The sound of bodies morphing echoes through the trees.
My heart starts pounding double-time.
Clothes tear apart.
Snarls ripple through the air.
A massive Wolf lands where the man had been.
Next the Cougar and the Boar.
Elsie gasps behind me.
“Graham?”
The Wolf lunges-fangs dripping saliva and jaws snapping madly.
My Bear takes over.
One heartbeat later...
Eight hundred pounds of furious cinnamon-colored Black Bear explodes into the clearing.
The Wolf slams into my shoulder.
I roar.
The sound tears through the forest, shaking leaves from the trees and sending birds exploding into the sky.
The Boar charges next.
Then the Cougar.
Suddenly, the quiet lakeside overlook erupts into absolute chaos.
The Wolf is fast.
Very fast.
Unfortunately for him, I'm fast too.
He snaps for my throat.
I meet him head-on, batting him sideways with one massive paw. His body tumbles through the underbrush, crashing through saplings before he regains his footing.
The Boar hits me a second later.
He drives his tusks into my shoulder with enough force to shove me backward three steps.
Pain blooms.
I barely notice.
My eyes never leave Elsie.
She's backed herself against a tree, her face pale, blue eyes impossibly wide.
Confused.