Hadley Werewolves, page 19
“I’ll be the judge of what’s less.” She glanced down as he dropped the boxers. “Or what’s more...a lot more.”
He grinned. Shyness wasn’t possible when one got naked in front of pack members all the time. Most of the werewolves in Hadley had seen his ass.
Shifting quickly was another matter. Once naked, he succumbed to the wolf’s desire to change. His thighbone broke first, elongating to accommodate his new form, and his spine flexed hard, forcing him to the ground. All the while, the wolf within him cackled with glee as his teeth sharpened and his senses exploded with new colors, smells, and sounds. There was the rapid heartbeat of a mole nearby. The sweet scent of buds from fall-blooming cacti. A universe of sensations he couldn’t tap into before.
He stretched out his long limbs as dark hair sprouted along his body and his snout extended. The cracks and breaks were audible to even his ears. It hurt each and every time he did it.
Now that he was done, he hunched before her in his true form. Would she be scared of him like this? She kept a straight face and checked him out as she seemed to find him fascinating. He’d take that over fear, especially since he’d never shifted in front of non-werewolves before.
She quirked a grin. “That’s the most interesting yet disgusting transformation I’ve ever seen.”
He chuffed, the closest a wolf could do to express a nonchalant response.
Another wolf, a dark brown one, emerged from the distance and closed in on them. Trenton apparently had no desire to strip for the ladies.
“Does it hurt?” Nevena asked. Did she expect him to give a response?
“It hurts like a motherfucker,” Ben supplied.
Charly said, “I’ve only done it once not too long ago. I agree.”
“It looked like it hurt,” she said. “I think I saw about five or six bone breaks.”
“The change expends a ridiculous amount of energy, both in the transformation and in the healing process that occur concurrently,” Charly said.
“Sounds...painful.”
He wished he could show her how he saw the world. In wolf form, she was so beautiful. He could make out every detail in her face from the tiny dimple in her cheek when she smiled to the mole on her left temple. Her minty scent—as well as her delicious sex—filled his nostrils. Almost to the point of distraction.
He made a move toward her, but Trenton nudged him with his nose. Time to stop sniffing people’s butts and get to work. They circled the hat and clothes. The scent was here, yet the trail wasn’t that hot. Drew caught the path first. A thin line leading to the compound entrance. From there, he plodded with his nose to the ground, searching for the strongest path. The blossom of scents here was hard for the wolf not to get too distracted. There was a desert rabbit that had been close. Two dogs who had marked their territory not far away. This was a new place to explore. A new territory for him to conquer. Focus, Drew. The human pushed the wolf into obedience. This wasn’t the time to mark his territory by pissing where he wanted.
With amusement, he watched Trenton take a quick leak on a nearby bush. Well, his friend couldn’t help himself. Drew circled around the courtyard until the scent for the blood demon heightened. He paused, angling his nose close to the ground. There it was. Footsteps along the ground. A small woman’s shoe size. His head rose, and Trenton trotted over. With the path found, Drew sprinted out the doors with Trenton on his heels.
He pushed back the human’s logic and allowed the wolf to hunt.
He made it about half way down the street before a leash of pain around his gut sent him sprawling to the ground.
Nevena hurried to catch up and chuckled. “You didn’t learn the first time, huh?”
Nevena followed the werewolves away from the compound. The pair stuck to the side street, staying in the shadows whenever possible. There weren’t many houses in this neighborhood—which was for the best—but there were plenty of businesses and warehouses to act as hiding places.
What struck her first though was their direction. They were headed toward the Sandoval mansion. But then the werewolves took an unexpected turn when they should’ve gone right. They sprinted across the street and bounded for the town museum. Since it was almost evening time, the first floor lights would’ve shone, but through the tall glass windows there was nothing but darkness.
What the hell was the demon doing in there?
