“Come on!” I shouted. “You’re not a real Shifter. You’re a chickenshit! That’s right. And so were your dead brothers.”
He charged after me, and I weaved around the trees. General was nimble and swiped at my leg. He got my boot, but his claws didn’t go deep enough.
I scurried up a hill, adrenaline firing me up like fuel in a race car. Once I reached the top, I was horrified to see his lion ambling back down in the other direction.
Toward Blue.
I scurried down the hill, branches tangling around me as I snapped them away. “I’m over here!”
Once he reached her, he swiped his paw. The falcon went airborne before landing in a pile of leaves.
All sense of reality vanished along with any rational thought. As I tumbled toward them, something caught my eye on the right.
A force of power, a blur of movement—Matteo sailing through the air. His long hair streamed behind him, and his eyes were as black as coal. The grimace on his face revealed his four canines, and he clutched a dagger in each hand. When Matteo collided with the animal, they rolled across the ground and fought like two ancient enemies.
As much as I wanted to taste blood, I reached Blue and slid to my knees. Her feathers were red, and I shuddered to think that her chest might have been ripped wide open. I pulled off the hood and stared into her glassy little eyes.
I cradled her small head in my hand. “It’s Raven. It’s me. You need to shift. I know it hurts, but you have to. Can you hear me in there? Hurry! Please… don’t be dead.”
I had no knowledge of bird anatomy or where to check for a heartbeat. Despair came over me, and images of a funeral flashed through my mind. One of her wings was bent in an awkward position, and I couldn’t imagine how much pain she was in if she was even still alive.
“Please be in there. You can’t do this to us—you can’t do this to Viktor.”
It was as if her skin blurred and became liquid. As I watched her shift, it wasn’t as fast or as effortless as I’d seen before. It was slow and grotesque as the feathers fell away and revealed the gashes across her body and wing. She morphed to a human shape, but the wounds barely healed. One went from her left shoulder over her right breast. Another had cut through between her breasts, and two across her belly. Blood ran down in rivulets from the wounds. Blue’s brown hair carpeted the forest floor, her jaw slack and eyes shut.
I patted her cheek frantically. “Blue, one more time. Wake up!”
Matteo knelt at my side, his hands bathed in blood. “She doesn’t have time. Can your friends heal her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the knife handle protruding from the lion’s skull. General would never bother us again.
“Guard my back,” he said, scooping her into his arms. Matteo gingerly lifted her while looking down at the gashes on her belly. He grimaced when one of them opened. “My flashlight’s in my pocket.”
I patted him down until I found the slender tool and switched it on.
With the wind at his heels, Matteo turned and ran back to camp. He moved through those woods as if he could run them blindfolded, and I struggled to keep up while simultaneously guiding his way with the light.
My lungs burned as we picked up speed. Blue was losing too much blood, and some of it was probably spattering on the ground.
What’s that noise?I halted in my tracks and heard a wildcat. Not a lion’s roar, but the one that sounded right after it was.
Joshua.
Torn between helping the teen or Matteo, I caught up with the Chitah and shined the flashlight to guide his way. Blue didn’t have time.
“Christian!” I shouted. “We need help.”
I wasn’t sure how far he could hear, but the third time I yelled for him, he appeared.
“Jaysus wept.What happened to the lass?”
“Lion,” Matteo said. “Your friend will die if she doesn’t shift.”
“Have her drink my blood.”
Not only did Matteo swing away from Christian, but Blue’s arm flew up to cover her mouth.
