He distributed guns to the shifters in vests, but most of his crew were going to go in as wolves and fight tooth and claw.
The jitters started to invade my belly, but they didn’t stick around long before they were replaced by shock as Sam stripped off her clothes.
“Whoa. A little heads-up?” I laughed awkwardly.
Right. She was wolfborn, so stripping made sense. I guess she didn’t want to shred her fancy Rock Revival jeans every time she shifted.
Sam shot me a gleeful grin and shook her buns as a couple of the Wisconsin guys shucked off their pants. I quickly averted my eyes…well, reasonably quickly.
Shifter guys had nice butts, so sue me.
Two of the clothed shifters transformed in a swirl of light and magic, and their signatures filled the air. That seemed a lot simpler.
I gave an involuntary shudder at the sounds of bones popping and flesh stretching as Sam and the other wolfborns transformed. The beds of my nails itched, and I dug them into my palms. I knew which I’d rather be, if I had to choose.
The bushes rustled, and I turned to see six large, fully transformed wolves disappearing into the trees. Tony and the other shifter raced north on foot with inhuman speed.
We were suddenly alone, and I was relieved that Jaxson wasn’t going to shift. I wasn’t ready to meet his wolf again.
“Ready?” he asked, concern flickering in his face.
“Hell, yes,” I said, with a lot more confidence than I felt. I slipped the Glock into the back of my jeans and gave him a wink. “Remember, just stay out of my way.”
His jaw went rigid, and he narrowed his eyes. “Let’s go.”
We took off into the forest at a jog, but with my boots and Jaxson’s speed, it was more like a sprint by my old standards. I was still a little sore from earlier that day, but the practice had helped.
The low sun cast long shadows through the trees, making it a little difficult to find my footing, but adrenaline focused my mind, and I was able to wind through the trees like a pro. Okay, perhaps a semi-pro.
A wild sense of exhilaration filled my heart. I’d always loved running, but this was something more, almost like flying. I would never get bored of this. With that thought in my mind, my foot caught on a root. I lurched forward and landed hard, scuffing my hands and knees in the dirt.
“Getting a little cocky?” Jaxson stood above me, his hand extended.
My irritation flared, but I took his hand, and he pulled me up. “The pot calling the kettle black?”
I took a step forward, but Jaxson gently grabbed my arm. “Hey—hold on." His body tensed, and he tilted his head, breathing deeply.
I scanned the woods, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of whatever had alerted his wolf senses. The trees were still. Light filtered in through the canopy, illuminating the moss and lichen-covered forest floor that grew in these parts. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Then a shadow moved.
My body strained.
“What did you see?” Jaxson whispered.
I pointed at where the shadow had been, but there was nothing there besides trees and dangling ivy.
And then I saw it: an eight-foot shadow, almost invisible in the patches of light and darkness of the forest canopy.
It moved a step, and my heart skipped four beats.
A twisted and monstrous demon, like the one that had attacked me at the fair. Its skin was a sickly, translucent dark green, and though it was humanoid in form, its legs and arms were unnaturally long and sinuous. It wore no clothes, and its muscles were just visible beneath the skin. The thing was even more horrifying in the fading remains of daylight.
I slipped the Glock out of my jeans.
Time to get even.
34