Page 21 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” I said before hauling her out of the pantry and shoving her toward the door.

Just like I’d hoped, she bolted for it without a backward glance. Good. One person down, who knew how many to go?

I knew a thing or two about blind panic and hiding in unsafe places, so I headed to the walk-in fridge. Sure enough, I found two people there—someone from the catering team and a staff member I’d seen on the grounds earlier. They were huddled under a couple of tablecloths. Kind of smart, but not smart enough.

Much like the other girl, they screamed when I entered, but quickly calmed down when they saw I was human. They didn’t argue with me when I told them to follow me and gave them the same directions I had given my first rescue. A moment later, my count was up to three.

A terrifying shriek tore through the manor, making the hair at the back of my neck stand on end.

I took off toward the sound. Was it insanely stupid? Yes, but I couldn’t ignore someone who was clearly in distress. I threwopen the door that led to the last prep room before the main event area, smoke bomb already in hand.

I hadn’t been expecting anything good, but even so, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. A woman dressed in body jewelry and a barely-there negligee clung to the door handle for dear life. Something that looked like a half-bear, half-man had its jaws clamped around the woman’s calf and was trying to yank her back into the grand hall.

For the briefest of moments, my mind short-circuited, rapidly trying to absorb every detail it could. I could see out into the ballroom, where smoke hung thick in the air, adding an otherworldly quality to the scene.

Blinking, I shook my head and whipped my arm back, pressing the button on the smoke bomb and throwing it at the bear-man’s face.

It wouldn’t put him to sleep, but itwoulddistract him. That distraction was all I needed. I rushed him, then put all the force I could muster in to a kick. Pain coursed through my leg, but the double whammy of the smoke bomb and the kick was enough for him to let go. When smoke seeped into the small vestibule, I used that opportunity to grab the girl and get her to her feet.

“What…? I…?” She frowned as if she were drugged, and that solidified my impression that she was likely one of the magical folk we were saving. I didn’t know if she was a shifter or not, so I pushed her in front of me and into the kitchen. “Hold your breath and run! Out the back door!” I wasn’t exactly thrilled she was alone—coming out of such deep enthrallment would probably be incredibly traumatic and confusing—but maybe whoever had helped save her had gotten caught up.

Fortunately, she was coherent enough to understand my command. She ran out the door, hitting her hip against one of the counters. I was a step behind her, pausing to close thedoor behind me, but I was a smidge too slow. Suddenly, a hand gripped my ponytail and yanked me backward into the smoke.

Shit.

Unlike the shifter who was attacking me—I was sure he was enthralled—the smoke would affect me, and fast. I took the deepest breath I could and clamped my lips closed even as my back hit the floor with far too much force. I had no time to react before the bear shifter was on top of me, his face rapidly losing all trace of human features.

Fuck, I was in so much trouble.

I fought to get out from under him, but he was getting heavier, and heavier, andheavier.Not to mention his claws were growing longer and sharper to match his muzzle, which was sporting more and more teeth with every passing second.

Damn, so this was how I went out. At least I wouldn’t be alive long enough for Leo to lecture me. Silver linings and all that.

For all my rather dry thoughts about the whole situation, energy surged and roiled within me. I supposed it simply wasn’t in my nature to give up, because suddenly, I desperately wanted tolive.

My lungs burned from the lack of oxygen, but I kept holding my breath as I reached down into my apron and grabbed another smoke bomb. As the bear opened its jaws wide to either eat me or bellow right in my ear, I shoved it right into his spread maw.

The shifter reared back, and an even thicker cloud of smoke filled the space. Scrambling to my feet, I sprinted to the door, my straining lungs screaming in protest.

As soon as I was through the door, I sucked in air, and only then did I realize I hadn’t gone through the door to the kitchen. In my fall and our tussling, I must have gotten turned around, because I was in the middle of the grand hallway that led to theballroom. The ballroom which, from the sound of it, was a full-on battlefield now.

Whoopsie.

I needed to hide before the bear shifter recovered. Because he would recover. Sure, his tongue and gums would burn like hell for maybe five minutes, but that was about it.

I took maybe a handful of steps before a shape came crashing through the wall to my left and slamming into the opposite one. Shrieking, I jumped back, then frowned when I recognized the shape as one of the two mountain lion shifters America had connected us with. They called themselvesKlandagi.

I was about to rush to his side and try to help him when a man floated casually though the hole in the wall.

I didn’t need to be a magical being to sense the strange energy crackling around his raised hand. Quickly, I thrust my hand into my apron pocket and pulled out another smoke bomb. I only had two more after this, but what was the point in saving them when someone needed my help right then and there?

“Hey, fuckwad!” I cried as I lobbed the bomb, grateful for the couple of summers I’d spent at softball camp.

The man—I was certain it was one of the brothers because he was freaking floating—turned his head to the side just in time to get beaned right in the forehead.

Yeah, that was satisfying.

It fell to the floor, and smoke started to erupt around him, but he flicked his wrist, and the next thing I knew, the smoke became a living creature, coalescing in a wild and fearsome form…

---