Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Panicked, Fenris was halfway out of the pool when Jericho yanked him back in.
Jericho grinned, his large teeth glinting in the sun. “You, my friend, are going to get us back into the Great Forest. I’ve been waiting on your sorry ass for years.”
Brett and Brody exchanged a look.
Gibson stared in shock and what looked like hurt. “You’re Mike Barton’s nephew? The next in line to take over as Silver Clan alpha. How…nice.” His yellow eyes glowed with anger.
Jericho shook his head. “Back off, Gib. He’s Rudra’s. And just wait until she learns what he’s been hiding.” He turned to Fenris. “You should have told her the truth from the beginning. Our alpha doesn’t much like surprises. She’s going to slice your balls off, Goldie. Bad news.”
“Fuck off, Jericho. Red’s not going to hurt me. I’m nothing like my uncle, and I’m not a future alpha.”
“Please. Even I can see the power all over you, and I’m not even wolf,” Gibson huffed.
“It has nothing to do with being alpha, it’s—” Fenris stopped, scenting an evil in the air. That same smell of sulfur that had occurred in Rurik’s laboratory had returned. “We have to get back, right now.”
“Hell, no. You’re not going anywhere,” Brody said as he and Brett grabbed his arms.
“You don’t understand.” Fenris tried to jerk free while looking all around him.
It had been ingrained in him since birth to keep his werewolf heritage a secret, and he had a hard time allowing it to rise.
With Rudra, he hadn’t thought, he’d reacted.
Now, he had a feeling only his powerful beast would be able to combat this new threat.
The mark on his forearm began to glow.
Jericho stared at him and frowned. “Get out of the water, guys,” he said slowly. “Something bad’s coming.”
Before any of them could move, the water turned from hot to ice, freezing them in place.
Fenris worked his arms free from the Nash brothers and called on his inherent werewolf. He felt the change and broke through the ice just as three serpentine monsters appeared from out of nowhere and converged on the pool.
With a roar, Fenris punched the last of the ice holding him in place and freed the others. “Get back to warn Rurik and Rudra,” he growled into stunned faces. All but Jericho seemed surprised by his form. “Go.”
Jericho shook his head. “You three hurry back. I’ll stay here and back up Goldie.”
Fenris took the nearest monster by surprise and sliced through its neck. He felt claws score his side, leaving a deep furrow of pain. Blood matted his fur, and he snarled a warning as the other two converged on him and Jericho.
“My cousin will not find the protection he seeks in you,” one of the snake men hissed. “He and his bitch belong to me.”
Fenris received a blow to his midsection and dodged a near decapitation from the pair of monsters flanking him.
Shit. One had been bad enough to fight. But three would be a real pain in the ass.
Taking advantage of the weakest of them, he tore into its neck wound and pulled until he heard a pop.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid the two-pronged attack to his back and side.
Behind him, Jericho growled, now a bear.
“Stay back,” Fenris warned. “They’re magic. Leave this to me.” Pleased at the battlelust that began to take the place of the pain, he allowed his rage free rein.
Jericho ignored him. But the bear’s attack gave Fenris the advantage he needed. As the remaining monsters converged on Jericho, Fenris took one of them down by grabbing and ripping out his spinal column from neck to tail.
The other beast shrieked and grew in size.
Jericho roared and fell back under its onslaught.
Fenris tried to help by grabbing its attention, but he had a hard time getting his claws into the creature.
It slithered out of his hands by turning into mist for a moment before coalescing once again into solid flesh.
Worried when it turned for Jericho once more, he forced it to face him and held on, allowing it to dig its talons into his toughened skin.
“Shit, that hurt,” he growled as he clutched at the area where he imagined the heart to be.
The monster screeched in pain and, in a frenzy, dug its fangs into his shoulder, injecting Fenris with a burning toxin.
It let go when Jericho clamped his mouth around the thing’s tail, but Fenris’ respite was short-lived.
While it ground its claws into him, it flung Jericho into a large tree.
Jericho shifted back into a man’s form and lay still, unmoving.
Knowing how much Red loved the large bear, Fenris threw himself into a berserker’s rage.
Oblivious to the wounds he took, he used every bit of his strength and tore through his opponent, delivering a warning to the puppet master behind the monster. “Next time, come in person so I can rip you apart face to face, human scum.”
The sorcerer screamed his denial through the creature before it ceased to exist.
Dropping its slimy remains to the ground, Fenris made his way to Jericho.
The bear didn’t stir. Hefting him over his shoulder took some work, even for a werewolf.
Jericho weighed a ton, and Fenris’ wounds began to take their toll.
Trudging through the forest and praying the attack in the woods was the only one the sorcerer had perpetrated, he forced himself to keep moving until he found Rurik.
Deciding to try the man at home, Fenris stumbled in that direction, away from the sorcerer’s lab. Before he reached the porch, Rena opened the door and gasped at him. She shifted into a wolf’s form and took off.
“Great. Now I’ve scared Red’s mother.” Wondering if he ought to leave Jericho on the steps and go find Red, he set the bear down gently and nearly fell. Clutching his aching ribs, he felt moisture dripping down his torso and realized he was covered in blood.
Not wanting everyone to know about his werewolf form if the Nash brothers hadn’t already told them, he shifted back into a man’s form and passed out.