well suited, it will happen. Time will tell.”

  “Bitch,” Brenda said, and she brushed past Kate, who fought the urge to trip her and send her sprawling on the restroom floor.

  Then Brenda and her friends quickly left the restroom.

  Kate finished drying her hands. “Did Derek send you to rescue me?”

  Lexi smiled. “He saw Brenda and her friends go into the restroom after you, but we also saw it and were headed here to save you. He was much relieved.”

  “I was more worried about how you would deal with them, and since Brenda had witnesses on her side, no telling what they would say. I liked the wet handprints on her bodice,” Holly said. “New fashion statement, courtesy of a she-wolf.”

  The ladies laughed and hugged each other.

  “Thanks, ladies.”

  “You’re welcome. You would be there for any one of us if the situation required it,” Lexi said.

  “I certainly would.” Then Kate left the restroom, and the other ladies stayed to do their business.

  Kate saw Brenda and the other women glowering at her. She smiled sweetly and joined Derek, who was eagle-eyeing the situation.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Brenda’s pissed off though.”

  Derek shook his head. “She has only herself to blame for that.”

  But Kate didn’t tell him about what she had done to Brenda’s dress. “Are you up for more dancing?”

  “I’m sure am.” He took her back to the dance floor. “I’ve enjoyed our evening together.”

  “I’ve had a lot of fun.”

  “Thanks for inviting me to go camping with the group.”

  “You looked like an omega wolf on the outskirts of the pack.” Which she had hated.

  He chuckled. “An omega wolf?”

  “Yeah, with some great dance moves. I knew you would have a great time camping with the other guys.”

  “And with you?” Derek asked.

  She shrugged. “I’ll be there having a good time whether you’re there or not.”

  He laughed.

  “It’s true.”

  “I know. Your comment just struck me as funny.”

  Kate noticed Brenda glowering at her from the sidelines, the handprints still visible on her dress. It wasn’t really the water that had stained the fabric but the minerals in the water. Easy to remedy, but for tonight’s event, it was perfect. Brenda’s date apparently hadn’t wanted to dance. Kate remembered seeing Derek and Brenda dancing a lot when Kate was at affairs like this before, once she had started working for Lexi. “I think Brenda’s rethinking her hasty decision to tell you to marry her or else. It doesn’t appear that her date wants to join her on the ballroom floor, and I just bet she wishes she was dancing with you instead.”

  “She can rethink our relationship all she wants. Once a woman starts telling me she wants me to marry her or else, I’m out of there. Because they’re human, of course.”

  “Ha! Even when she’s a wolf, you think the same.” Whoops, Kate hadn’t meant to mention that. She’d definitely had a little over her limit of two glasses of champagne that night. She was a lightweight when it came to drinking alcohol.

  “I have my reasons.”

  Oh, sure, he would probably be besieged by humans and she-wolves alike to date them. Kate hadn’t really thought of that since she hadn’t been on the market for a billionaire. Not that she didn’t still have a supersized crush on him. She did. But she sure didn’t want him thinking she was after him for his money.

  Suddenly, a loud pop sounded. Something struck a chandelier overhead, breaking part of it, crystal shards raining down over a table, and someone shouted, “He has a gun!”

  Chapter 4

  Kate slammed into Derek, taking him to the floor. She pinned his body with her own, slid her hand beneath her gown, and grabbed the gun strapped to her left leg. People screamed and started running all over the ballroom, trying to make their escape. After hearing about shootings at other businesses all over the States, it didn’t take much for people to panic and for good reason.

  Derek started to move, but Kate said, “Stay down—don’t move a muscle.”

  From where they were on the dance floor, they couldn’t see who the shooter was, but people running through the building could make for easy targets.

  Chaos ensued as people scrambled to leave the ballroom or hide. Some guests were still screaming, some crying. Kate worried about what had happened to Lexi and the others. But for now, she was protecting Derek.

  Then she saw Rafe and Jade crouched near one of the tables closest to the dance floor. Rafe motioned to Kate and Derek to go out the side door. The shooter had fired the shot from the direction of the front entryway, which was a long way from the door Rafe indicated, but Kate didn’t know where the gunman was now. Some people were running out through the side door.

  “Let’s make our way to that door.” She nodded to Rafe and then finally slid off Derek. But she was also moving them toward Rafe and Jade, since Kate was the only one who was armed and she needed to protect all of them.

  She saw Mike running at a crouch to join them. “Go,” she told Rafe and Jade. “Derek, go.”

  “No, I’ll stay with you.” It appeared Derek wasn’t budging.

  “You don’t have a gun,” Kate reminded him.

  But to Kate’s disquiet—wanting him to get himself to safety—Derek stayed with her, while Mike remained with them and Rafe and Jade headed out through the door. Then Kate saw Holly and Aidan nearby, and she waved to them to go out the same way. Holly’s twin sons were due in three weeks, and she needed to be out of there pronto. Then Kate saw Aidan’s bodyguards racing to escort them outside. At least some of her friends would be safe.

