Page 74 of Kin of the Wolf

“Hold her,” he barked and lunged in, fist raised to punch.

I ducked as I pulled out the sphere. His knuckles brushed my ear but missed my head. Such intense magic flowed through me that I knew the wolf was coming. I was losing the battle.

I threw the bath bomb between Augustus and Orazio, hoping it wasn’t too close to my own feet. My wrist shifted in Orazio’s grip.Allof me did, my limbs and torso morphing, turning lupine.

A wolf lurching away from the vapors bumped Orazio. His grip finally loosened. I leaped away from the scrum, tearing my jacket off so I wouldn’t lose all the magical items in the pockets. That wasthe last conscious thought—the lasthumanthought—I had before I fully changed.

As I dropped to all fours, body shifting, fur sprouting, and my nose and mouth elongating into a snout, a great boom erupted outside. Yellow light flared beyond the windows, and the floor quaked under my paws.

Confusion swept through me as the wolf took over my mind. I didn’t know what had caused that explosion; all I knew was that enemies were all around.

I almost sprang at the first one, the hulking human closest to me, but a powder all over the floor was turning into liquid blobs that caused the feet of the men and wolves to stick to the tiles. They almost fell over as they tried to move.

Taking advantage, I leaped in and bit a big man in the thigh.

He roared and smashed a fist toward my back. The corner of my paw stuck in one of the liquid blobs, and I almost failed to evade the blow. Pain lanced up my limb as I tore away, leaving fur and part of my paw pad attached to the tile. I rolled from the entangling mess, bumping against human furniture.

The two wolves—no, there werethreenow—ran around that furniture to avoid the sticky floors. One leaped overa wooden obstacle with a magical case on it and landed near me.

I whirled, jaws snapping for his throat. He opened his own jaws to try to reachmythroat. Our snouts gnashed together, fangs gouging flesh, a dozen stabs of pain.

Wary of the floor, I lured the wolf back, feigning that I was afraid. When he lunged after me, his paw catching on the sticky goo, he flinched and glanced down. He pulled away, as I had, but I had time to lunge in and bite his ear. He skittered back but not before his flesh tore under my sharp teeth. Blood and fur covered my tongue. He leaped over the furniture to escape.

A shadow loomed to my side, and I dropped the chunk of ear.Augustus had changed. Now a big dark-gray wolf, he tried to catch me off-guard, darting for my neck.

I sprang back as I turned my snout toward him to block. My fangs grazed the sensitive flesh of his nose, and he yowled in pain and fury.

Another shadow came at us from the side. I braced myself for another cousin, but it was a great bipedal creature with salt-and-pepper fur covering powerfully muscled limbs. It was one of the ancient werewolves. One who was familiar.

Duncan. Yes, we’d fought together before.

He roared and grabbed Augustus, hefting the big wolf into the air as if he weighed nothing.

As he hurled my cousins over sofas and across the room, startling silver light came from the nearby table. From the artifact. I backed away, the brilliance hurting my eyes.

But our attackers didn’t stop. As Augustus crashed into furniture, the rest of my cousins charged at Duncan. They forgot me, seeing him as the more dangerous foe, the one that had to be killed before they could finish me off.

My cousins were all in wolf form now, darting in and biting for his legs and torso. I snapped at the flanks of one who came close, drawing blood. But my bites didn’t deter the wolves. They were frenzied in their desire to kill the bipedfuris.

I bit my way up the flank of one foe, angling toward his throat. He twisted, dodging a swipe from Duncan, and I caught his shoulder instead. Hoping to deter a counterattack, I sank my teeth in deep.

The wolf jerked his head toward me, fangs gleaming with saliva in the silver light. Not backing away, I sank my fangs deeper and shook, trying to knock him off his feet. The wolf stumbled, and Duncan caught him with a clawed hand, a powerful blow that knocked our enemy several feet. The wolf slammed into a wall, leaving blood.

As Duncan whirled toward another attacker, something clattered behind me. The suit of armor fell to the floor, the pieces flying away. A naked human lunged in and grabbed the sword from the mess. Augustus. His wolf magic had left him.

“Pin him down!” he yelled to his allies as he ran toward Duncan with the sword raised.

Something oily smeared the blade, something my human eyes hadn’t been keen enough to notice. Fear for Duncan surged through me, the certainty that he was in trouble. And his back was to Augustus as he dealt with two wolves.

I charged at my cousin, intending to knock him from his trajectory. I clipped him, knocking him into a sofa, but I’d forgotten about the sticky floors. One of my paws caught.

Augustus spun toward me, sweeping at my head with the sword. I ducked, almost losing an ear of my own as it whistled through the air above me. With a great yank, I pulled my paw free and lunged around the mess on the floor to knock Augustus back. He stumbled, almost losing his grip on the weapon.

With a roar, Duncan batted aside his attackers and turned toward Augustus. Again, I lunged for my cousin, but he saw Duncan facing us with arms spread and legs crouched, about to spring. Augustus startled me by hurling the sword at Duncan. The bipedfuris wasn’t as fast and agile as a wolf. He might yet have dodged the weapon, but, at the same time, one of my cousins rammed into him from behind. The blade sliced into the furry flesh of Duncan’s side, sinking deep enough to spill blood.

Fury roared through my veins, the most savage of my instincts rising and taking over. As had happened before, I lost all rational thought. All I knew was that I had to slay the one who’d attacked he who I wanted to be my mate.

Driven by crazed frenzy, I charged into Augustus, jaws gnashing wildly. A dozen times I bit, drawing blood, gouging deepinto vulnerable flesh. Augustus managed to punch me, but I didn’t feel it.

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