The guy should have been my first kill. He’d given me the perfect opening. My pesky inner voice wanted to evaluate why I’d repositioned my hands and spared his life at the last minute, but I refused to give my conscience the time of day. The why didn’t matter now. I’d made my decision, and the current priority was getting us home alive with the artifact.
“I smell blood,” Rust said.
“It’s mostly his,” I assured the old wolf.
My attacker had sliced into my left biceps before I stabbed him, but the cut wasn’t deep enough to do anything but annoy me as the blood clotted and stuck my sleeve to my arm.
Rust and I made it to the bikes without incident, vaulted onto them, gunned our engines, and drove like our asses were on fire. The gravel service road leading back to the highway was overgrown and treacherous, demanding my full attention, but unlike our approach to the manor, speed was more important than stealth. We raced along, kicking up rocks and creating an unavoidable dust trail that the blind could follow. As soon as we turned onto the highway, I opened the throttle until the speedometer needle bounced, narrowly avoiding crater-sized potholes and encroaching roots.
Rust stayed hot on my tail, not slowing even when a foreboding shadow passed above. The pungent aroma of fur and feathers wafting off the creature wasn’t something I’d ever smelled before. Not even on the castle grounds we’d just fled.
The beast swooped closer, and the wind of its passing buffetedmy bike hard enough to make it wobble. I panicked, nearly crashing as I pulled over to draw my daggers.
Rust screeched to a stop beside me, tugging his shotgun from its holster on his bike as he identified our pursuer. “Just a griffin.”
My jaw dropped. “Justa griffin?”
The overgrown eagle-headed lion circling above us released a hair-raising roar that ended in a screech, making me want to run for cover like a field mouse.
“What do we do?” I asked.
Rust grinned maniacally, letting the wolf seep into his eyes as he stared up at the approaching beast. “Two against one. I doubt it’ll attack, but we’ll show it our claws and fangs all the same.”
I clamped my mouth shut against the urge to point out that the massive griffin could likely swallow us whole and therefore had the advantage here. That was just fear talking. My people were nowhere near the bottom of the food chain. We shifted into three forms: a human with enhanced strength and speed, a wolf that could chase prey for days, and a werewolf with blade-like claws and teeth that could rend flesh.
At leasttheyshifted.
I compensated.
Rust and I spread out, raising our arms to appear larger and more formidable as we watched the griffin, waiting for it to strike. This time, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill.
“Weak spots?” I asked.
“Heart’s in the center of its chest. I’ll go for that. You take out the eyes. Watch out for the beak.”
I gaped at my mentor. “Stab the eyes, he says. Like that’s so goddamn easy.”
Rust chuckled. “Don’t be a pussy, pup.”
“Wasn’t plannin’ on it, old man.”
Thankfully, I didn’t have to be brave either.
The griffin swooped at us again, and before I could even figure out the best route to its eyes, Rust popped off two shots. One hit the beast’s shoulder. It shuddered, wobbling in the air a moment before straightening out and veering off withanother roar-screech. It flew away, apparently deciding we weren’t worth the trouble.
“That’s how you deal with those bastards,” Rust said as we scrambled back onto our bikes and got the hell out of there.
We hit the I-5 corridor and headed north on the freeway. The road was as barren as it had been on our way down, with nothing but abandoned vehicles in our path. Now that I’d gotten a taste of the crazy creatures residing outside of pack land, the ominous glowing eyes watching us from the shadows lit up my imagination. I’d always known the rest of the world was wild and dangerous—it was the reason we trained, after all—but tonight’s adventure served as a stark reminder of why wolves needed the pack. Of why I’d risked my life to steal a strange little rock that I’d deliver to my alpha at all costs.
Remove that artifact from my property, and I will have no choice but to hunt you to the ends of the earth. I will be a curse upon your head, the noose around your neck, a sword driven deep intoyour side.
A shiver raced up my spine at the memory of the promised price tag, but I shook it off. The bastard would have to find me first. Then he’d have to deal with the full strength of my people. Still, I accelerated, desperate to get the stone to safety before gargoyles and who knew what else could threaten the success of this mission.
Rust and I threaded our way through a pair of hills and crossed into the city limits. Ahead, a giant luminous bubble came into view. Unlike the ward protecting the castle, this one was designed to be seen. Anchored into the ground by a glowing blue fracture, it shot east following Highway 90 and ran north alongside I-5, splitting the city in two.
It was the bane of my pack’s existence, the one obstacle keeping us from the revenge we were due. We had a bone to pick with the Mondeine hiding behind the barrier. Or three hundred and twenty-three of them, to be exact. That was how many livesthose bastards owed us, and one day we would collect with interest.
The Madison Street exit drew my attention away from the fracture and back to the ravaged city streets. Several overpasses had fallen, and our bikes needed to make a slightly sketchy jump that required concentration. My tires squealed on the wet pavement.
