Page 135 of A Wolfe in the Woods

“No,” I whispered.

The owl circled once overhead and vanished into the fog. I watched it leave with a sense of doom.

Leaves rustled behind me. I turned just as Fang stepped out from between the trees, three Lycans following behind him with their golden eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.

Fang smiled. “Well,” he said softly, “I guess even with a head start, humans just aren’t fast enough.”

My back pressed against the granite wall as his Lycans spread out slowly, forming a loose half circle around me. Their nostrils flared as they breathed in my scent, and one of them chuckled.

My mind felt scrambled, desperate. I rushed out, “I-I don’t think Erik will be pleased when he finds out what you’ve done.”

Fang studied me for a moment with amusement. “I don’t care what Erik thinks,” he said. “I don’t answer to him.”

“He’s your boss,” I said as bravely as I could muster.

Fang let out a low laugh. “Erik’s a pawn. His vision is only limited to himself and his family name. There’s a bigger game being played on a larger stage and controlled by those more important than Skoll.”

His gaze flicked briefly toward the distant glow of smoke beyond the trees, and his smile sharpened. “Who do you think set those fires? I’d hoped to burn the whole place down. But you’re right. Erik wouldn’t be pleased with us hunting you…but it pleases me.”

But just as Fang took another slow step toward me, the wind whispered through the trees and a strange shift in the air made several of the Lycans turn and sniff uneasily. Fog thickened across the clearing, curling around their legs like low smoke.

Something moved in the mist. At first I thought it was just the fog settling between the trees,but then shapes began separating from the darkness.

And they weren’t human.

Some were impossibly tall with limbs bent at unnatural angles, while others were crouched low and crooked like brokenthings trying to stand. Their bodies twisted and stretched, constantly changing shape as they gathered.

I was horrified as my mind struggled to understand what I was seeing. This…theycouldn’t be real.

One of the Lycans snarled, “What the?—”

One of the shadows suddenly turned toward him. It had something where a face should have been, but the features shifted and warped like smoke trying to form a skull. Then its mouth opened.

The sound that came out was not a voice. Instead, it shrieked. A long, tearing wail like a bleeding banshee screaming from the depths of a tomb. The sound ripped through the clearing so violently that I cupped my hands over my ears. The Lycans recoiled, snarling in confusion and pain as the scream echoed through the trees.

Then the shadows lunged.

One seized a Lycan by the shoulders and dragged him back into the mist. He screamed once before vanishing. Another silhouette surged forward to swallow a second Lycan into the black mass with a choking cry.

Panic exploded through the clearing.

Fang backed away instinctively, his eyes darting wildly through the fog as the shadows kept coming—more of them now, dozens—ripping through the darkness barely contained by the swirling mist.

I covered my mouth with both hands. I didn’t want to see, but I couldn’t look away either.

The forest had now become predator, and Fang and his men were prey.

And I’ll be next,I thought.

A shape prowled from the shadows. At first, I thought it was another monstrous form, but as it moved closer, I saw its eyes…blue and burning.Familiar.

Jonathan.

He emerged from the mist, larger than before, broader and darker, his silver-tipped claws catching the faint moonlight.

Fang stared in disbelief. “You…should be…”

The distance between them vanished in a blur as Jonathan’s claws slammed into Fang’s chest, sending the Lycan crashing backward across the clearing. Fang barely managed to scramble to his feet before Jonathan struck again, raking across his shoulder and driving him down into the dirt.