Page 62 of Wolves Always Bite

Ihummed “Eyeof theTiger” to channel my innerRocky, wishing for the first time in my life thatI’dgone into martial arts like my brotherTheo.Itwas time to sting like a butterfly—no, that wasn’t right.Whatever.Rockyalways bounced around on the balls of his feet to warm up, right?Ishould do that.Ieyed the tiny patch of open floor in the middle of the motorhome.Therewasn’t a lot of room.Ishould probably wait to dance around until we were outside again.

“Comeon.Let’sgo,”Isaid, when none of the supes jumped out of their seats to storm the warehouse with me. “Chop, chop.”Ipunctuated my words with two loud claps.

“Ican shadow hop to the building and do some reccy,”Nelsonsaid.

“Ifwe need a diversion,Ican do that,”Ashsaid.Heheld up his fingers, which sparked and crackled.

“Whoa, dude, that’s so cool.”Iwanted to grab his hand and pull it close to see how exactly he was doing that.

Ihadn’t seenAshdoing any fancy magical stuff sinceI’dfound out he was a mage andIhad so much to learn.Istill couldn’t believe he’d managed to hide sparkly fingers from me for all these years.Afterthis was over, we were having some one-on-oneBFFtime whereI’dforce him to show me all the stuff he could do.Iwasn’t giving him a choice.

“Thereisn’t any cover between the road and the face of the building, so if she has any kind of surveillance, she’s going to know we’re coming,”Teaguesaid.

“Okay.Nelson, you go first.Findout what you can.We’llmove in when you report back.”Gage’spower surged in the motorhome, and it almost made me pee my pants.

ThenNelsonwas gone.Whatthe—?Ihadn’t heard the door open or close, he’d just vanished.Noone else seemed surprised.

“Hecan transform into a shadow,”Adriansaid, picking up on my confusion.

“What?Howis that…?”Ishook my head. “Whydidn’t anyone tell me that before?Howis that even possible?Imean shifting into a wolf is one thing, but to actually lose all of your body mass and become air, that is next level.”Butit explained how he’d exited the truck after we’d been driven off the road that first day.

Adrianhuffed in my ear. “It’snot that big of a deal.”

Oh, my poor grumpy wolf.Hehated it whenIfound another supe interesting.Heneeded to learn he was the only oneIwanted for naked and naughty fun.Andhe was totally the inspiration behind my nakedVikingwerewolf story.Noone else could say that.Justhim.

“You’restill my favorite,”Itold him.

Hischest puffed out as he preened.

“Here,”Teagueapproached with something dangling from his hand. “Itis the bestIcan offer on short notice, but this is a protection talisman.Itwon’t make you invincible, but it should help keep you safe.”

Adrian’sbreath hitched.Hereached out and squeezedTeague’shand. “Thankyou, my friend.”

Thetalisman hung from a thick black cord.Atfirst glance, it appeared to be a flat rock that’d been shaped into a perfect circle.Acompass was etched into the surface on one side and a stylized apple was on the other.

“Isthis yours?”Iasked, remembering howAdrianhad offered him an apple the day he’d healed me.

“Youneed it more.Pleasetake it.”

Iglanced at the others.Ashwas nodding his head, looking relieved.Theothers were smiling encouragingly at me too.Iswallowed hard asIslipped it over my head.

“Thankyou.”

Withthe talisman against my skin,Icould almost believe it emitted a warm energy, but that had to be in my head.Iwasn’t magical, so there was no wayI’dbe able to sense if something was magical or had a good energy or anything like that.Still, it felt good.Ipressed it against my skin, took a deep breath, and knew everything was going to be okay.

ThenNelsonemerged from one of the shadows in the motorhome like a fucking ghost before solidifying, shattering my calm.Ishrieked.Myheart felt like it was bouncing around in my chest like a ping-pong ball.Thequiet man lifted one of his black eyebrows at me, but then turned his attention toGage.

“Thereis someone in the building.Iheard voices through the door, butIdidn’t see a window, even on the back of the building.”

“Sowe’re going in blind.”Gagefrowned. “It’snot ideal, but we’ll figure it out.”

“Exactly.”Inodded. “We’rewinging it, likeIknew we would.”

Iloved that no one suggested calling offOperation:RescueClawiefrom theEvilGreenMonkeyCreature.

Myname for our mission needed a bit of work, but it was allIcould come up with on the fly.Goodnames, like good titles, took time.Ifthe situation wasn’t so dire and we had a few hours,I’dcome up with something else, something with a catchy acronym.AlthoughORCwasn’t so bad, ifIdid say so myself.

Wait…Wereorcs real?