Текст книги "Cry wolf"

Автор книги: Jay Ellison

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The pack knew where he lived. Naturally, they’d expect him to go straight home. Instead, he doubled back

and disappeared into the alley system again. He found a hiding spot behind an ancient blue Dumpster and

crouched low, out of breath but trying not to breath too loudly as he heard several pairs of feet hurrying

past. He stayed as quiet as possible, hoping his scent was all over the place and impossible to track, until

he was certain the pack had moved on.

He waited fifteen minutes more to make certain Anya hadn’t left anyone to recon the area. Nothing stirred

except for a cat digging diligently into an overturned garbage can.

He couldn’t wait any longer. If Anya knew about his apartment, she might also know about Matthew.

When she didn’t find Hannah there, she might try Matthew’s next. Who knew how far her knowledge and

influence went? Ducking out of his hiding space, Kevin re-shouldered the pack and started down the alley

toward the street.

He was almost at the end when three figures stepped into view. One was Anya, surrounded on both sides

by two burly members of the pack.

“Shit!” Kevin skidded to a halt, his blood thudding in his ears.

Anya glared at him, no smile on her shiny, ruby-red lips now. “The way you carry on, a girl might be

insulted, little wolfling.”

“You’re not a girl, Freki,” Kevin growled.

Anya narrowed her snapping blue eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Things would have been much

easier for you if you’d just done what you were told and left your human life behind.”

“Why?” Kevin panted. “So you can hold me prisoner, use me like some kind of breeding stud, the way

you do Roman?”

Anya dropped her fur coat to the ground. “Roman is well cared for.”

“A well cared for animal in a cage is still an animal in a cage.”

Anya didn’t respond to that. She did say, “I’ll give you one last chance to come back willingly, Kevin.

After that, I’m all out of mercy.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“In that case, you leave me no choice.” She slid the spaghetti straps of her dress off her shoulders and

stepped out of it. Under the dress she was slim and boyish, with narrow hips and small breasts, but within

seconds that all began to change. Like Kevin and Roman, she was a Pedigree. She was also the first of

their kind, according to Roman. The Eve of the Werewolf underworld. She shifted seamlessly, with no

effort at all. Her eyes flashed blood red and turned wolfen and then the rest of her followed…

transformed.

Anya—or Freki—shimmered into her half wolf form, over ten feet of watery, sinewy muscle. Her fur was

long, silky and shining like burning winter on her slender, nimble body, and her claws as long as swords.

She reared up on her powerful hind legs, positively towering over the smaller, darker pack members to

either side of her. Both were shifting with more effort and trouble and giving off grunts of pain as their

bones broke and re-mended. Their queen snarled, her dripping jaws falling open to reveal a bright red

tongue and double rows of long, shark-like teeth. Her open, gaping mouth was large enough to swallow

Kevin whole as she shambled forward menacingly.

“Oh god,” Kevin said, wondering if he was going to be sick. He glanced behind him, but the alley was a

dead end; there was no escape that way. He shifted quickly into his half-wolf form, even though he was

still two heads smaller than she. He hoped he’d be able to escape, but Freki was upon him so quickly she

was like a pale blur.

Her teeth sank into his shoulder, making him scream in pain and outrage. He tried to reach for the

Wolfsbane in the pocket of his ragged jeans, but Anya knocked his hand away. Her strength was shocking

and unnatural, even for a werewolf. She snagged one gigantic, clawed fist in the front of his shredded shift

and lifted him up as if he were made of straw. “Traitor!” she snarled in his face, flecking him with foam

and saliva. She ripped at his backpack with her claws, scattering the important documents that Roman had

given all over the alley before throwing him against one wall.

The impact knocked the breath from Kevin’s body and he wheezed as he slid to the ground, his vision

doubling, his body crippled by pain from his various broken bones and contusions. He groaned,

scrambled against the ground to find purchase as Freki lunged at him again, faster than any wolf, as fast as

a shark, but his body was a long way from healing and he felt like what he was at the moment—a broken

bag of bones.

Freki’s jaws slashed the air in front of her, saliva flying. Her teeth snagged his jeans and she tossed his

head, throwing him like a bag of dirty laundry against the opposite wall, his bones crunching alarmingly

on impact and making him heave with the pain. Then, before he could even catch his breath, she lifted him

up with her claws and tossed him down again. Kevin whined pitifully as more bones broke and blooded

jetted from between his lips. His body was lanced with searing, unbelievable pain. His brain vibrated

with agony. He spat blood and tried to crawl away, but Freki sank her claws into him and ripped eight

deep furrows down his back, shredding his fur and skin. Kevin felt his head spin and his vision darken.

