“Murder.Murder.”Iseult let out an eerie cry.“Kill, kill,kill.”
Betrys circled her warily.
Iseult let out a battle cry and ran at Betrys.
“Grab her,” Saber said.
“No, stand.”Leo stopped his brother.“Betrys needs this.”
Betrys ignored the brothers to dart forward and strike out with her knife.Iseult dodged and kicked Betrys’s legs out from under her.Pain shot up her spine as her butt hit the ground.She groaned, her vision going weird, and tried to dodge the stomp of one of Iseult’s legs.
Betrys jerked to the right and came up in a crouch, her breath see-sawing from her lungs.She faked a right and dove at Iseult, her knife slashing through the air.Iseult went the wrong way.The blade sank into her flesh, forced deeper by Betrys’s guiding hand.Protect Ricci.Kill, kill, kill.
Iseult faltered.She screamed and kicked out with her legs, trying to dislodge the knife from Betrys’s determined grip.
Betrys went airborne, the knife staying put in Iseult’s chest.Instinct had her twisting her limbs even before the thought filtered into the right part of her brain.She hit the floor on all fours.Pain, excruciating, like nothing she’d felt before, rippled across her body.She was vaguely aware of Leo and his brothers securing Iseult.Someone crouched beside her, and she flinched until she sucked in a rapid breath and recognized his scent.
Leo.
“Sweetheart,” he said, and there was a weird note in his voice.“Breathe.Nice and slow.That’s it.”
“Hurts.”Every muscle shrieked, and her very bones felt as if they were twisting, twisting beyond what was possible and reshaping in a new, unfamiliar way.
“I know it hurts,” he murmured, and she drew comfort from his proximity.“Think of a black leopard, sweetheart.Picture me in your mind.Can you do that?”
“Yes,” she growled, and her voice sounded weird.She thought of Leo and of stroking his fur.So soft.So pretty.So strong.The pain intensified until she cried out, then black fur sprouted on her arms, her legs.Her robe tore, and agony ripped at her, releasing abruptly.Easing.
“That’s it, Betrys.You did good, sweetheart.”His hand smoothed over her head, along her back.He tugged away the remnants of her robe.
An uncontrollable tremor seized her, and she swayed, then wrinkled her nose while she stared at her front feet.Front feet.Goddess Juna, she had four feet.She had fur.Claws.She ran her tongue over her teeth.Her teeth were lethal weapons.How was this possible?And what if she couldn’t change back?
She let out a distressed croak and leaned into Leo.
“Shush, sweetheart.It’s all right.You’ve done the hard part.We’ll battle the rest together.”
Saber and Felix came to stand beside Leo, their gazes on her, measuring.Maybe bemused?She shuddered and stared at her feet again, her claws.Confusion was the least of her problems now.
“Iseult?”Leo asked, resuming his stroking along her back, his touch comforting and grounding her.
“Dead,” Saber said.“Betrys stabbed her in the right place.”
Betrys sighed, relief beating out her trembling.Iseult was dead.
“What about her men?”
“The zylon got them.The head of security reported it was the damnedest thing.Their scent seemed to attract the zylons, and the creatures swarmed them.Only two survived before our security team rounded them up.”Felix radiated satisfaction.“But not without a fight.One of them lost two legs.No idea if they’ll grow back.”
Scarlett burst into the room, Casey at her heels.They both skidded to a halt and gaped at the mess in the room.
“Where’s Betrys?”Scarlett demanded.“She all right?”Her nostrils flared as she spotted Betrys, still pressed up against Leo.Her brows arched upward.“Betrys?”
“Stand back, Scarlett,” Saber ordered.“Don’t crowd her.She’s terrified enough as it is.Leo, we’ll take Betrys to my rooms and talk her through the change back to human.”
Felix stepped forward.“Casey and I will clean up here and take care of questioning her men.”
“Betrys,” Leo murmured.
She rose on hearing his voice and wavered unsteady on her four new legs.Four.No wonder Iseult had wobbled around the web once she’d shifted to her Spiderus form.Extra legs were most disconcerting.She pressed against Leo’s legs, her sides heaving as panic threatened to overtake her.What if she couldn’t change back?
