I launched myself at the monster, teeth bared, my jaw elongating into a snout with a simple act of will.
I caught it, my teeth closing around its arm. The flesh was cold and wrong, like biting into rotten meat. The taste made me want to gag.
The Algea thrashed, its free hand coming up, claws extended, aiming for my eyes.
Lindsey hit it from the side, her wolf form a blur of brown fur. The impact knocked it loose from my grip and sent the creature tumbling across the clearing.
The creature rounded on me, infuriated. It crossed the distance again in the blink of an eye, preparing to strike me with its claws.
Gunfire erupted from behind me. Three shots, rapid-fire. Two hit the Algea in the chest, the wounds burning like fire. The third went wide, lodging itself in the bark of a tree.
The Algea shrieked, clutching its chest. Then its black eyes locked onto Harris, fury burning in them.
It was going to go after him now, I realized.
Using its momentary distraction, I tore around the creature, circling behind it, and leapt again, driving it down to the ground.
This time, my jaws closed on the solid flesh of its throat, and I felt the tissue give under my teeth. Cold blood that tasted like bile filled my mouth, but I clamped on.
Bone snapped like a brittle twig under the strength of my jaws, and the monster went limp.
I’d broken its neck. Virtually no creature can survive that.
I released it, letting out a savage snarl of triumph.
Seconds later, the Algea rose off the ground, its head hanging at a strange, unnatural angle. Then it righted itself and its head snapped back into place.
No. Impossible. I’d felt its bones break.
“Hold it steady!” Daniel shouted from behind us. He was standing just outside the witches’ circle, his hands moving in complex patterns, eerie green light gathering between his palms. “I need about three more seconds!”
The Algea rounded on him. Then, without warning, it sailed forward.
Daniel’s eyes widened with horror, but he didn’t stop his spell.
Lee and Hunter closed in from opposite sides, darting into a defensive formation in front of Daniel, putting themselves bodily between the monster and the warlock.
But the paralytic venom was affecting Hunter badly. He was moving more stiffly than Lee, but he seemed just as determined to protect the warlock as his brother, even at the cost of his own life.
Lindsey circled behind the creature, her wolf form moving silently, a deadly gleam in her eyes.
I launched forward, allowing my form to shift so that I was now more beast than man but still standing upright, my shirt and pants splitting at the seams—a classical werewolf from books and movies.
I stepped in front of the Algea to buy time for Lindsey to ambush it, for the twins to pin it. And for Daniel to finish his spell.
The Algea’s gaze locked on mine and I saw the burning hatred there.
I let out a rasping snarl—my signal to the others to attack.
Lindsey, Lee, and Hunter all sprang into motion as one, a coordinated strike from three sides as I tore forward at the same time, distracting it from the front.
My claws buried into its torso and I tackled it to the ground, riding it down.
The twins grabbed either arm with their powerful jaws, pinning its claws to the ground.
Lindsey leaped forward, her teeth locking around its neck. For a moment, with it pinned down, I thought we had won.
Then Hunter suddenly collapsed onto his side with a yelp, his legs kicking once before freezing. The Algea’s venom had fully taken hold.
