Page 116 of Angel Of Darkness

Keenan. Her eyes flew right back open. And it was just like Carlos had said. She could see Keenan now, running toward her, snaking through the vaults. He wasn’t even checking around him for an attack—just running straight for her, his gaze locked on her.

He would have run right into Carlos and never seen the danger until the claws were at his throat.

“It’s okay,” she called out as she rose and hurried forward. “I?—”

Bones snapped. Crunched. Still not hers. Not. Hers. Goose bumps rose on her arms. Nicole glanced back over her shoulder.

Carlos was shifting.

Fur sprang up over his flesh. Thick, brown fur. His hands had already turned into paws. His claws had lengthened, sharpening even more. His face contorted as she watched. Stretched. Elongated. Animal, not man.

An animal with really big teeth—and she knew all about big teeth.

I missed his heart.

Oh, damn.

He was a shifter. He didn’t need blood to heal and kick ass. He just needed to transform.

“Run,” Nicole whispered and then she whirled around to face Keenan as she shouted, “Run!”

Too late. Keenan was almost on her. He reached out to her, but then froze, his fingers inches away. She stumbled for him. “You’ve got to get away!”

A coyote’s high, quavering howl broke the air.

Then that jerk, Sam, he was there. Sam yanked her into his arms and pulled her away from Keenan. “Oh, what the hell?” He huffed out a hard breath. “Now the dogs are in this?”

Not a dog. A coyote. A very big, very pissed-off coyote with bloodlust burning in his glowing eyes. “It’s a trap,” she cried. “He’s after Keenan. We can’t let him get Keenan!”

“The sonofabitch figured it out.” Sam shoved her behind him. She caught a glimpse of the coyote. Way bigger than your average coyote. The beast lunged into the air and leapt right for Keenan.

No!

But Sam was there. Moving with his super speed, he jumped in front of Keenan.

The coyote gave a choked bark and twisted in midair. The beast landed on the top of a shallow crypt.

“Didn’t count on two of us, did you?” Keenan snarled.

Then another coyote’s wailing cry echoed in the cemetery. Another. And another.

If coyotes could smile, she knew that beast would be grinning.

Her head whipped to the right. She saw a black coyote stalking along the high stone wall. The coyote had its eyes locked on Keenan’s back. “Keenan, watch out!”

But her scream came too late. The coyote jumped from the wall and lunged for Keenan. The beast’s mouth—wide with sharp teeth and dripping with saliva—went for Keenan’s neck.

But Keenan shoved his forearm into the coyote’s mouth. The beast stiffened. Its whole body froze and as Nicole watched, the fur began to melt away.

A rolling, mourning cry rumbled in Carlos’s throat, but he didn’t close in on Keenan. No, the coyote jumped back and fled toward the high walls.

And as for the black coyote that had attacked Keenan, it wasn’t a coyote anymore. The fur was gone, the bones still reshaping, but now—yes, now that was a woman.

A dead woman.

Keenan rose and stared down at her body.

The cries from the coyotes became softer. They were all leaving. Retreating.

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