Now all Shannon could see was the corded muscles of Whip’s back and Prettyface’s hind feet raking Whip’s legs.
«Stop it!»
Even as she screamed, Shannon knew it wouldn’t do any good. Prettyface had no intention of surrendering.
Shannon’s wild glance fell on the bucket of steaming water on the stove. She reached for the bucket, but a single touch told her that the water was much too hot. It would scald Whip and yet was much too hot. It would scald Whip and yet barely penetrate Prettyface’s thick coat.
Abruptly the sounds of the struggle diminished. Shannon looked around.
Prettyface was on top. Whip wasn’t moving very much at all.
«Oh, God,» Shannon cried. «Whip!»
There was no answer.
Shannon lunged across the room and yanked away the table that was blocking the door. She dragged the shotgun from its pegs over the top of the door frame. Tears running down her face, she cocked the shotgun and turned back to shoot the dog that believed he was defending her.
But he wasn’t. He was killing Whip.
«Put that damned gun down,» Whip said grimly. «I’m not going to kill your mongrel wolf. But by God I’m going to teach him some manners.»
Shannon was too shocked at hearing Whip’s voice to tell him that Prettyface had been her target. Impatiently she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked again, thinking tears must have blurred her view of what was happening.
She saw the same thing she had seen before. Whip was mostly on the bottom of the pile, and he wasn’t moving very much at all. Prettyface’s muzzle was still pressed against Whip’s neck.
Abruptly Shannon realized that the dog’s teeth were set in the bullwhip rather than in Whip’s throat.
Relief swept through Shannon, only to give way to dismay. Whip’s left hand was jammed into the dog’s mouth along with the bullwhip. Dismay became fear when she realized that Whip’s other hand was clamped around Prettyface’s windpipe.
Whip was slowly choking air and life out of her dog.
«You’re killing him!» Shannon cried.
«The hell I am. The son of a bitch is still kicking like a steer.»
«Let go! He’s barely moving!»
«Barely is too damn much with a beast this size.»
Whip bore down harder with his right hand. His mouth was set in a harsh, determined line.
«Whip!»
He ignored Shannon, even when she grabbed his hand and tried to drag it away from Prettyface’s throat. When she set her feet and started to pry at his thumb with both hands, he gave her a glittering, narrow-eyed look.
«Get out of the way before you get hurt,» Whip said through his teeth.
Shannon kept clawing at his hand.
Prettyface kicked feebly and went limp.
Abruptly Whip released the pressure on the dog’s windpipe. Slowly the animal slid off Whip’s chest onto the floor and lay without moving, as slack as a pile of wet laundry.
«You killed him!» Shannon cried. «Damn you, Whip! You killed him!»
«Hell,» Whip said in disgust. «If I’d wanted to kill him, I would have broken his neck when he jumped me.»
Wordlessly Shannon shook her head, denying Whip’s words. Sobbing quietly, she tried to go to Prettyface, only to find her way barred by Whip’s hard arm.
«He’s not dead,» Whip said roughly. «Look at his flank. He’s breathing just fine now that my fingers are off his windpipe.»
Hurriedly Shannon wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked at Prettyface. The dog’s flank was indeed rising and falling slowly, dragging air back into his lungs.
«Thank God,» she whispered.
Shannon tried to go forward again, and again found her way barred by Whip.
«Go stand by the stove,» he said.
«But I want to —»
«Right now what you want doesn’t matter a whole lot,» Whip interrupted, his voice harsh. «You had your turn at controlling this beast and you couldn’t do it. It’s my turn now.»
«But —»
Whip looked up at Shannon.
«Move,» he said softly.
Too softly.
«Don’t hurt him any more,» Shannon pleaded. But she was backing toward the stove while she spoke. Like Whip’s voice, his eyes were calm, clear, and cold as a dagger made of ice.
Prettyface whimpered and tried to raise his head. Instantly Whip was there, holding the dog’s head against the floor, making it impossible for Prettyface to regain his feet.
«Easy,» Whip said in a gentle tone. «Before you get up and start feeling feisty again, focus those damned throwback eyes on me and know who’s head wolf around here.»
Prettyface whined softly. He blinked his yellow wolf’s eyes and looked around to see what was holding him down.
The dog met Whip’s eyes, recognized him, held the man’s glance for the space of a breath…and then Prettyface looked away, silently acknowledging that Whip was the master.
Nor did the dog attempt to get up again.
«That’s it, Prettyface,» Whip said, stroking the dog’s head gently. «I knew you were a damn sight smarter than you looked. All you needed was proof that you weren’t the master.»
Prettyface whined and tentatively midged Whip’s hand.
«Hello, boy,» Whip murmured, rubbing the dog’s head, reassuring him. «We’re going to get along a lot better from now on, aren’t we?»
A long, rough tongue swept over Whip’s bloody hand.
«Like that, do you?» Whip laughed. «You’re a hell of a fighter, Prettyface. Now you need to learn how to be a partner, too.»
When Whip’s fingers ran over every inch of Prettyface’s body, the dog stiffened, but he didn’t object in any other way to the man’s touch. Even when Whip probed between the sensitive pads on the dog’s feet, Prettyface didn’t so much as growl.
Shannon was shocked.
«All right, Prettyface,» Whip said, rubbing the dog’s ears affectionately. «I think you got the point. You take orders around here. You don’t give them.»
Whip came off the floor with a catlike grace that was startling in such a big man. The bullwhip was still in his left hand, still coiled.
«Up you go, boy,» Whip said.
Prettyface came to his feet, shook himself thoroughly, and looked at Whip.
Whip opened the cabin door.
«Go out and rustle your breakfast instead of trying to eat me,» Whip suggested dryly.
Prettyface looked once at Shannon, then trotted outside. Whip shut the door.
«You broke his spirit,» she said hoarsely.
«No, I just —»
«You’re like the Culpeppers,» Shannon interrupted wildly.
Her voice was cold. Her body shook with rage and fear and the aftermath of too much adrenaline.
«The hell I —» began Whip.
«You’re cruel and you’re brutal. You force anything weaker than you to grovel at your feet!»
Whip took one gliding step toward Shannon, then another. His eyes were like hammered silver. Blood dripped from cuts on his left hand.
He looked as dangerous as he was.
Shannon’s heartbeat doubled, but she didn’t back up one step. She couldn’t. She didn’t trust her legs to hold her.
«Prettyface,» Whip said softly, coldly, «is a spoiled, savage mongrel that weighs more than most men. He has too much wolf in him to understand anything from a man but force. So I beat him at his own game. Force. Now he’ll accept me.»
Shannon’s chin came up defiantly, but she was smart enough not to say a word. Whip was right and both of them knew it. She just didn’t like hearing it put so bluntly.
«As for the rest of your tirade,» Whip said, «when you give yourself to me — and you will — it won’t be because I choked you into submission. If that was all I wanted, I would have killed Prettyface the first time I walked into the cabin. Then I would have thrown you down on the floor and raped you.»