As she approached, the story became clear: thick blood stained the sidewalk up to the side entrance. She spotted a tanned limb here and the raw edges of a man’s severed leg among the shrubberies. Bile scraped against the back of her throat as the consequences of this attack hit her hard. Covering all this up would be damn near impossible. A life had been lost. Most likely more if the museum was still open.
They had to move faster.
She turned to Ben. “I need you to stand guard at the door way. Nobody comes in or out.”
At first he frowned, but when she didn’t back down and continued to glare at him, he nodded. She added, “The museum doesn’t close until eight. Which means anybody could walk into this mess.”
“Understood.”
She almost walked away from him, but managed to throw, “Thanks, Ben,” over her shoulder. He didn’t return the gesture.
The wolves circled in front of what was left of the doorway. Nevena took the lead this time and they followed.
She glanced at Charly. “There are two night guards on staff. There used to be one, but they increased the number due to vandalism.”
“They’re probably dead by now,” Charly whispered.
She suspected as much, but she didn’t want to think about it. They walked down the side entrance hall. This was an offshoot from the main corridor. She had been here before many times. During her brief excursions to be alone, she’d sometimes escape here. Lindsey didn’t have much compared to Las Vegas, but the one thing it did have was this modern-sized museum dedicated to ancient fish wildlife found in the rocks in the area. University students from around Las Vegas were often found going back and forth to the research lab in the basement. Nobody bothered the quiet girl in black who paid her fee and wandered the halls alone.
She gazed at the familiar rock formations in the nearby display. They were broken. The path of the blood demon was clear from the debris. At each corner she paused and waited. There was something down the long hallway on the floor, but she couldn’t make out what it was. The werewolves left the group to investigate.
“It’s blood,” Charly hissed, her eyes going glassy. “There’s so much I taste the copper on my tongue.”
The werewolf was right. As they soon as they caught up with Trenton and Drew, she spied the splattering of blood spread across the floor that extended up the wall. Almost as if someone left a mop bucket’s worth of water on the floor. Nothing else remained but a mess. The poor man was pulverized. Drew hovered near her, a deep growl building in him as he stared in the hallway beyond them.
“I see bits of his uniform,” Charly whispered. “It was one of the guards.”
Seeing inside here was difficult without light, so she trusted Charly’s observation. They didn’t linger and continued down the hall.
Her finger with the metal talon attached twitched and her breath quickened. She’d done this countless times. She had to be ready.
Anticipating a surprise attack was all too important—until the werewolves sprinted ahead. She had no choice but to run to catch up.
They finally came to a four-way junction. The wolves went right, toward the main display. The crunches of glass made them stop. They all froze. Not far from them, a man moaned.
“Please don’t kill me,” the man choked.
Trenton sprinted ahead while Drew hung back. He’d learned his lesson the hard way the last time he ran away from her. Charly withdrew her weapon from a holster while Nevena ran behind Trenton. She sensed Drew close behind her.
When they came to the main room, the sight made Nevena take a cautious step back.
Please, no, not again.
The final guard was suspended in the air, his eyes wide. His legs dangled, swaying back and forth at obtuse angles. Trenton surged forward.
“Don’t!” Nevena snapped.
The wolf had been too eager. Why didn’t they listen to her? The blood demon’s head snapped up from her place in the corner. The gray-haired, older woman’s fist rose, and her index finger flexed out. Trenton was flung upward first and then backward into the far wall. A yelp emerged from him as he collapsed to the ground. The blood demon’s fist closed again.
“Trenton!” Charly ran along the wall to reach him. Drew kept his distance, a hollow roar growing fierce in his form. He bared his teeth.
Nevena slashed the index finger blade across a scar along her forearm. A good bleeder. She traced the glyph with a practiced fluidly, quick and sharp. Time to show that bitch I can do telekinesis, too. Under the demon’s control, Trenton headed toward the ceiling again, but Nevena slapped her hands together to draw the power pulsing through her veins. She snatched the wolf. Then with a swipe of her right hand across her body, she glided him to the floor and slid him out of the room.
