Page 71 of Shifter's Dream

Reed stared at one of those cracks, a long one, at least twenty feet long, and eight feet wide at the point of the trail, but narrowing at the top and bottom. From her vantage point, she couldn’t see the inside of it at all, she had no idea how deep it was, just a shallow groove in the terrain? Or did it wind back into a cave somewhere?

“Troy,” someone called from behind them. “Can you come here for a sec?”

“I’ll be right back,” Troy told her, then he kissed her on the cheek and walked away. She nodded and waved a hand at him, distracted by her thoughts.

Something about that big crack made her so uneasy. It looked like a … like a what? Reed took a few more steps, stepping off the edge and finding the trail the men had gone down on the bluff face, trying to get a better vantage point to see that crack in the ground, the one big enough to swallow a man.

The officers who were clearing the bluff face split up. One bent over and scrambling up the face toward the top of the crack, another sliding down the face toward the bottom, and the third heading straight for the middle. The one in the middle jogged, picking up speed. He was going to jump over the crack.

The first officer who got close picked up speed, preparing to jump over it. Reed took another step, then another, and then it all fell into place in her mind and she was running.

“Stop!” Reed screamed at the man about to jump across the spider crack, not even caring if she was wrong and making a fool of herself. She ran that way, finding her footing, racing down the rocky path, knocking large stones over the edge. “Don’t jump it!”

The man faltered at the sound of her voice, but momentum was carrying him forward anyway. He stumbled, fell to the ground and rolled, then skidded toward the path. The two other men had turned around and were racing back toward him. Men yelled and called from above her. Reed only ran toward the crack, praying in her mind thatthe spider didn’t get him, oh lord, don’t let the spider get him.A flash of inhuman fire belched out of the earth, blackening the man’s boots, which were sliding farther and farther into the crack as the man scrambled for handholds. Reed screamed, unable to help herself.

The officer from above had gone on a sliding dive down the rocks, and as he slid by the man falling in the crack, he grabbed him around the collar, and held tightly, yelling for anyone to come help him before they both tumbled in. The officer coming up from the bottom reached them both and hauled them backwards so hard all three of them tumbled onto their backs, sliding and backwards somersaulting down the cliff.

Reed stopped where she was, staring, praying everyone was ok.

A man flashed into existence right next to her, in the same puff of unholy smoke she’d seen come out of the crack. He grabbed her around both elbows and she felt herself being jerked down the trail, toward the crack, toward the fire that would spew out and eat her. “In you go, missy,” he said, whipping her around.

“Troy!” she screamed, begging for her mate to save her.

***

Troy had made the fatal mistake of leaving his mate’s side, something he would never do again. He whirled when he first heard her cry out, yellingstop!He’d run for her, but she was fast, and had a head start and she was so far away-

Males slid down the cliff face in a heap, Reed stopped running for them. Troy was almost to her-

Rex appeared next to his mate, straight from hell, daring to touch her, to grab her. His mate screamed, and the world stopped. Troy forgot that he couldn’t shift. He forgot his denied fears that if he did shift he’d be stuck that way. The only thing he knew was his primal directive.Save her.He ran for her, hard and strong as a man, but not near fast enough. He wasn’t going to make it-

Troy let loose the hard-won reigns of civility he’d been placing on himself, all at once, with a rising, snarling growl that covered the landscape, shifting into his wolf as he ran, pitching forward, his clothes shredding off of him, paws and claws hitting rough terrain, launching himself between Rex and Reed, clamping down on Rex’s elbow, biting with every bit of strength he had, tearing and ripping and-

***

So close, that damn crack was so close, and this guy was going to throw her into it. Reed fought with every scrap of strength she had, hitting and twisting and biting, and pulling away from him, away from that awful crack in the ground-

A big black wolf attacked from nowhere, passing between them, biting, but not at her. The animal’s momentum spun them around, throwing Reed clear. She landed on her butt hard, clicking her teeth together, pain spreading through her back and legs. She was too close to the crack. She rolled the other way, trying not to slide down the side of the cliff like the officers had. But they weren’t there anymore, instead there were three wolves, and they jumped on top of the wolf that had saved her and the guy who had tried to throw her in the crack, then more wolves streamed in from everywhere, the noise of their growls deafening. Was that a bear? Oh lord, it was a bear. It roared like a lion and wolves fell upon it from every side.

Still on her ass on the ground, Reed pushed away from the melee, hoping she wasn’t screaming but certain she must be-

Again, some guy puffed in from nowhere with fire that smelled like death and grabbed her around the elbow and tried to haul her to her feet and pitch her into the crack. Now Reed knew she was screaming, and pulling and-

This time a white wolf saved her, chewing this guy up pretty good before she couldn’t see him anymore, because there were so many wolves in the way.

“Help me,” Reed cried, pushing backwards, just trying toget away.

One more hand grabbed her around her elbow and Reed screamed again, but it was Rogue. “Quit that,” she said, as she hauled Reed up the side of the bluff face, all the way to the top. They reached the boulders, Reed huffing and puffing, Rogue looking as cool as could be. She slapped a knife in Reed’s hand. “Or would you rather have a gun?” she asked, her eyes scanning the tree line.

Reed shook her head, wanting to drop the knife, not wanting either, but then she remembered the two men trying to pitch her into that crack. She would keep the knife.

Rogue backed her up next to boulder. “You watch this way, over and around this rock, I’ve got the north and east tree line. If anyone comes towards us before that fight is over down there, they aren’t one of the good guys.”

“Ok,” Reed, said, trying to keep the shaking out of her voice.

“Hey,” Rogue said. “Relax. It’ll be over soon. Thosefoxenhave no chance outside of thePravus, marked or not, unless Khain himself shows up.”

Reed watched her positions and wondered if any of that was supposed to make her feel better, especially since she didn’t know what half of that meant.

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