“Get as close as you can,” he said into the microphone. “And space the shields as evenly as possible. You want to be able to get to one within twenty seconds.”
There was no response, but then he didn’t expect one. They didn’t want to tip off the demon that they were coming, but then again, how could the bastard miss five shields plunking down into the snow? Even as light as they were—which honestly wasn’t that light—they would still make a thud when they hit dirt.
It didn’t matter. The wolves needed the protection. He watched from five different vantage points as one by one, they dropped the shields into the dirt and then veered around them, going for the attack run. Nero’s team didn’t waste time.
Josh focused on Nero’s camera view, cursing the black-and-white image. If he’d thought for two seconds, he would have realized that he could put color cameras in and damn the extra expense. He wanted to see what a “weirdly colored demon” looked like, but all he got was a gray image of a humanoid crouching behind a bush. Not exactly Technicolor, but it was getting freaky large in the image because Nero was in attack range.
He switched over to Coffee’s camera because that had the better view. Nero zipped in fast and low, then abruptly jumped aside as the demon twisted and swiped. It was like Nero knew the strike was coming, which he probably did. Then, when the demon was off-balance, Nero did a swipe with his claws and tore a huge chunk out of the thing’s leg.
Pale stuff squirted out—demon blood—and Josh released a cheer. Mother and Pauly went in next. Their cameras dipped and swerved, making Josh a little seasick, but they managed to get the bastard from either side. Mother used some kind of leaping maneuver to get her jaws on the thing’s arm. Pauly did the same thing on the other side, missed, then got a swipe in with his paw that widened the gashes that Nero had made.
Gunshots rang out, the sound shocking in the crisp morning air. Josh already knew it was the demon. The thing was a really good shot, even while being torn apart.
“Watch the gun!” he called into the mic. “Cream, this is where you get shot!”
Cream’s camera abruptly dipped and swerved. Evasive maneuvers, obviously. And suddenly Coffee was leaping up and down in the air. Jumping?
A moment later the reason became clear. The demon hesitated, seemingly flustered for a moment, and shot wildly, missing both Cream and Coffee.Good going!Josh clapped his hands in delight, but even though the demon had missed this time, he still had a gun and was taking aim. What it didn’t realize, though, was that Nero wasn’t going to let it have the chance.
The alpha wolf, followed closely by Mother and Pauly, was already running full tilt at the demon. The demon had three pissed-off werewolves coming straight for it and another two right behind. And it was penned in by the greenery and the lake, which meant it had one last trick up its sleeve.
Josh checked the levels on the simple sensors he’d had put into their hoodies. They likely wouldn’t survive the blast, but that wasn’t the point. Sure enough, the demon’s internal temperature was rising fast.
“It’s about to blow! Get to the shields. If you can’t—” A quick look showed him that Mother was out of range. Damn it! “Shiftnow!”
He wasn’t sure it would work. Just because Nero had survived the first time didn’t mean any of them could do it again. Worse, Coffee was an old-school werewolf. Lots of bones crunching and excruciating pain and no in-between energy state. That meant they couldn’t get out of this by shifting. They had to crouch behind the shields and hope that the Volcax kept them from being burned alive.
“Please, please, please,” he whispered.
The demon blew.
Even though Josh knew he was out of range, the blast still terrified him. He felt more than heard the boom as the earth shook beneath his feet. Then the heat wave came at him with a roar. He knew from the pictures that the nearest trees were vaporized, but that did nothing to prepare him for the wave of hot air that flattened trees farther out and set them instantly on fire. The air was sucked out of his lungs, and every cell in his body felt the heat as a living thing. Thank God he’d set up on the far side of the van and the vehicle had shielded him. Not just the van, but the wheels as well, because otherwise his feet and ankles would be blistered raw. And it was also a good thing he’d pocketed Mother’s gun. The metal was now hot where it was tucked in the back of his jeans, and he prayed the bullets didn’t explode and blow his ass off.
Thank God, he was lucky. His ass stayed exactly as it was. The heat was intense but bearable, and though his computer was blank, it didn’t appear dead.
But what about everyone else?
As soon as he could breathe without choking, he took off at a dead run for the others. All the electronics were fried, so he stripped off the headset on the way. Mother’s Glock dug into his ass with every step and his shoes were going to melt soon from the heat, but he kept running. It took forever to get there while his gaze took in the blackened landscape. Sweet heaven, nothing could survive this. Nothinghadsurvived.
“Nero!” he bellowed. “Nero! Anybody!”
He was still running when he heard it. Nero’s human howl. He’d know the sound anywhere, and it carried in the still air like a divine bell. And thank God, there was no mournful note in it. If anything it sounded triumphant, especially when it was repeated by four other voices, all howling with him.
Nero had survived. Better yet, the entire pack had survived.
Josh stumbled to a walk and shot back his own howl. It wasn’t a strong as theirs. He was still breathless and had to get to them immediately, but he needed to answer. That was what packmates did.
They’d survived!
He broke into a run again and saw them long before he made it to their sides. All five in their naked human forms. Pauly and Cream had obviously survived and then shifted to human as soon as they could. And now they surrounded a pink, blobby thing that was bleeding orange blood. Gross.
“Don’t. Kill it!” he bellowed. And when everybody turned to look at him in shock, he repeated it. “Don’t kill it.”
Nero said something that even wolf ears couldn’t catch, but Josh could guess what it was. Something along the lines of “Are you crazy?” He wasn’t, though he could understand why they thought that way.
He picked up the pace again and finished the last of the distance. God, he had to get back on the calisthenics wagon, because huffing and puffing like this was embarrassing. Fortunately they waited for him. And when the blobby thing tried to make a run for it, one of the pack was there to shove it back.
“You could have shifted,” Nero said when Josh got close enough. “You’re a lot faster as a wolf.”