  “Derek, go!” Kate said. “I need to find Lexi and Ryder.”

  “No way in hell. I’m staying with you.”

  No more gunfire had sounded, so she hoped the threat had been eliminated. Sirens were wailing off in the distance. She trusted that someone had called in the shooting. Probably several people had once they were outside and felt safe enough to do so.

  She and Derek moved closer to the door where attendees were still piling up on each other, frantic to escape. She didn’t want to move him into that mass of bodies until they cleared out, or potentially, she could get them both shot.

  “I didn’t think you were armed.” Derek got his phone out and said, “Hey, Will, what’s going on? Do you have eyes on the situation?”

  “Yeah, the shooter’s dressed as waitstaff. Where the hell are you? In the crowd of panicking people, I can’t see you.”

  “We’re moving toward the side door. Kate’s protecting me.”

  Will didn’t say anything. She assumed he didn’t believe Derek was being serious.

  “Seriously. She’s armed and everything.” Derek sounded proud of her.

  She was good at her job. She had tried to tell him that during the job interview!

  “Okay, good. Stick with her then. I’ll move in your direction, but if I can get an eye on the shooter, I’m going to stop him.”

  “All right. Just don’t get yourself shot. I don’t want to have to replace you.”

  “No chance of that,” Will said, chuckling.

  Then she and Derek saw a waiter running away. She couldn’t see if he was armed. Two security guards waiting in the wings made the move against the waiter, and Will raced out from behind a table and tackled the guy. “Where’s your gun?” Will shouted.

  With all the conversation going on before the shot went off and the band playing, she wasn’t sure now if a gun had been fired. Especially if Will couldn’t find a gun on the waiter, unless he had ditched it. She didn’t put her gun away in case a threat still existed or someone else was involved.

  “I… I don’t have a gun. I’m new at the job,” the waiter said, frantic to get away. “I… I only opened a bottle of champagne, and the cork flew up to the ceiling and hit the crystal chandelier. Then people were shouting that there was a man with a gun, and all hell broke loose. I didn’t even know they were talking about me.”

  Kate looked at Derek to see his take on it.

  Derek shrugged. “It could have been that way. Like you, I responded to the loud pop, the chandelier crystals breaking, and then someone shouting that the waiter had a gun. All of it combined and then everyone panicking added to the confusion.”

  Police vehicles roared up to the clubhouse and slammed on their brakes, the sirens going off, the flashing lights filling the windows. Kate tucked her gun back in her leg holster. She didn’t want the police thinking she was an armed shooter before everyone could vouch for her. Mike likewise tucked his gun back in the holster he was wearing under his suit jacket.

  Since she and Derek and Mike had witnessed the men tackling the waiter, they waited in the ballroom to give their testimony to police about what they’d seen. She hoped the waiter had been telling the truth, and she hoped none of the guests or staff had been injured in their rush to leave the clubhouse.

  Lexi and Ryder joined them, and then their other friends came back in to stand as a unified pack. Lexi and Kate hugged, and then there were hugs all around.

  “Are you okay?” Kate asked Holly. She was thinking Holly should have gone home and the police could have talked to her later. She couldn’t imagine carrying twins so close to delivery and having to go through a nightmare like this.

  “Yes, I’m okay. Thanks so much for asking,” Holly said. “It gave me a scare, and the twins were kicking like crazy, probably recognizing my anxiety.”

  “What happened?” Lexi asked.

  “Kate saved my life,” Derek said, winking at her.

  “You were in my way, and I was trying to see who the shooter was,” Kate corrected him. She told the others what the waiter had said to Will.

  “Wait. We ran out of there like a bunch of scared geese because he opened a bottle of champagne?” Lexi asked. “It’s a good thing no one was hurt.”

  “Right.” Derek rubbed Kate’s shoulder. “I liked your maneuver, Kate, after I got over the initial shock of you throwing me to the dance floor and covering my body with your own.”

  “Any of the guys would have done it for you if they’d been closer to you than I had been.”

  “Yeah, but it wouldn’t have been the same.”

  That time, she smiled at him. “The key to taking someone down to protect them is using the other person’s body to cushion your fall.”

  He chuckled.

  She brushed off his back where he had gotten a little dusty while he was lying on the floor.

  Derek ran his hand over her shoulder in a light caress. “You didn’t tell me you were armed.”

  “Always, when it can come in handy.”

  Will and the security guards were talking to the police about what had happened.

  Once they realized no one was involved in any shooting, they let the management handle dealing with the poor waiter.

  Kate wondered if he would be fired and also charged with damaging the chandelier. She felt bad for the guy. She could imagine herself doing something like that!

