It's terrifying.
They circle me, laughing among themselves as though I'm some sort of prize they'd stumbled across.
One reaches for me.
Another says something lewd that makes my stomach turn.
They're talking about me like...
Like I'm something to be bought.
Something to be taken.
Something to be used by whoever takes me first.
I back away.
“Leave me alone.”
They laugh harder.
“No one's coming for you, little human.”
Human.
That word again.
The way it’s used is strange, but it’s like I’ve heard it before.
A cold knot settles in my stomach.
I keep backing away until I bump into a tree.
There's nowhere left to run.
Then...
A roar.
It’s so loud it shakes the entire forest.
The ground trembles beneath my feet.
Every head snaps toward the sound.
The three Shifters suddenly look afraid.
Good.
Because I know that roar.
I'd know it anywhere.
The trees explode apart as something enormous bursts through them.
Not something.
Someone.