One down, one to go.
The guard in the air groaned as one of his arms snapped.
“Will you save them all, Nevena?” The high-pitched voice was similar to Ophelia’s this time. “Will you save me?” The face that looked at her was ashen, devoid of color. Ophelia’s once-blue eyes were now almost crimson with bloodshot veins blooming along the edges. A smile spread along the women’s gaunt cheekbones. The wrinkles of her crow’s feet stretched like spider webs.
“I’ve always been with you, Tsvete…You should come save me,” Ophelia’s demon wetly whispered. “Come be with me.”
Don’t listen, Nevena reminded herself. That crazy bastard in her body lies. It has to be a lie.
The man’s cries lengthened into a throaty, painful shriek as each finger on his right hand bent. Snap! Snap! Snap!
“Stop it, Ophelia!” Charly barked. She fired her gun once and missed.
“Ophelia’s not here,” the demon cackled. “If you’d like to leave a message, you can come closer so I can write it in your blood.” Ophelia’s body laughed again. “You have corrupted yourself with lupine blood—you’re of no use to me.”
Charly advanced but stopped not far from their target.
The demon had lost interest in Charly and turned to Nevena. “The wolves you brought with you are weak, Tsvete.”
Drew had disappeared from her side. Where had he gone? He couldn’t go far. He knew their limits.
“And what makes you believe that?” Nevena inquired. Might as well keep up the conversation since the demon had stopped torturing that poor man.
“You were supposed to come to me,” it replied in a matter of fact manner. “Not Ophelia. This blood is rather strong, but it isn’t as tasty.”
“So why take her?” she asked with venom lining her words. “Why not come for me?”
“A fine idea.” The blood demon took a confident step forward. Ophelia’s high heels were cast aside, and now her body walked barefoot across the marble floor. “But I suspect you’ll give me a good fight.”
With each step forward, the safe distance dwindled. Memories snuck into her head from the last time a demon ventured this close. She tried to shove them away, but they came too fast: Her papa and mama pinned to a wall with no chance to escape. Mama’s bloodied hand unable to help them. And no more than a few feet away, a young woman had to watch it all. She couldn’t look away as her papa’s eyes grew wide as he was yanked apart. Her piercing scream had been seared into her mind. The scream came again and again.
The demon took another step toward her. Then another.
Ten feet. I only have ten feet.
She took in a cleansing breath, feeling her blood crawl along her forearm to her wrist. The trail dripped on the floor. What spell could she do? Fire. Not in here. Ice. The cold would kill the human, but wasn’t he nearly dead already? Not so much, based on the way he cried in pain. Time for a minor quake. She scribbled the glyph.
The options weren’t much, but an advantage she could exploit was coming: A distracted foe was a dead foe.
The blur came fast behind the blood demon. Nevena raised her hands in the air and brought them down hard. The minute her blood splattered the floor, the ground shook and the demon stumbled. A dark wolf emerged from behind the demon and slammed into it. The two rolled across the ground as the man in the air fell. Nevena caught him, swaying to the left to send him out the room. The two continued to roll, Ophelia screeching as Drew scratched and bit deeply into her. With her head between his jaws, he viciously shook his prey back and forth. Like a lion tearing into a gazelle.
Nevena tore her gaze away from the gruesome sight. Don’t think about it. That’s Drew. He’s giving you this chance. She cut herself deeply down her forearm. No need for both. She drew another elaborate glyph, a spell to strengthen her telekinesis. This one required time to draw and she didn’t have much of it. Damn, she needed to practice these moving fast instead of slow! But the power was there and gathered with each stroke along her skin. It hummed and pulsed until her teeth rattled. Her fingertips grew numb from blood loss, but this sensation was nothing new.
Time to play with the big kids now.
In an inhale and exhale, Drew was flung in the air.
You will not hurt him.