“Time to come home with me, little wolf,” Freki said, throwing him effortlessly over one shoulder, but

before she could take even a single step, something huge charged her like a locomotive, driving her into

the wall and making her drop Kevin on his side.

Moaning, he clenched up in a fetal position, then forced himself to turned over just in time to see Toby in

wolfen form standing there on his hind legs. He was huge—not as tall as Freki, but at least as wide as she.

He lashed at the air with teeth and claws, his ebony fur shining, his golden eyes narrowed menacingly.

His tail swished back and forth with anger as he stood between Freki and her prey.

“T-to-oo-by,” Kevin croaked. “No…Toby…!”

“That’s right, Toby,” Freki hissed almost like a snake, her greedy jaws snapping like a metal trap. “Run

away, little black wolf. Run back to the fold before I destroy you.”

Toby snorted and stood his ground. “Fuck you, bitch.”

“That’s fuck you, your majesty,” she roared.

Toby slashed at the air with hooked claws. “Go away, Freki, and leave Kevin alone!”

“Don’t make me laugh, pup,” Freki taunted him. “You were nothing but a slave when Roman found you.

You’re but a slave now. Give him to me!”

“No!” Toby shouted, bearing huge, ragged teeth. “I serve my alpha. I don’t serve you!” And then, over one

shoulder. “Run, Kevin. I’ll hold off Freki and these two clowns.”

Kevin groaned as he pushed himself up, covered in blood, sweat and city grime. He wanted to cry with

the pain; his bones felt loose and shattered and every breath he took made it feel like he was trying to

breathe through broken glass. He trembled all over with his injuries, but he was still running on

adrenaline, and that got him through. Somehow, he managed to make it onto his hands and knees despite

his broken bones and what was likely a punctured lung. “No, Toby,” he croaked, “she’ll kill you.”

Toby eyed his queen as Freki’s two bodyguards moved forward a step, their tails lashing the air angrily.

“She killed Jonah, so I don’t care.” He growled savagely to warn back his enemies, then snapped his huge

jaws until the two smaller betas whined and backed off. Freki barked at them, driving them forward once

more. Toby threw Kevin a look. “See that ledge?” He indicated a second-floor window. “Go. Get to your

sister. I’ll hold them back as long as I can.”

One of the werewolves launched himself at Toby, but Toby easily knocked him back with a massive

uppercut, boxing like a professional. The second moved faster, latching onto Toby’s arm. Toby yelped

and brought a giant fist down atop its skull like a gavel, shattering it. The second wolf slumped away,

dead, but not before the first was on him once more. Toby grabbed its jaws, cracking them wide open so

blood and foam poured from the monster’s mouth. He tossed the first one away like garbage.

Growling with frustration and bloodlust, Freki moved forward to engage Toby herself.

Kevin weaved to his feet and spat penny-sized droplets of blood onto the asphalt. He was far from all

right, but his wolfen blood was healing him much faster than if he’d been a mere beta. Besides, it was

only a matter of time before Freki turned her attention on him once more, and there was no way he could

defeat her—not without help. He looked at Toby, but realized there was no way he was going to be able

to talk the big man down.

“Thank you,” he told Toby, then dived for the wall and scrambled up the bricks to the windowsill. He’d

just crawled into the window when the sounds of growling and the tearing of flesh, followed by Toby’s

piteous cries, rose up over the city, turning his blood to ice.

***

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jonah was dead. Toby was dead. Terror, more real than Kevin had ever felt, surged through his body and

brain, driving him on despite his many injuries.

Having stolen some new clothes from out of the apartment complex, Kevin rushed to Matthew’s place.

The security officers in the lobby knew him well and waved him by without question. He took the

elevator up to the sixth floor and sprinted down the long hallway to Matthew’s flat. He started pounding

on the door, but it fell open on him.

Kevin stopped and stared at the open door. No one in this city left their door open, not even for a minute.

He immediately knew something was wrong. “Hannah?” he called softly, as if afraid he might awaken

something terrible within. His heart was slamming upward, trying to crawl into his throat. Then he

realized how foolish he was being. He didn’t have time for these games. Hannah didn’t have time.

“Hannah!” he cried. “Matthew!”

No answer. He rushed inside only to find the entire living room ransacked, the soft lying on its side, an

end table toppled, a light broken, broken dishes scattered everywhere. The sofa bore several long, clawlike

furrows in it from which the stuffing had been ripped, and there was blood on the floor—not a lot, but

enough to make Kevin despair. Enough to make Kevin angry.

