Page 99 of Stealthy as a Wolf

And because of me, we were trapped in a fucking cage.

When a dozen tiny black snakes slithered in the room, I couldn’t stop the automatic impulse to step back, and I gave a full-body shake at the thought of them slithering over my skin. When three scruffy men entered behind them, one with a giant snake wrapped around his forearm, I grimaced in distaste.

Fucking snakes.

The man in the lead took one look at us in the cell, then threw back his head and laughed. “This is just perfect, like shooting fish in a barrel.”

The man sauntered forward with such a smug expression that I wanted to deck the fucker. As he came closer, I detected a slight pattern to his skin that marked him as poisonous—just one touch could kill—and I pouted at the no touchie rule.

When he came to a stop in front of me, the tiny snakes moved out of the path of his boots like his very own army of minions. His forked tongue flickered in the air, and he gave a hum of pleasure. “Who do I have to thank for delivering dear old Matty to me wrapped like a present?”

My temper just exploded at the audacity, and I lost complete control. “Kneel!”

The two men behind him immediately fell to their knees. The main snake fought it, his muscles twitching with the need to obey. When he finally dropped, it was because his muscles just gave out, and I swore his kneecaps actually cracked when they hit the cement floor.

A whisper of air passed the man’s lips, static crackled across my skin, and I turned a wary eye on him. When nothing happened for a second, I almost dismissed my unease, then the tiny snakes hissed and surged forward in a creepy wave.

Fuck, were they fast!

It was all I could do not to smack myself for being an idiot. I’d fucked up. My commands were very literal—no knees meant no kneeling.

I bit back a girly squeal as the snakes neared…and failed horribly. I took a hasty step back and smacked into Boone so hard that I nearly bowled him over. I managed to resist the urge to leap up into his arms, but only because I was already too busy climbing up his back like a cracked out monkey on steroids.

Grady and Matty came to my rescue. It looked like they were doing some sort of demented Scottish dance as they deftly dodged the fuckers’ little fangs and stomped on any snake who got too close. I cringed when the critters exploded with a little popping sound under their boots, imagining it was the same sound eyeballs would make when they were squashed.

“Stop!” My high-pitched order came out shaky, and the snakes slowed like they were moving through molasses. I cleared my throat and tried again, pushing more power into the word. “Stop!”

This time, the snakes obeyed, and everything in the room halted like it was frozen in time.

And I was left a quivering mess.

While part of it was fear, the other part was the stress of holding so many shifters at one time. It was like trying to keep water from leaking through a sieve. The more power I poured into it, the more it demanded.

Burke took one look at me, then peeled me off Boone and scooped me up in his arms. He cuddled me to his chest, then spoke in my ear. “What can I do?”

I released a sigh and leaned my head against his shoulder. “Just hold me.”

For the next thirty minutes, he did just that, his tight grip the only thing holding me together.

My head throbbed, a massive migraine threatening to split open my skull. As the minutes ticked past, I felt fragile, only a phantom of my normal self. The outside world turned hazy and indistinct as I concentrated on not losing my grip on the men who wanted to kill us.

“Baby, you have to let go.” Grady cupped my face, forcing me to look at him. “Your brain isn’t meant to hold people for that long. That kind of control takes years and years of dedicated training to master.”

I pulled away, wincing when the light hurt my eyes. I swiped my nose with the back of my hand, then grimaced when it came away with blood.

Great.

Now my brain was melting.

“I can do it,” I muttered, hissing when it felt like my brain was going to fracture under the strain. “I can keep my mates safe.”

The fucking snakes fought me every step of the way. As my control unraveled, the snakes began to move in slow motion, inching their way toward us ever so slowly.

Talk about the slowest way to die.

It was like seeing death coming and being unable to do a damn thing to stop it.

Boone, Grady, and Matty were kicking away the tiny snakes, but it was only a matter of time before my control broke.

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