With raised palms, she advanced on the demon. Immediately, she sensed the pushback. Almost as if a meaty fist pounded at a meager shield in her hands. The pounding fists turned into hammers. Eight feet left. Her hands quaked from the demon’s sheer power. She kept going forward. She’d seen another enforcer do this once before and survive.
It can be done, she reminded herself. She had to do this for Drew and the others.
One of the hits made it past her telekinetic shield and slammed into her head, but she snapped back quickly and ignored the trail of blood down her nose. Five feet left. The numbness from her fingertips spread to her wrists. She had to stay awake for just a little longer.
By the time she stood face-to-face with the demon, her blood flowed freely and her shield faltered. Time to do what I failed to do so long ago, she thought. The hammers against her telekinetic shield became massive pistons, slamming again and again. She stumbled under their massive weight. The pressure along her body increased to vicious pinpricks along every inch of her skin. The shield groaned in her head as she continued to bleed. No wonder most enforcers who did this died. With trembling fingers, she drew the sleep spell.
All she had to do was get close enough to touch the demon’s forehead. Just close enough. She reached out, her bloodied fingertips stretching as the pain grew from agonizing to blinding. She’d never gotten this close.
Instead of the demon’s face, she saw her mama’s bloodshot eyes, her body contorting as her limbs were ripped from her body. Nevena slid back a few inches, yet still she managed to surge forward. This time, the demon stepped toward her.
“Come for me, bitch,” the demon hissed. “Is that what you wanted?”
“There’s no need to be impatient.” She slapped her palm against the demon’s forehead. A strange spark bit into her skin. “I’ve got death on my shoulder. He wants to shake hands with you.”
Then everything went black.
Chapter 6
Drew woke up naked in human form on the floor. A cool hand touched his shoulder. It was Charly.
Nevena, where are you? Did everyone make it?
He moved. Every muscle strain and broken bone sang out in pain. The bones in his shoulder shifted, the fractures sealing themselves. Damn rapid werewolf healing wasn’t always a perk. He would’ve preferred to be knocked out so he wouldn’t have to endure the pain of healing.
“Where’s Nevena?” he whispered.
Charly sighed. “She’s...next to the blood demon.”
“Is she alive?” He tried to get up and hissed from a sharp jab along his lower back. His tailbone was broken, too.
“Her chest is moving, so I suspect so.”
“What’s wrong with the demon?”
“I think she did a sleep spell. She touched Ophelia’s forehead and now they’re both asleep.”
A man not far from them cried out. The museum guard was still alive.
“We need to get an ambulance for the guard,” Drew managed. If he weren’t in such bad shape himself, he’d check on the poor man.
Charly nodded. “I already made a call to the police and Ben. We need to get everyone out of here.”
“What about the demon?”
She made a dismissive noise. “I don’t want to touch her, but we don’t have a choice. The humans can’t find us like this.”
“Good choice. I’ll carry Nevena then. How’s Trenton?”
Her breath caught. “You’ll have to carry him, too. He’s still in wolf-form and hasn’t moved much.”
“Damn it.” Slowly, he managed to stand. At least his legs could hold him. How the hell would he get all of them out in time? Charly reluctantly approached the blood demon. The older woman didn’t stir. Tentatively, Charly poked the witch’s side with her shoe and then picked up Ophelia with ease. Not far from him, Trenton managed to complete his transformation back to human form.
A piece of ceiling fell, and Charly stilled.
“Take one step at a time,” Drew said. “If the body moves, just drop her and run.”
She gave a half-hearted snort. “You don’t have to tell me.”
The sounds of sirens bled into Drew’s ears. He had to move faster. He ignored the pain and hoisted Nevena onto his right shoulder. The good one. Once he had her secured, he took Trenton’s forearm and gently dragged him across the floor. “Sorry, man.”
Trenton gave a weak laugh. “I’ve been through worse. Might as well get dragged butt-naked across the floor by you rather than the witch.”
Drew groaned with the effort. “You do have a point there.”
