Page 61 of Quest of the Wolf

Duncan sprang upon the gunman while our foe was busy shooting at someone else. I’d almost reached Duncan’s battle, intending to help, when two motorcycle riders roared in from the side and turned down the lane. Their headlamps flashed blindingly in my eyes.

With little time to react, only instinct guided me. I leaped for one of the men, clearing the handlebars and slamming into his chest. I knocked him backward, and he yelled and flailed as we flew to the pavement. Unguided, his motorcycle smashed into a car. I landed on top of the man, his breath whooshing out as his back hit the pavement hard. That didn’t keep him from yanking a gun free and pointing it at my face. Before he could fire, I bit his hand. Hard.

He cried out and dropped the gun.

Sensing another threat behind me, I spun. The other rider had jumped off to face us. Instead of pointing a gun at me, he lifted his palm and aimed a magical oval that glowed purple in my direction. Five silver rings on his fingers were linked to it and each other by slender chains, and sparks flowed between them and glinted in the oval. Mesmerized, I paused to gape at it, momentarily forgetting the fight.

The sparks intensified, flowing from the rings and into an oval-shaped gem. I took a step toward the device.

A growl from farther up the car lane broke into the trance I hadn’t meant to enter. I crouched, realizing I was still in danger, and prepared to spring at the man. But the purple glow brightened, and a knife of pain erupted in my skull, as if something had struck me between the eyes.

The intensity of it shocked me; the agony made me cry out.

“Shoot her,” someone said.

The man I’d knocked down found his hands and knees and crawled toward the gun he’d dropped.

I struggled to move, to stop the man—or, better, to attack the person with the pain creator. But my limbs responded jerkily, that purple glow not only driving agony into my skull but affecting my ability to move.

Abruptly, something hit the man from behind. Duncan.

Our foe pitched forward, dropping his arm. The magical tool didn’t fall out of his grip, but when his arm dropped, his palm no longer faced me and the pain lessened.

I whirled, snapping at my nearest foe, the one I’d bitten earlier. He’d picked up his gun with his left hand. I sank my fangs into that one too, determined to end the threat that he and that weapon represented. My head throbbed, the pain still there, but that only made my bite harder and more effective. The man screamed, released his weapon, and jerked away. I let go, and he rolled to the side, then leaped to his feet and ran.

A gunshot fired from the lane next to ours, a bullet slamming into a car window not far from Duncan. He’d been about to bite the man with the magical tool, but he leaped away instead, doubtless fearing more bullets.

These weren’t made from silver, not that I could sense, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t hurt us. Enough mundane bullets striking in the right spots couldkilla werewolf.

Duncan leaped behind a car for cover, and I rushed to join him. The man with the magical tool took advantage of our distraction and ran away.

More guns fired, but the bullets didn’t land near us. Had the first been a stray round? Who else out here could our enemies be shooting at?

On the other side of the parking lot, a woman yelled in pain. One of the tenants that I protected?

Snarling, I left the protection of the car and ran to check. Duncan didn’t hesitate to lope beside me, his powerful strides matching mine.

We ran around cars and into another lane where a man lay on the pavement, not moving. Unlike the thugs dressed in black baggy clothes, he wore different attire, dark and crisp with buttons and metal bits, but the significance was lost on my wolf mind.

A woman in matching attire knelt behind a car with flashing lights on top. She was not one of the tenants, one I felt compelled to protect, but there was something familiar about her. My human side knew her. Was she the one who’d yelled in pain?

As Duncan and I approached, two men fired toward the vehicle the woman knelt behind. When they paused, she leaned out and fired back. It was difficult for her because she gripped her shoulder. Was she injured? The scent of blood hung in the air, blood from many sources.

Without consulting each other, Duncan and I ran toward the men shooting at the woman. Maybe he also recognized her and believed we should assist her. Oh, but how I longed to run into the woods, to leave this place and all this noise. The sirens I’d noted before had grown louder. Closer.

The men behind the car noticed us charging at them, but they didn’t have time to switch their targets. Running fast on strong legs, we reached them before they could fire at us, and our jaws tore into their flesh.

They shouted words at each other—orders to depart? With my wild instincts controlling me, I wasn’t certain. Unlike the man who’d hurt me, they held no magical weapons.

Duncan and I tore their firearms from their grips, crushing the metal with our powerful jaws and flinging the weapons away. With his great strength, Duncan also flung one of themenaway, sending him crashing into a nearby car. When his head struck the door, he didn’t rise again.

Our other foe backed away, his hands bloody as he raised them. In surrender?

I crouched, tempted to continue attacking. These men had assailed my territory before. They refused to learn to leave it alone, and if they could not learn, they should be punished for their obtuseness.

But movement to the side distracted me. The woman had come out from behind the car. She gripped a handgun as she stared at me.

I tensed, not certain if she would prove an ally or turn into another enemy.

---