Its claws were too tight. I couldn’t breathe.
The monster’s hideous signature swirled around me, tasting like blood and copper, and feeling like oil trickling across my skin. I heard screams from below, but they were distant echoes. The floating lights began to bleed into a beautiful blur.
Suddenly, a dark shadow flew toward us. Then the lights spun around me, and I slammed back to earth. The wind trapped in my lungs exploded from my chest, and I rolled to my knees, gasping.
Ten feet ahead, two massive, snarling wolves pinned the fiend to the ground.
I staggered to my feet. To my horror, the monstrosity did so as well, flinging the wolves into the surrounding tents.
I ran as if the devil itself were after me. For all I knew, it was.
A wolf whipped around the corner ahead of me. I stumbled to the side and reached for my mace, but faster than I could react, it rushed back the way I had come. One of mine, I supposed.
With wolves running everywhere and no idea of who to trust or what to do, I turned right and darted for the edge of the fair. Someone had erected those barricades cordoning off the street. Maybe there were cops nearby. Surely they’d heard the screaming already, but the whole fair was in a panic, so they probably wouldn’t know where to respond.
I looked both ways as I burst out of the fairgrounds and left the Midway behind. Racing along the edge of the pavilions, a white wolf bore down on me at unbelievable speed.
Jaxson? Another one of Jaxson’s pack? Or an enemy?
I pulled the mace Casey had given me from my pocket and dashed toward the street, screaming, desperately trying to draw attention. Instead, loitering people melted out of my way in terror. So much for help.
I’d have to face this wolf alone. I whirled and raised my mace to find the white wolf almost upon me. Friend or foe, I would pull the trigger.
Then the white beast flew sideways as a giant gray wolf slammed into it. They tumbled to the side in a snarling blur.
I staggered back from the savage battle. Blood and fur flew as they growled and tore into each other. The grey wolf lunged and clamped its massive jaws around its opponent. With a single swift motion, it lifted the white wolf into the air and shook.
My stomach churned as something snapped.
In a swirl of magic, the white wolf turned into a fully clothed man, and the gray beast dropped the tattered corpse from its mouth. Then it looked at me with blood-reddened fangs and honey-colored eyes that seemed to pierce my soul. While the white wolf had been huge, the gray one was truly monstrous and rippling with power.
My scream choked in my throat, and my chest felt as if it might split in two.
The wolf took several menacing steps toward me, and I raised the mace in my trembling hand. “Stay back, asshole!”
The wolf’s lips curled, revealing its sharp teeth. My body shook as I slowly backed up. Maybe it’ll let me walk away, I desperately thought, but the gray wolf growled again.
Guess not.
“Savannah!” a woman’s voice cut across the street, and I risked a glance out of the corner of my eye. Sam. She looked terrified, which only ratcheted up the panic shaking my body.
Wolves flooded out of the fair toward us. My heart was racing so fast, I was close to passing out. I staggered slightly.
Wolves everywhere. Two black ones circled my flanks, and panic choked all reason from my mind.
I’m surrounded.
“Put that down, Savannah!” Sam screamed, her voice close but eerily distant. “That’s Jaxson! He’s not himself. Don’t make any sudden movements.”
Jaxson.
Blood dripped from the gray beast’s mouth. I dragged my gaze from the mauled corpse to the wolf’s ruthless honey-gold eyes.
That was not Jaxson.
As it started to step forward, I shoved the mace in its face. “Don’t take another fucking step toward me, or I’ll blast you.”
The wolf snarled at the canister, locked eyes with me, and took a step.