Page 75 of Wolf Tamer

“Yep, totally speaking a different language,” I hear Bullet mumble.

This conversation has gone off the rails. Time to reel it back in.

“So why are you here then, in the states? Working for the Buson witches?” I ask and shift more of my weight off him.

Big mistake.

With the space I’ve allowed him, he’s able to wiggle his non broken hand, spewing out a quick incantation. It has enough juice to throw me off him.

I tuck and roll, popping up onto my knees, only to see Oliver attempting to run for it. Tasha throws out her palm, but any magic that sparks to life quickly snuffs out. Cursing, she shakes out her hands.

My wolf has had enough of this shit and instantly pushes to the surface, taking dominance over the man. Tearing off my clothes, my muscles stretch and bend, bones cracking, jaw lengthening, and fangs sprouting where molars used to be. With a grunt, I leap after him, with Bullet close behind wearing his animal form and Liam still in his human.

The wind whistles past my ears as I race after him, quickly shortening the distance between us. His injuries are slowing him down, but he’s doing all he can to shoot small bursts of power over his shoulder at us as he sprints toward the mountain.

Another set of footsteps crunch behind me, and where I expect Bullet to be on my heels, I find Tasha instead, keeping on my pace.

Well, shit. She’s fast. She flies over the ground, leaping over downed logs in an attempt to catch up to Oliver.

“He’s heading for the portal! I fucking know it,” she calls out. “Take him down.”

She doesn’t have to tell me twice. All four of my feet pound against the sodden ground and my tongue lolls out of the side of my mouth.

If two of us in wolf form and a contract killer can’t take out this guy, then I don’t know who can.

When the trees break, the mountain looms directly in front of us with my mansion embedded in the rock. He’s heading for it like that’s been his true destination all along, and that worries me even more. My heartbeat gallops. How does he know where to go?

Bullet veers right and picks up his pace, hoping to cut him off. Tasha follows his lead and goes left, toward the back door.

Another flick of his wrist and a few hurried words in Latin and Oliver’s levitating toward the balcony. But since he’s not as powerful while injured, his magic sputters and he drops last second, flailing his arms and reaching for the deck’s railing frantically.

I don’t know how he does it, but he manages to grab hold and fling his leg over to help him get safely out of my reach.

Fuck!

“Reid!”

Tasha’s voice has my head jerking up to the balcony’s windows. She must be inside.

I speed through rear door, and climb up the staircase, my claws skidding across the hardwood floor. Images of her hurt and bloodied cross my mind, driving me on faster but more clumsily.

As alpha, I can feel Bullet’s energy nearby. I’m assuming he’s swung back outside, following Oliver’s scent trail to the balcony.

When I crest the top of the stairs, I find Tasha standing in the middle of the hallway just down from our room, staring straight ahead.

“He was here,” she shouts as I creep up behind her. She punches the air in front of her but nothing changes as far as I can see. “Right fucking here! I swear it!”

My hackles raise and a low growl escapes. I trust whatever she says is true, but I can’t see anything in the air. Not a shimmer of residual magic. Nothing.

“He just disappeared,” she continues. “I had him cornered. Poof. Right where the portal was, Reid. He must’ve conjured it again somehow. I don’t know what’s going on…”

She trails off as the man in me slowly surfaces. It’s a hassle to get my wolf to concede, and the heartbeats tick by while I force the change, standing on two legs behind her.

Her eyes are glassy when I finally reach for her, and even though anxiety flickers through me, I keep it from my face. I sniff the air but find nothing that hints to immense magic being used. Nothing other than an overall unease feeling.

“We’re going to figure this out,” I say and curl her into my arms.

“We should have killed him when we had the chance.”

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