Kat seemed bewildered by the quick turn of events, but the fear in her eyes got to him most. Ren took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
“Just focus on me, kitten,” he said in a low voice for her ears alone. “Act out this scene with me. Let everything else take care of itself, but be ready to follow any instructions I give you about ducking or running or whatever the scene calls for as it plays out, okay?”
Kat gulped and nodded. The fear hadn’t left her eyes, so he did the only thing he could think of to change her focus fast.
Ren leaned down and kissed her.
He kissed her, and all her thoughts, all her fears, melted away. As they always did whenever Ren was near. Katrina melted into him and let her focus shrink down to just the two of them. Together. As it should be.
When Ren lifted his head, she dimly heard a wolf whistle, and her mind snapped back to the present. Clive was the owner of the impertinent whistle, and she blushed as she met his amused gaze. Ren kept hold of her hand as he addressed the group gathered around them in the old-fashioned language of the script. Only, these words weren’t part of any script. They were pure improvisation on Ren’s part. Something about kissing young lasses in the forest and how the others should mind their own business.
She was glad he was taking the lead because her mind was mush at the moment. She remembered what they were doing and why. She remembered the werewolves in the forest around them and the man they were allowing through their net. The man who was coming here, with what they believed had to be violent intent, aimed at Ren…or Katrina, herself.
She gasped as Ren tugged on her hand, causing her to whirl around so that she faced the cameras. His attention was off to one side, and she had the sinking feeling that something was about to happen.
A split second later, a howling went up from the woods on that side where Ren was looking. Wolves poured out of the undergrowth, of all shapes and sizes. Some brown, some gray, and the big black one that she knew already was Rufus, the Alpha wolf.
Behind the staggering mass of more than a dozen wolves that looked as if they were hopping mad came a man. The same bald-headed man Katrina had encountered in the States. He carried a blade before him that seemed to repel the wolves, even as they tried desperately to lunge for him, sharp teeth flashing in an awesome display.
What followed was sheer chaos as the Merry Men leapt into action. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any better luck than the wolves in getting to the man who plowed through them at high speed, as if they weren’t even there. He was running now, making a beeline for Katrina. She opened her mouth to scream as the intruder came so close, she could see the whites of his dead eyes as he raised the knife high and began the down stroke.
Then, suddenly, her view was cut off by Ren’s broad back. He’d stepped in front of her, blocking the deadly blow with his own body. Too late, she realized that while she might be safe for the moment, Ren was now in the path of that sharp blade. She felt him flinch and stagger back into her a moment before she felt time stand still.
Sonia came up beside them, the only one able to move in a scene frozen in time. Katrina could see her, but she couldn’t move. Her gaze sought out the others, and what she could see from her vantage point showed her that everyone except Sonia was frozen in place.
This… This was magic. Serious magic. And it had to have come from Sonia herself, since she was the only one unaffected by whatever it was she’d done to them all.
Sonia reached out and touched Katrina on the shoulder, and she came unfrozen. Able to move again, she stepped away at Sonia’s gesture, making room for whatever it was Sonia planned to do about the attacker. Sonia walked around them, judging angles, and tapped Greg and Clive, unfreezing them.
“Catch Ren,” she instructed them simply, and the two men positioned themselves behind Ren, who was clearly off balance and would fall as soon as he was freed from the spell. Sonia looked at Ren, meeting his gaze. “Let them catch you,” she instructed. “You’ll do less damage to yourself that way.”
Sonia then touched Ren, and he did as he was told, allowing Clive and Greg to catch him and help him clear the area. They didn’t go far, though. They stood behind Sonia, ready to back her up.
Katrina got a clear look at T.J. Cochran as the men moved around, and her breath caught when she saw the bright red blood staining the blade he still held in his hands. Ren’s blood. Her gaze shot to Ren, and she could see the paleness of his cheeks and the blood dripping down the leather of his costume top. There was a slice through the leather, and when he moved, she could see an answering gash in his chest.
She worried for him, but she would not nag him to leave the work to the other men. She couldn’t do that to him. She knew men had their pride, and Ren, as an Alpha, probably had more than most. She didn’t fully understand this world of shifters she was only just learning about, but she would not shame him in front of his people, even if worry gnawed away at her seeing him hurt and bleeding.
“Katrina, I need your assistance,” Sonia said in a clear voice that rang through the forest. Surprised, Katrina jumped a little before her feet carried her to Sonia’s side. Everyone else besides the five of them were still frozen in place, watching.
“How can I help?” Katrina asked the director, wondering what in the world she could possibly contribute in this situation.
“The knife is highly magical and made of pure silver. We cannot touch it, but you—human as you are—can handle it with no ill effect. Will you take the blade from this man’s hands and keep it safe while we deal with the rest of this?” Sonia asked, surprising her.
“Of course,” Katrina replied, hiding her trepidation.
The man was watching her, but he couldn’t move, just like everybody else. He might have been trying to kill her a moment ago, but at least for right now, he was immobilized. Katrina reached out and took hold of the hilt of the knife from beneath the man’s hand, having to get a little tough to actually pull it from his grasp. She worked at it, and eventually, it came free. She moved away quickly, getting clear of the area where T.J. watched her with a creepily blank expression.
Katrina went back to where she’d been standing, behind Greg, Clive and Ren. It was Ren who turned to her, taking off his leather top as he spoke.
“Wrap it up tight in this. It’s ruined anyway. Try to use the arms to tie it together so that it won’t fall out. As long as it’s wrapped up, we can move the silver. The magical whammy on that particular blade, though, is something else. I’m afraid you’ll have to carry it until we can get it back to the house—or wherever Sonia wants it to go.” Ren removed the top completely and handed it to her.
Katrina gasped as she got a look at the long, deep gash on his chest. He was still bleeding quite a bit, and she didn’t want to mess with the silly knife right now. What she wanted was to see to her mate!
He must have seen the look in her eyes because he pressed the leather into her hand and moved back. “Take care of that first. You’re the only one here who can,” he reminded her. “I’ll keep for a while yet.”
Katrina did as Ren asked and spent a few moments wrestling with the leather and the blade, wrapping it up as tightly as she could manage. When she had it in a little bundle that wasn’t about to come apart without some effort applied, she looked back to the tableau and realized that Sonia had been busy, unfreezing key people. Half of the wolves were free and had shifted into their human forms, even as Sonia freed the rest of them. She then went around and touched each of the jaguar shifters in the cast, and then the crew, freeing them, as well, until the only person left frozen in time was the intruder.