Page 57 of Escaping Monsters

The words, “the memory eater,” seared through my thoughts, and then my muzzle tingled.

A high-pitch laugh filled the woods, making all of my fur stand on end. The laughing grew louder, like the cackle from a hyena.

Oliver bellowed. “What the fuck? What the—”

His words cut off, and a loud rustling sounded a few feet away.

I squeezed my eyes tighter, even though Oliver’s fading order compelled them open. My defiance only made my lungs squeeze out all of my oxygen until my head pounded.

Oliver cried out, but the sound was drowned out by the creature's laugh. The sound grew so loud my whole face throbbed with it. The creature had to be inches from my ear, and then the sound cut off abruptly, vanishing.

As the last vestige of air in my lungs dissolved, I opened my eyes and was able to take a shallow breath as my gaze landed on Oliver.

He crouched on the forest floor, in the same position he had been in before I’d closed my eyes. His face was turned away, and he glared into the darkening forest.

My body attempted once more to force me to stand, and I cried out as pain exploded through my hind legs.

Oliver’s light blue gaze snapped to me, and he looked me over.

“What the…?” he whispered, and his gaze fell on the gun in his hand.

My body tried to force me up again, and Oliver held out a hand.

“Lay down, your back legs are broken,” he said, and the order pressed down on me. It was an order that I immediately obeyed, and as my wolf body collapsed on the forest floor, I was finally able to gasp in a full breath of air.

My vision wavered, but I could still see Oliver raising his gun and pointing it straight down at my head.

“This is a mercy,” he said, and his voice had changed. It was softer and a little sad like he pitied me.

“Drop the gun, Oliver,” Jasper’s voice growled from somewhere deeper in the woods.

Oliver spasmed, and his fingers opened wide. The gun tumbled to the pine needles on the forest floor, just before my muzzle.

Quick as I could, I closed my mouth around the metal handle and flung the gun in the direction that Jasper’s voice had come from.

“Who the fuck are you?” Oliver growled. He jumped to his feet, and his boot came down on my neck, he pressed down, but not enough to crush my throat. “What the fuck is this?”

“Step away from the wolf, Oliver,” Jasper demanded as he stalked into my frame of sight.

Oliver stepped away, but only a pace, and Jasper came to stand between me and Kane’s cruel enforcer.

“How the fuck did you make me do that?” Oliver’s voice was one-part indignation and ten-parts disbelief like he had no idea how Jasper was controlling him. Meaning, that if this memory eater did eat Oliver’s memories, he took more than the recent ones. The man didn’t seem to remember that he was a werewolf.

“We don’t want any trouble with you, Oliver,” Jasper growled. “We’re just here to take our wolf home. She’s hurt, and we want to take care of her.”

There was a loud rustling, and then three more figures emerged from the woods. I could feel them before I could see them. Their magic flowed over me, a tingling warmth rejuvenating my exhausted form. They came to surround me, crouching down but facing Oliver.

“We’re going to take you home, Teagan,” Declan whispered just above me. His voice was harsh, like the big guy was holding back emotion. Fingers combed through the fur around my neck, and I realized that the men were wrapping their hands around my iron necklace. I’d forgotten that it was even there, but I could feel them hold on tight to the chain.

The implications of what they were doing were only just starting to click into place when a bright blue ball of glowing light ignited in the forest beside Oliver.

“Wha—what is that?” Oliver spun to the globe of soft illumination, his eyelids going wide.

“Come with me, Oliver Hunt, and I’ll give you power beyond your greatest fantasies,” a familiar female voice whispered. She’d spoken to me before in this very forest, promising to hide me where no one would ever find me again.

“Do…” Oliver staggered back a step and then looked over at Jasper. “Do you hear that?”

“Yeah, I hear it. That’s Mab, the Queen of the Fae. She’s speaking to you,” Jasper said, and he crouched down before me.