Page 104 of Wrongfully Magicked
When I’m able to hear their voices, I finally relax and focus on my task. We only have minutes to implement our plan before the guards return, and I already wasted half of them.
I turn toward Stryker, and he nods before taking a knee.
I run toward him at full speed, placing my foot into his threaded hands, then he tosses me over the ten-foot solid brick wall. I sail over without a problem, clearing the wrought iron spikes mounted along the top bricks with just inches to spare.
I barely land before Stryker follows, soaring through the air before he silently drops down next to me on the grass. He glances at me, then nods, waiting for me to take the lead since I have access to the security grid.
We landed in the garden like Anita promised. It would almost look beautiful, if it wasn’t for the sinister atmosphere cast over everything. We cling to the shadows, moving as quickly as we dare. We just reach the edges of the bushes when Stryker grabs my arm.
I don’t even have a chance to look before Stryker lunges out of our hiding spot. A thud sounds, followed by a grunt, then Stryker is pulling a guard backward through the vegetation. He drops the body behind us, and I note the unfocused, dilated eyes that tell me this guy is never getting back up again. The front of the guard’s outfit is shiny with blood, and I can just see themeaty remains of where his neck would be…if it hadn’t been completely torn out.
Stryker just lifts a questioning brow and shrugs.
I nod and take off again. With Gwen’s help tracking the guards’ phones, we evade the remaining patrols. We’re just yards from the gazebo when our plan goes to shit. A low snarl comes from the far side of the gazebo, more a vibration than a sound, and the hair on the back of my neck lifts.
Shadows shift, then a big beast of a dog who looks like it escaped from the prehistoric era emerges out of the darkness. The thing is massive, the animal a cross between a wolf and a fucking horse, and if the manic gleam in his eyes and excessive slobber are any indication, he’s completely insane.
Stryker steps in front of me, aggression rolling off him in waves. Though he remains in his human form, his beastling manifests completely. He bulks up with a good thirty pounds of muscle, his clothes stretching until they shred. His fur thickens to prevent injury, his claws lengthen until three-inch blades tip his fingers, then his jaw cracks and monster fangs push out of his mouth.
He turned from a shy kitten into one scary ass fucking monster.
The wolf creature doesn’t like the challenge and launches across the clearing with a throaty snarl, tearing up the lawn in his wake. Stryker charges forward, and they clash with a meaty thump, tearing into each other with teeth and claws.
Unfortunately, it looks like an even match.
“Go,” Stryker snarls, taking a nasty blow to his side. The beast’s talons are sharper than any knife, and his skin parts easily under the claws. As much as I want to do as he commands, Anita would never forgive me if anything happened to him, and truthfully, I kind of like the guy.
He’s good for Anita, and that’s good enough for me.
I would be useless in a fight. Even if I could get close enough to sap his energy, I would be mauled to death before I could finish, so I do the one thing I’m good at—I connect to the servers in the van and run through the data, searching for the beast’s weaknesses. Gwen is cheering on the fight in the background, the vicious little thing, and I can practically see her throwing punches from where she’s sitting in front of the monitor.
It takes nearly a minute for me to find what I need. He’s a fucking dire wolf. I hastily pull it out of the system, hoping I’m not too late.
“Get him in the water!” I yell to Stryker, wincing when I see his fur is liberally stained with blood.
He grunts, acknowledging that he heard me, then hunkers low like a football player on a starting line. When the beast charges this time, Stryker doesn’t bother defending himself.
No, instead, the crazy ass cat picks the three-hundred-pound beast up in a bear hug, then charges across the lawn toward the swimming pool. The wolf tears into his back and legs with his claws, while his mouth brutally savages his shoulder.
Stryker staggers closer, and I quickly dash across the distance. I don’t slow as I near, just plow into them, and the three of us go flying into the water. I don’t have time to do much more than gasp for air before I plunge under the surface.
Both Stryker and the wolf struggle as they sink, their movements slower but no less violent. Blood immediately clouds the water, obscuring my view, but it looks like Stryker has the upper hand because of his human form.
When they hit the bottom, they split apart, both of them circling and throwing punches. Air leaves the wolf’s mouth, and the creature desperately claws for the surface. Stryker shoves off the ground, grabs the beast’s tail, and drags him back down.
The wolf thrashes, his movements more violent, before he gradually slows. Lungs screaming, I head toward the surface,then gasp for air. I swim to the side of the pool, ready to drag myself out, when I notice Stryker hasn’t surfaced.
I duck my head under the water and see him painstakingly walking across the bottom of the pool toward the shallow end, but his movements are slow and sluggish, air escaping him with every step.
I mentally curse when I realize the problem.
The fucker can’t swim.
Pushing away from the side of the pool, I dive to the bottom and reach him just as the last of the air leaves his lungs. I wrap my arms around him from behind, nearly getting a fist full of claws before he recognizes me, then I shove up from the bottom and swim.
I grunt under his bulky form. The fucker must weigh a ton!
No wonder he can’t swim.
