Page 136 of A Wolfe in the Woods

He tried to counter, snapping his jaws toward Jonathan’s throat, but Jonathan caught him by the neck and hurled him across the ground like a rag doll.

By the time Fang staggered upright again, the clearing had fallen eerily quiet. The shadows were gone. So were his pack.

Fang spun around wildly, his eyes darting across the clearing as if refusing to accept what he had seen. The confidence drained from his face as the truth settled in. Every one of them had been taken, swallowed by the forest like they had never existed.

When his gaze finally landed back on Jonathan, his expression cracked.Terror. Pure and unfiltered terror.

Without another word he turned and ran, crashing through the trees in blind panic and disappearing into the forest.

The clearing fell silent again while Jonathan stood in the center of it, his massive form barely moving as he watched Fang disappear. Then slowly his head turned towardme.

“Jonathan?” I said quietly, hesitantly, my voice trembling.

And for the first time since he’d emerged from the fog, I realized something terrifying.

I didn’t know if this creature was still Jonathan Wolfe anymore.

The shadows that had risen from the forest lingered at the edges of the clearing. But then, one by one, the contorted silhouettes thinned, stretched, and finally disappeared, bleedingback into the darkness. The thick fog cleared. I could see the forest again and the moonlight more clearly.

Jonathan stood in the center of it.

His towering Lycan form wavered. The cerulean glow in his eyes dimmed as his shoulders sagged, the unnatural tension leaving his body slowly. Then he started to downshift. His massive frame contracted, bones shifting beneath skin as thick black fur receded. His claws curled back into human hands that trembled as he tried to steady himself.

Within seconds the beast that had stood before me was gone.

Jonathan—myJonathan—now stood in its place.ThatI was certain of.

His bare skin was streaked with blood and dirt. Bruises were already darkening across his ribs and shoulders. His breathing was uneven, the fight finally catching up with him now that whatever power had driven him was fading.

I pushed myself off the granite wall and rushed to him before he fell. “Jonathan,” I said, my voice shaking more than I wanted it to.

His head dipped slightly as he tried to steady his breathing, one arm coming up instinctively as I moved beneath it to support his weight. Up close I could feel the heat radiating from him and the tremor running through his body.

“Are you all right?” came his question, urgent even in his pain. “He didn’t?—”

“I’m fine,” I breathed out. “Just shaken up. You?”

“Fine,” he grated with a tight grimace. “Blanche, I thought…I worried that?—”

Then something carried through the trees.

Voices.

Distant at first, echoing faintly down the slope below the clearing. “…over here!”

Beams of white light began cutting through the trees beneath us, bouncing between the trunks as several figures moved through the forest. The glow of headlamps and flashlights flickered across the rocks and branches while voices called to one another, growing louder as they climbed the incline.

Jonathan lifted his head slightly and let out a slow breath. “Looks like…we’ve been found.”

The lights grew brighter as the group approached the clearing. Several figures emerged. Paramedics moved quickly with medical packs slung over their shoulders. When their flashlights finally swept across us, the beams paused.

“Over here!” one of them shouted.

Two paramedics hurried forward, their lights dropping to examine Jonathan’s wounds.

“Easy, easy,” one of them said calmly as he knelt beside us. “Get him stabilized.”

They moved with efficiency, one of them checking Jonathan’s breathing while the other pulled supplies from a red kit. A pressure bandage was pressed against one of the deeper gashes across his side while another wrapped a blanket around his shoulders to slow the shock beginning to creep into his system.