That bitch had invaded the sanctity of his family!

He checked the whole apartment top to bottom to make certain no one was left behind, but his sister and

her boyfriend were gone. Taken. The only thing he found was a disposable cell phone lying on the kitchen

table and a note next to it, written in blood. The note said: Take me.

***

Chapter Twenty-Five

Kevin sat in the dark of his living room, the cell phone in his lap, waiting for it to ring. He thought about

picking it up and dialing the police, filing a missing person’s report, getting a citywide manhunt going for

Freki and the pack. But how would he explain something like that?

How do you tell the police that your sister and her boyfriend were abducted by an angry pack of

werewolves? Who would take him seriously? Besides, it had only been a few hours. Hannah was an

adult; he knew the police would want to wait twenty-four hours before searching for her, and by then…he

didn’t want to imagine what condition his sister would be in. And even if he could somehow persuade an

officer to investigate, Freki was powerful. Roman himself said there were people high up in the

government who took care to cover up the pack’s indiscretions. No, the only thing he would accomplish

would be getting the police’s suspicions up.

So he sat there in the dark and waited three endlessly long hours before the phone went off, playing

“Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran. Before the first strains of the tinny song were even over, Kevin

scooped up the phone and hit Talk. “Freki, where the hell is my sister?”

“Patience, little wolf, patience,” came her silky voice. It ended on a low, growling note, like she was in

some transitional phase of her shift. “Your dear sister is with me, and quite well, I might add.”

“I want to talk to Hannah!” Kevin shouted into the phone. “Put her on!”

“You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“I don’t trust you, you bitch. You murdered Jonah. You murdered Toby!”

“I’ve murdered a lot of people over the millennia. And you don’t have any other choice, do you?”

Fuck, she had a point. Kevin worked on getting his temper under control. If he flew off the handle, he’d

get nothing from Freki, he knew. He decided to try and reason with her. “Look, this is between you and

me. Hannah and Matthew have nothing to do with any of this…”

“I disagree. I think Hannah has a lot to do with you staying in the human world. However, being a fair

type, I think I may be able to offer a trade of sorts—your life for hers.”

“Anything. I’ll come back if you let her go. I’ll be your wolf, your mate, just so long as she goes free and

unharmed.”

He sensed Freki’s smile. “Meet me at the lodge and we’ll talk. Be here by sun up, or Hannah dies. See, I

can be fair.”

With a tittering laugh, Freki hung up.

***

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kevin was shaking like an epileptic as he approached the lodge. The drive up to the mountains had been a

nightmare, and he was feeling relieved just to be at his destination. He didn’t think he could endure one

more mile of road in his present state of mind.

There were a collection of familiar vehicles parked on the gravel outside the lodge, but otherwise it

looked dark and deserted. No one looked to be home, but he knew that meant nothing. The werewolves

could be hiding in the woods, just waiting to ambush him. He checked the gun he’d stuck in his belt—it

was a .45 S&W that belonged to Jolene. He knew she kept it in her office for break-ins and had gotten it

out of her desk before driving up, though she knew nothing about it. Southern girls and their guns. He

wasn’t sure it would kill a charging werewolf, but he felt somehow safer for having it.

He got out, his hiking boots crunching on the white luxury gravel, and made his slow way up the drive to

the front door. He stopped to check the Wolfsbane in his pocket, gave it a nervous squeeze. Then he drew

the gun, regulated his breathing, and tried the door.

It was unlocked. He pushed it half open, lifting the gun and half expecting the pack to descend upon him

like a swarm of angry bees, but the foyer and connecting common room was empty and dark. Nothing

stirred, though a whining noise came from upstairs. It sounded like a creature in pain.

He hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time. “Hannah? Hannah! Matthew!”

No answer.

When he got to the top floor, he followed the sound to Roman’s bedroom. A large cage was set up with a

black wolf pacing nervously inside it. It was panting and whining, but it stopped when it saw him and

gave him pleading yellow eyes. “Roman,” Kevin said before rushing to the cage and kneeling down.

Roman shifted back to his human form. His body was streaked with dirt, his hair snarled and full of

leaves and twigs. It was obvious the pack had been making sport of him in the woods. Dried blood coated

his body up and down, though there were no obvious wounds—his body had taken care of healing him, it

seemed.

Still, Kevin felt his heart break at the sight. “Are you all right?”

