Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
The day sped by in a whirlwind of chores and errands, most of them involving refurnishing my house.
As much as it rankled me that I had to do this, what made it worse was the Prime or his cranky strategist had apparently called every shop in the entire city and left his credit card on file with strict instructions not to let me pay for a single thing.
It seemed I couldn’t buy anything unless I signed the entire bill over to the vampires.
I’d even gone back to the hotel area to try to find a shop he’d missed, but the asshole was thorough. Every single shop refused me.
Pissed off and annoyed, I walked out of the last shop into a moonlit night. The heavy globe hung high and bright above me, casting a silvery glow onto the treetops and buildings. I touched the pendant around my neck and shivered.
Silas might be an ass, but he’d done me a solid by giving me the pendant and not demanding it back when I’d thrown him out of my house. I fished through my purse and grabbed my keys as I hurried across the parking lot.
Earlier today, I was able to buy a fridge—Alric had forgotten about the hardware stores, I guess, and I paid extra to have it delivered the same day. But I had no groceries yet. The last thing on my list.
I bent to unlock my door.
A swish of clothing way too close to me had me spinning around, but not fast enough. A blow to the head sent me slamming into the car door. I put my hands up to block the next blow, but none came. Instead, a clawed hand reached out and sliced the wolf pendant from my neck.
I lunged for it, but the attacker spun and took off running through the parking lot, disappearing before I could get my bearings.
“Hey!” I sprinted after them, stopping at the edge of the woods. Night had fallen some time ago, and flailing through the woods on a full moon was definitely a dumb idea. Shifters of all kinds were out tonight in their animal forms.
While they still had their human reasoning, their emotions were more animal than anything for the next twelve hours. I hesitated at the edge and swore viciously before backing away.
I didn’t feel any different, but getting home took priority now. I could lock myself in the basement if things got out of hand. My paranoia was running wild with scenarios. Silas would not have given me that necklace if he didn’t think shifting was a possibility.
Once I was back in my car with the doors locked, I let out a slow breath and willed my fingers to stop shaking. Why would someone steal the pendant? Did they know something I didn’t?
Everything happened so fast, I couldn’t tell if the culprit was a shifter or a vampire or someone tailing me in the store who thought they might be able to make a buck at the pawn shop. They hadn’t tried to swipe my purse or anything else, which made the entire thing suspicious.
Shaking my head, I started my car and pulled out of the parking lot, keeping a close eye out for the figure, but whoever he or she might be, they were long gone.
Ten minutes later, I was out on the main road and had just turned the radio up when I broke into a cold sweat, the kind of sweat you get when you’re starting to run a fever.
I was twenty minutes away from the house. With shaking fingers, I pressed the fast key to call home.
“Alex? Everything alright?” Edmund’s voice sounded echoey as it always did when he used the speaker system hooked up in every room of the house.
“I th-think some-something is wr-wrong.”
“Where are you?”
I sent my current location to the computer. Edmund swore. “Can you make it home?”
I could smell everything. The leather in my seats, the acrid artificial tang of the air freshener hanging above my mirror, the gym clothing I’d tossed in the back seat after my Pilates class, the cream used in the coffee I’d stopped for a few hours ago.
My mouth felt weird, heavy, and my teeth ached.
“Don’t th-think so. Someone st-stole the pen-pendant.”
A long silence. “The full moon is tonight. Oh, Alex.”
Claws stretched from my fingernails, scratching the soft leather on my steering wheel.
“Sh-shit. I need to p-pull over.”
Edmund’s voice turned low and urgent. “Do not under any circumstances get out of your car on a busy street. Turn around, head back to where you were, and go into the woods. You can hide there.”
A broken sob slipped from my lips. “Th-there are shifters ev-everywhere.”
“You’ll have to risk it. Better than an indiscriminate civilian slaughter.”
“Ed-Edmund! I wo-won’t k-kill anyone.”
“It’s your first shift. Your animal instincts will override everything. Turn around. Go to the woods. Do it now before you can’t drive anymore.”
I did a U-turn and headed back the way I came. A glance in the rearview mirror made me blink in surprise. My eyes had a bright golden sheen. “Sh-shit,” I muttered.
“Good,” Edmund encouraged. “Drive as fast as you can without getting pulled over. I’ll monitor traffic.”
“Are y-you hac-hacking?”
“I do not ask about your business in the basement. Do not ask me about mine on the internet.”
A horrified laugh shook my shoulders. I pressed the gas to the floor and hauled ass.
Eight minutes later, I wrenched my car over to the shoulder and bailed out. Fur had sprouted along my arms and neck, and elongated fangs cut my bottom lip. The woods were about a half-mile sprint. I grabbed my purse and keys and ran as fast as I could.
Tears streamed down my face, blown away by the wind. I was shifting, my entire body changing without my consent, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I’d never felt so helpless in my entire life. The edge of the woods beckoned, green and sparkling. Life moved all around me, and I could smell and hear everything, my enhanced senses overwhelming in their intensity.
Leaves crackled as they blew in the wind. Small things skittered and rolled on the forest floor, things with bones and blood.
Delicious things. I smelled them, the call of their heartbeat luring me deeper into the woods. My purse and keys fell from my fingers, coins and makeup scattering from the bag as it hit the ground.
A tearing noise, and my shirt was gone, the fabric a white flutter in the night. My pants went next, and then I was hunched over, my furred feet kicking the shredded cotton away.
I shook off the odd feeling and stopped, realizing I was far closer to the ground than I’d been before. I had paws. Enormous paws. My fur was a mix of gray and white.
Fear trickled down my spine, quickly lost as something rushed by me, a small thing made of bones and cartilage and meat.
My hackles rose, and I tipped my snout to the sky. A low growl rumbled from my throat before a mournful howl tore free. I lunged toward the animal, and soon enough, all my thoughts were gone, chased away by the thrill of the hunt.