Page 7 of The Demon's Due
Bones cracked and there was the sickening snap of joints popping loose. His tortured scream split into a howl as his spine twisted and lengthened. Fingers warped into claws shredded the skin of his finger to dig furrows into the soil. His face stretched forward into a muzzle, skin tearing, replaced by bristling fur that sprouted sable-dark, gleaming almost blue under the moonlight. Agony like no other consumed him.
Síofra froze, every instinct screaming danger but she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
Rand’s whisper carried from the shadows right behind her. “He’s shifting.”
Her heart hammered. “Shifting? I thought he couldn't shift.He’s a…”
“Werewolf who couldn't shift,” Rand said grimly. “But his wolf has decided to show up.”
Before she could respond, another bloodcurdling growl rolled through the clearing.
A massive, midnight wolf rose before her, a predator carved from shadow and moonlight. His eyes burned molten gold as he stalked forward, each step deliberate, each muscle rippling with restrained violence.
“Back up. Slow…ly,” Rand hissed, retreating one slow step after another.
Síofra tried, inching backward, but the beast snarled, the sound rattling her bones.
“Maybe not.Play dead?”whispered Síofra.
The wolf closed the distance until they were eye to eye, hot breath fanning across her skin. She trembled, certain this was the end, though a strange heat bloomed in her lower belly. A crazy notion that she needed to touch him ran through her head. Maybe she did have a death wish. Suicide by wolf. The whole campus ogling her boobs seemed like a non-issue now. Better her boobs than her entrails.
The beast pressed forward, rubbing his enormous head against her, his muzzle dragging along her arm and stomach like a cat marking its territory.
Her terror faltered, confusion flooding in. “Morgan…?”
Rand moved closer as if to pull her free. Immediately,dark lips peeling back revealing teeth of glistening white, lethal in the moonlight. The growl that rumbled from his throat promised murder and mayhem-Rand’s head would fit neatly between those jaws.
Síofra finally broke free of the inertia.Her legs finally obeyed.
She turned and ran.
The forest erupted with the sound of her pounding steps-followed by the echo of a wolf’s hunting howl.
Branches whipped at her face, tearing skin, leaving hot lines of blood and bruises across her arms. Her lungs burned, but she didn’t dare stop. The forest blurred, silver light spinningbetween trunks as her legs carried her toward the clearing ahead-toward salvation.
She didn’t make it.
The weight slammed into her from behind, an avalanche of fur and muscle. The ground rushed up, roots bruising her ribs as she went down hard, air exploding from her chest. His body pinned her, massive and immovable, hot breath searing her neck.
Teeth, pointed and dripping, hovered over her nape.
“Good puppy,” she whispered with a shaking voice. “N-nice puppy… listen, I know I look like I’ve got a lot of meat on me, but I swear-I’m actually really skinny. It’s all a disguise. Lots of… water weight? Bad lighting? You wouldn’t even get a good snack…”
Words tumbled out, frantic nonsense, because silence felt like death.
The wolf’s teeth ran over her neck and a rough tongue abraded the back of her neck like sandpaper.Jaws snapped shut with a snap just shy of skin. And then-he sat back. For long minutes neither moved.Then, Síofra cautiously rolled to her side to come within inches of a wolf for the first time in her life.
His head was tilted quizzically and his ears pricked. The gleam in his eyes shifted, molten gold bleeding into an icy, human blue she knew too well.
Síofra’s shaky voice was like a thread,”Morgan… Are you in there?”
For a heartbeat, she swore she saw him-the boy, the wolf, trapped together in those eyes.
But then the forest erupted.
Another wolf, equally massive, fur streaked silver at the tips, came hurtling from the treeline. It hit Morgan full-force, teeth sinking into his shoulder, claws raking. The two beasts collided snarling and snapping, the ground tearing beneath their struggle, blood painting the trees.
Síofra didn’t wait to see who would win. She scrambled up with a hammering heart and ran.