Roman nodded. “Yes,” he said, his voice tired and hoarse. “I heal quickly.”

“What did they do to you?”

Roman averted his eyes. “What the pack does to traitors…to anyone who doesn’t follow the queen.” He

reached through the bars and took Kevin’s hand, squeezed it. “You need to get out of here before they

return.”

“I’m not leaving you like this! And I’m definitely not leaving Hannah!”

“Hannah isn’t here! Freki took her and her human lover out to the woods to hunt them.”

“Don’t you dare say that!” Kevin roared. He grabbed the big padlock on a chain around the door of the

cage and rattled it with anger and frustration. The metal screeked but held. Even his rage couldn’t seem to

break it. “Was she all right when you saw her…?”

Roman nodded. “She was fine when Freki took her out. They both were.”

“I’ll skin that bitch if she hurt Hannah…!”

“I don’t think she will, Kevin. Without Hannah, she has no leverage on you.”

Kevin yanked on the padlock in disgust. “Do you know if Freki took the key?”

“She keeps that in her bedroom.”

Kevin stood up and looked down at his lover kneeling in the cage. “She’s done this to you before, hasn’t

she?”

“She’s caged me when I’ve displeased her, yes.”

Just another reason to kill Freki when he saw her. Kevin swallowed hard against the knot in his throat.

“I’ll be right back.” He made his way to Freki’s room. Really, it looked more like a fancy boudoir than

anything else. He flung open her closets and threw her clothes everywhere, then ripped into her dressing

table, tearing everything apart. He finally found the key in her makeup case, but as he was making his way

back to Roman, he heard a door open downstairs and people returning. The little hairs on the back of his

neck stood at rigid attention. He flattened himself against the wall of Roman’s room and listened for

sounds of Hannah, of humans. He found none. If they had hurt Hannah he was going to kill them all. He’d

wipe the pack out, or die trying. Roman saw the determination in his face and shook his head, but Kevin

ignored him. He tossed the key to Roman before walking to the head of the long, curving stairwell.

Freki stood at the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by the rest of the pack. Some of them sneered up at him

—these beautiful young men who had welcomed him into their lives only a month ago. A few started

changing, but Freki lifted a delicate white hand for them to stand down. “Kevin, I’m impressed by how

quickly you made it here.”

“I’m impressed by how stupid you are to have targeted my sister.” He pulled the gun loose and cocked it,

aiming it at Freki. “Where is she?”

Freki ignored the gun and wagged a well-manicured finger. “Tsk, tsk. Your social graces need work,

young wolf. We’ve all been taking a walk, getting to know one another.”

“Running, more like,” one of the pack sneered.

Another said, “Guess what we were running after?”

“Long pig,” someone laughed, and Kevin swallowed against the bile in his throat.

“You bitch…” he whispered and squeezed off a shot, the gun bucking in his hands.

Freki’s hand moved faster than he could follow, but suddenly the bullet was in it. She dropped it.

Determined, he cocked the gun and fired again, but Freki moved subtlety, catching that one as well before

it could penetrate the companion beside her. She dropped the crumpled bullet to the floor. “That’s rather

rude, Kevin, considering we didn’t catch her. Your little blind scamp of a sister managed to elude us

somewhere down by the river. Imagine that. She’s more resourceful than we thought.”

Kevin tried to fire the gun a third time, but it jammed. Rage made him throw the useless weapon aside and

start down the stairs toward Freki, but he stopped when several of the pack growled at him. He couldn’t

possibly take them all; there were seven big, muscular, naked guys waiting to rip him apart. He didn’t like

his odds and stopped dead in his tracks.

“Here’s the deal,” said Freki. “It’s simple, really. You run. We chase you. If you find your sister and

manage to get out of these woods alive, you both can go free. But if we catch you, you return to the pack.”

“And be your prisoner,” Kevin added.

Freki made a “What can you do?” gesture. “Deal or no deal?”

What choice did he have, really?

“This isn’t over,” he said.

Freki smiled winningly with her lipstick-red lips. “I dare say I wouldn’t have it any other way, little pup.”

“Let me through,” Kevin said, and the others parted for him.

He ran.

***

Chapter Twenty-Seven

As soon as he hit the deep woods, Kevin stripped, hung the Wolfsbane medallion around his neck, and

quickly shifted, trusting that his thick fur would protect him from the worse effects of the Wolfsbane. He

took off running, breathing in huge gulps of cold mountain air in the hopes of picking up Hannah’s scent.

