Page 185 of Shadowblood Souls
When Jacob doesn’t speak, Rollick motions us away. “Shoo. In different directions.”
I don’t like walking away from the others any more than I did yesterday, but I force myself to amble around the RV and then drift along the concrete wall at that side of the garage.
How good an experiment is this test, anyway? WeknowRollick’s buddies aren’t going to actually hurt us.
My mind darts back to the thugs who surrounded Riva outside the shipping warehouse. Okay, maybe we don’t actually know that.
The thought has just passed through my mind when a bulky form even bigger than I am bursts into view right in front of me. One bulging arm swings at me as if to pummel me in the face.
I give a startled bark and fall back a step, a surge of aggressive adrenaline rushing through my veins. Fur sprouts from my neck and shoulders, and my face juts forward into its fanged snout.
The big green-skinned dude who sort-of attacked me just drops his hand to his side and gives me a hard-edged grin. “The idea wasnotto react,” he rumbles.
I make a face, which results in my wolfish lips drawing back in a snarl. With concentrated effort, I rein in my beastly side.
My jaw aches at the sharp contraction. I flex my shoulders, eyeing the figure in front of me, wondering if he’d call himself an ogre or a troll or something I’ve never even heard of.
“You seemed like you were going to hit me,” I mutter, but I know that’s a weak excuse. This guy’s boss—or whatever Rollick is to him—just warned me minutes ago that I’d be tested this way.
The Grim Green Giant doesn’t appear to be bothered by my excuse. He shrugs and motions me onward. “Try to do better next time.”
The next shadowkind that leaps at me shouldn’t scare me at all. It’s the flirty woman who barely looks older than her teens that we met last time.
But she appears floating in mid-air with a swish of blond curls and her knee ramming toward my face, and my pulse jolts all over again. The next thing I know, I’ve wolfed out for a second time.
As she lands on the ground with a patter of her feet, I growl and contract my wolfish features. All this “test” is doing is pissing me off.
The girl—succubus?—whatever—cocks her head at me with a coy smile. “I’m honored that you think I’d need that much beast to take me down.”
I scowl at her. “I couldn’t help it.”
She studies me with a vaguely curious air. “You don’t like it, do you? Shifting like that?”
“What’s there to like about it?”
“It makes you powerful.” She laughs lightly. “Just FYI, from what I’ve seen in my experience, trying toavoidsomething your body actually wants to do means the urge will come roaring to the surface even faster when you can’t help it.”
She blinks out of sight again, leaving me frowning at the spot where she was standing.
Could that really be part of the problem? I’m fighting the wolf-man so much that it’s becomeharderfor me to control it?
What if I assumed that Iwasgoing to wolf out? What if I accepted at least a partial shift as inevitable, but as a tool I want to keep in my back pocket until it’s totally necessary?
As I amble on through the parking garage, I reach inward to the parts of me that activate when I transform. I feel the shape of that monstrous face lurking behind my own.
Possibility coils through my muscles and under my skin. I’m ready. If Ireallyneed to, I’ll go full beast on any threat.
My gut twists, still not totally happy with the idea. But when the slim electric woman, Cinder, leaps from the shadows at me with a shower of sparks, my flinch isn’t half as bad as before.
My fangs spring free. A few tufts of hair burst from my flesh. But my face stays almost entirely human.
I could have, but this wasn’t a situation that needed it.
I glance down at my hands as my claws sink back into my fingertips. I decided I could bring out the wolf-man… so I also got to decide when Ididn’t.
Cinder gives a brisk nod, not looking particularly pleased despite the sign of approval. “That wasn’t bad. If I were one of those dim humans, I’d probably have assumed I imagined the little bit of a shift you showed.”
As she slips away, Rollick’s voice rings out through the parking garage. “Okay, I think our would-be banshee needs a little intensive attention. The rest of you, take a break.”
