Page 47 of Midlife Shifter Unexpected

“I think we’ve got plenty of stamina between the two of us,” I said, luxuriating in the feeling of his fingertips stroking against my skin. My nipples became hard. I looked up at him, ready to lose myself in surprise. I realized that he had fallen silent. Instead, he was staring in horror over my shoulder.

Chapter 34

“Move,” he screamed as he grabbed both of my arms and pulled me to the side. He threw me on the ground, startling me, but I realized he was trying to get me to shift. I lay in the damp leaves, looking over my shoulder in horror as the most disgusting creature I had ever seen in my life rose its beastly head out of the ground. It had six legs and walked like a spider, but it wasn’t a spider. It had the body of a beast and the face of a gargoyle, the most hideous gargoyle I had ever seen.

“Run!” Matheus said to me, but I couldn’t. How could I just leave him standing there facing that thing?

I hyperventilated, begging my body to shift. It hurt, but I was elated when I felt the cracking of my bones. I couldn’t face that monster as a human. I might still be terrified as a wolf, but at least I was armed and relatively more dangerous. I moved next to Matheus so we could face the creature down.

“You’ve got to run,” Matheus said as the creature advanced toward us; slow growls and high-pitched wheezing coming from it. It was like nothing I’d ever seen on the planet.

“It’s a monster from the rift,” Matheus warned. “You’ve got to get out of here.”

We couldn’t just leave it to wander around. What was Sheriff Ted supposed to do if he found this thing? I tugged at the fur on Matheus’s leg as the creature crouched on four of its legs. It was getting ready to spring. I let out a massive howl. We weren’t far from The Estate. Mae was only a couple of miles away and might hear the howl.

There was no time. The creature suddenly bounded up and flew through the air, its six legs stretched out towards us. I almost screamed, but instead I decided to leap towards the creature to stop it from hitting Matheus. His soft skin had no protection against the beast. I didn’t know if mine did either, but I was willing to give it a shot and at least I had teeth and fangs.

I landed against the beast’s chest as it was coming down on Matheus. My teeth and nails sank into its abdomen. Its stomach exploded into a slimy mess of blackish purple slime which filled my mouth and covered my paws and fur. More slime flooded over me, but I didn’t care. The beast was falling over as I ripped and tore at it. I imagined it had been trying to kill Matheus and me. This was the creature who killed the harpies.

As I shredded its insides, it suddenly turned into smoke and disappeared. All that was left was the slime dripping in my mouth, in my hair, and over my eyes.

I lay there as a wolf, unable to shift back, covered in the slime of the beast and frozen even though the beast was gone. Matheus ran over to me and went down on his haunches.

“You crazy woman!” he exclaimed.

I stared up at him, unable to move.

“You’re paralyzed,” he said. “Not forever.” He placed his hand on my furry wet shoulder. “It’s just that it was a monster of the third order. You’re crazy for going after it alone. I know you killed it and that’s incredible, but you’re going to be paralyzed for a while. You won’t be able to get out of your wolf form and you won’t be able to do anything.”

I tried to open my eyes wide, but it really wasn’t working.

He looked at me kindly. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you,” he said. Your friends are coming now. I can hear them.

“What did you do to her?” Jane asked as she walked into the clearing.

“Well, she didn’t die,” Trina said. “So that’s one of your premonitions that hasn’t come true.”

“No, this is my premonition. Look, she’s dead.”

“She’s not dead,” Matheus said. “She’s just paralyzed.

Mae came up. “We heard her howl. What's going on?”

“She’s going to need to be taken care of for the next 24 hours until she shifts back into a human form and has gotten some movement back.”

“Did she just kill a tier three monster?” Drake asked, looking at all at the pile of slime around me.

“That’s wicked,” Anita said. “I told you she was bad ass. She’s just like Mae, but she doesn’t even see that about herself.”

Before I knew what was happening and without any input from me, since I was paralyzed, they covered me in a blanket and wrapped me up. It was a strange feeling to be immobile. I was so used to doing things myself, whether it was for my son, the business, or for Sheriff Ted. I was always active and wasn’t used to being taken care of. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was slightly fantastic to lay there and be carried around, though the thrill was going to wear thin real quick.

“Don’t you worry,” Jane said. “I will keep you company.”

“We need to take her back to The Estate,” Matheus said. “It’s not safe for her out here. I’m going to stay with her twenty-four, seven to guard her. She’s completely in danger.”

“If the monster was attacking her, is it the same monster that killed the harpies?”

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