It was cooler in the mountains today, with a clingy, low-lying mist. He sniffed, but all he smelled was

forest and wolf. Behind him, several of the pack members began to howl as they shifted. It was a hunting

song they sang, except that instead of an elk as the object of their hunger, he was hunted. His heart pumped

and his mind buzzed with panic. The wolf in him wanted to run as fast as he could, as far away as he

could, and take shelter, but he knew that was selfish. The wolf’s selfish desire to save itself. He had to

find his sister!

He cut through the trees, staying away from vales and clearings, using the deep woods as his cover. It

would not be wise to be caught out in the open until nightfall—and even then, he had to be especially

careful. Wolves were nocturnal creatures, their sight far more keen than humans.

His sharp hearing picked up on the others racing through the trees behind him. He had a considerable head

start, but they, unfortunately, already had his scent. It wouldn’t take them long to catch up. He headed

toward the smell of water, the river. Freki said they’d lost Hannah there. Werewolves were far better at

tracking prey than even bloodhounds, but even a werewolf couldn’t follow a scent if someone was using

water to disguise it, and Hannah, he knew, was far smarter and more resourceful than Freki gave her

credit for. His sister had never been what you would call helpless. Born blind, she’d learned how to

swim and ride a horse. She could do anything she set her mind to.

He raced through tunnels of overhanging trees until he heard the rush of water just ahead. A few moments

later he broke from the tree line and found himself standing on the edge of the creek that ran into the lake

behind Jolene’s cabin, a few miles to the west of here. Nose down, he started following the river, hoping

to catch a scent of Hannah or Matthew.

Freki and her boys bayed in the distance. They sounded closer than they had when Kevin had begun. Panic

shivered through his body, but Kevin told himself to calm down, to concentrate on following the river. He

couldn’t afford to panic now.

Moments later, a familiar scent caught his attention. It came from just over the hill and it smelled human.

He raced along the riverbank, following the scent to what looked like a pile of torn clothing. He whined

in frustration. The whole area smelled like wolf and blood and death, like a kerfuffle had taken place. He

almost retched at the sight of the blood in the grass. He could not tell if the remains were male or female;

they had been almost completely consumed. All he found were a few broken bones scraped clean of meat.

He nosed the horrid remains, the shredded fabric, but could make nothing of them. Hannah and Matthew

spent a lot of time together; they basically smelled like each other.

The horror was too much. Kevin snorted in fear and rage. He cried out into the forest, even knowing it

would lure the others to him like a magnet. He howled long and loud, singing a song of rage and revenge.

He wanted them to feel his outrage. He wanted them to know what he would do to them for this crime.

The pack called back, a laughing howl of victory, taunting him.

I’ll kill them, he thought. I’ll kill them all!

Snarling, he almost turned back to face them, even knowing it would cost him his life, but then good sense

prevailed and he decided to keep moving. Maybe the remains weren’t Hannah’s. Maybe she was still

alive. If she was, he couldn’t afford to lose his lead. She might need him. He raced back to the river,

splashing through the shallow creek water periodically to mask his scent, but the pack never seemed very

far off.

Fifteen or twenty minutes later, just as the last light of day was fading, he heard a human cry for the first

time. He raced ahead, his eyes picking out a slim figure thrashing in the river and clinging with all her

strength to a tree trunk lying lengthwise across the white rapids like an improvised bridge. His heart

swelled with hope and he dashed across the bridge.

“Help me!” he heard Hannah cry even before he saw her fear-stricken face. Kevin’s heart soared at the

sight. She was soaking wet, her hair plastered to her face, and she had both arms wrapped around the

trunk but was quickly losing purchase as her grip slipped on the slick log. He had no idea how she

managed to survive blind in the woods thus far, but he wasn’t surprised in the least by her gumption.

“Please help me!”

He immediately shifted back to human and said, “Hannah! It’s me. Hold on!”

“Kev…are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here, sis,” he said and dived into the shocking cold water. The rapids immediately tried to

grab him and fling him downriver, back toward the pack, but he fought hard to swim against it. He’d

always been a strong swimmer, even doing a stint as a lifeguard in high school, and right now he was

more determined than he’d ever been in his life. As soon as he reached Hannah, he dug his sharp

fingernails into the trunk and grabbed Hannah around the waist as she began to slip free.

“I’ve got you. Hang on.”

Water filled her mouth and she choked, but at least she was safe from being swept downstream. Only then

did he realize his predicament: there was no way he could hold onto Hannah and climb to the top of the

log at the same time. He was strong, but not that strong.