  Afterward, all the attendees and clubhouse staff began to leave. Kate just wanted to ride back with Mike or even Lexi and Ryder; no sense in Derek having to go out of his way to drive her back to the Gallagher estate. What had started out as a beautiful and elegant night had turned into something wild and unexpected. She wanted to laugh at herself for throwing Derek to the floor on a date. At least she showed him she could do her job as a bodyguard if he’d had any doubts about it.

  “I could just ride home with Lexi,” Kate told Derek.

  “We’ll be fine,” Lexi said, giving Kate another hug. “Go. Ride with Derek home. You protected him once. He may need your protection again.”

  “She’s right,” Derek said, trying to look positively serious, but he was smiling ever so slightly.

  Kate shook her head at him.

  “Are you ready to leave?” Derek asked Kate.

  “Yeah, I am. I had a lovely time. Thanks for inviting me.” Even though she would have had a lovely time just going with Lexi and Ryder. She had enjoyed dancing with Derek though. “Are you sure it’s really necessary for me to ride back with you? You’ll have to go out of your way to go home. Truly, I can hitch a ride with Lexi since I’ve fulfilled my obligation for the night and your former girlfriend has already left so I don’t need to play a role as your date any longer. I’m sure that even all the paparazzi have left, so no one else is here to attempt to get pictures of anyone important.”

  “I would never take a woman to a social event and not return her home afterward.”

  Kate raised a brow. She knew Brenda would have gone home with him for the night. Probably the other women Derek had dated too. Kate wasn’t that naive.

  “Okay, so sometimes it was not until the next day. Though I never brought them to the house.” He smiled. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

  She went with him then, and once the car had been brought around, he got the door for her this time. Then they headed to her home. “I have to thank you for saving me back there.”

  “You said that already.”

  “But I don’t think you believe I meant it when I did.”

  “You thought I was just getting friendly.”

  He chuckled. “Hell, no, but I have to admit I really did like your maneuver.”

  “I bet. And I figure no one has ever tackled you like that at a ball before.”

  “No.” He smiled. “You might not believe this, but I’ve never needed saving by a bodyguard before tonight.” He turned onto the next road. “Not to change the subject, but thanks again for inviting me to the campout. I haven’t been to one with the guys in a couple of years. They have invited me, but I just felt like the odd man out. You made me realize that I didn’t have to be with someone to enjoy myself.”

  “I’m sure you enjoyed doing that with Brenda at some time or another.” Kate shouldn’t have even mentioned the woman. She wasn’t sure why Brenda irked her so much. Maybe because Brenda acted as though she might still be in the running with Derek when he had a new woman he was with at the ball! Not that anything more would come of it, but Brenda wouldn’t know that.

  “Are you kidding? She was not into camping. Five-star hotels were more her style. Being waited on hand and foot. She’s worth about a hundred million dollars herself, and she’s not about to sleep in a sleeping bag, hassle with the bugs, fish for dinner, and go hiking all over the place. I finally convinced her to stay with me at a cabin one time, and she hated it. They didn’t have a heated swimming pool. She didn’t like the lake water because she couldn’t see what was in it. And it wasn’t heated to a perfect temperature. The place had no maid service, and the bathroom was standard, no whirlpool tub. When I caught fish and cleaned it, she was totally grossed out.”

  Kate laughed. “Can you imagine her seeing you catching fish as a wolf?”

  “She saw me as a wolf the one time we stayed at a cabin in the woods,” Derek admitted.

  “Oh?” Now that totally surprised Kate. “But she didn’t see you shift.” At least she suspected Brenda hadn’t or he would have had to do something about it.

  “She didn’t. That night she had been sound asleep, and I wanted to run as a wolf in the worst way. Being a royal with so few human roots, I can change whenever I want to, but when I’m out in nature like that, when I have the chance, I want to run as a wolf. I walked into the woods, removed my clothes, shifted, and then ran for a few miles. When I returned, I heard the door open to the cabin, and I saw her standing there on the deck looking for me. She never wakes when I slip away, so at first when I saw the door open, I was worried that an intruder had broken into our cabin. As a wolf, I would have stood a better chance to scare him off. I was just as surprised as she was when we saw each other. I just stood there for a moment. Even though it was dark out, a full moon helped to light the sky. I’m not sure how well she could see me even then. Though she was looking in my direction.”

  “Oh, wow, you never told anyone about that, did you?”

  “No. There wasn’t any need. I turned and loped back to my clothes in the woods and dressed. Then I walked way around the cabin so that I wasn’t coming from the same direction the wolf had been in. Though I’m not sure she would have suspected I was the wolf, but she might have been worried about me running into him. I did think about coming from the direction of the wolf and telling her I had run into a big, old, friendly dog. Then she wouldn’t be worried about going to a cabin in the woods again.”

  “It didn’t work.” At least that was what Kate guessed had happened.

  “Nope. She’d seen the wolf, was terrified I had been killed in the woods, and what would she have done? She couldn’t even find my keys to the Land Rover so she could go home.”