If he didn’t figure something out soon, they were both dead.

***

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Give you a hand?” a gruff voice called out to him.

Thrashing his wet hair out of his eyes, Kevin looked up, surprised to find a huge, naked Fenrir balancing

easily on the log. “About time,” he choked out.

Grinning, Fenrir reached down and grabbed them both, dragging them easily from the rushing water.

Hannah was gasping, barely breathing.

Kevin quickly carried her to the riverbank. “Hannah!” he said as he laid her down.

“Is she going to be all right?” Fenrir said with concern.

Kevin turned her head to one side and she choked out river water. After a few moments her eyes blinked

open and she managed to find her voice. “Oh god, Kevin!” she cried and threw her arms around his neck.

“They killed Matthew!” she sobbed against him. “The werewolves killed Matthew!”

“I know, sis, I know,” he said as he held Hannah close and let her cry out all her pain against his

shoulder. And then to Fenrir: “I take it Roman sent you.”

Fenrir stood very still, staring off into the distance as he listened for the pack. “He should be here soon.

But we need to get both of you out of here.”

Kevin bit his trembling lip, shook his head. “I’m not running anymore. If Freki wants a fight, I’m going to

fucking give it to her.”

“If you fight Freki, you’ll die,” Fenrir said, stating the obvious.

“If I run away, I’ll die—and Hannah. And everyone else I give a shit about.” He pinned Fenrir with his

wolf eyes until the other man backed down. “No more. It’s time I face her on my own terms.”

“I guess you really are a Pedigree.”

“No, I’m just tired.” And then Kevin did the most difficult thing he’d ever done and handed Hannah over

to Fenrir for safekeeping.

***

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kevin waited on the riverbank for Freki and the rest of the pack to catch up to him. It didn’t take very

long. Within minutes he could hear them baying in victory as they raced through the woods. Normally,

werewolves were stealthier than this, but he knew they wanted him to hear them. They wanted him to fear

them. But he didn’t. Not anymore.

Freki stepped out from between the trees first. She was in full wolf form, but she quickly shifted back and

stood up, her sleek human body shining like ice in the moonlight. Her blue eyes were cold and remote.

“Done running, little wolfling?”

“I was done a long time ago.”

The pack gathered around her, shifting to their lumbering half-wolf forms one by one. “What about your

sister?”

“She’s safe. She isn’t in these woods anymore.”

“But you are.” She canted her head to one side. “Why didn’t you go with her?”

Kevin remained stoic.

“I see,” Freki said, picking up on his silent cue. “You want Roman.”

“I’m not leaving without him. Give him to me and I’ll let you all live.”

A dubious smile curled across Anya’s lips before she burst out laughing. “You’re quite amusing, pup, you

know that? I’m older than some mountains, than this forest. Do you honestly think I’d submit so easily to

someone like you?”

“Is that a no?”

She nodded. “That’s a no.”

“Then we have a problem.”

Kevin thought about how brave his words sounded, how strong and brave he was coming on. But in

reality, he was scared to death. He had no idea how he would defeat seven angry werewolves, plus their

queen. Even as a Pedigree, he was outnumbered. And Freki was more a god than a wolf. Then he thought

about Jonah, what Freki had done to him. And to Toby. As the first of Freki’s boys reached him, he let his

anger and outrage fill him. He gave himself over to it, and to the wolf.

He let the wolf off its leash.

The giant creature grabbed him, but as he did, Kevin shifted into his half-wolf form. He grew heads taller

than his opponent. His neck became thick, furry and muscular. His body broadened and his mouth filled

with aching-sharp teeth. The werewolf lost his hold on Kevin, but as he slid down Kevin’s chest, he

grabbed at the thick, lush fur there, and the medallion.

The Wolfsbane burned when it came in contact with his enemy’s hand and the werewolf began to scream.

Kevin grunted, lashed out, knocking the creature away. He flew back ten feet and hit the trunk of a pine

tree, slumping down into unconsciousness. Kevin was surprised by his strength.

Two more werewolves lunged at him as one, but one swipe of Kevin’s massive, clawed hand knocked

them both down with deep, bleeding wounds slashed across their faces and eyes. The wounded creatures

whined pitifully and slunk away, tails between their legs.

The next one was more difficult. He was tall like Kevin, but slender of build, quick and agile. He let out a

primal bay before lashing out at Kevin with teeth and claws. He was unusually fast. Kevin dodged, only

barely averting the giant creature’s snapping jaws, and received a long gouge in his side for his troubles