15
MADDOX
Death brushed along my skin and made me shudder. I whipped my head to the side and scanned my surroundings. Nothing happened.
No one jumped out at me. No one screamed. The scenery remained quiet and calm, unlike me.
I still couldn’t shift back. The wolf had an iron grip on me, and I no longer had the strength to fight. That’s what it wanted. The wolf had outpaced me on purpose. It’d let me throw everything I had into this fight for control so that I would exhaust myself.
The damn beast was proud of itself. Or, it had been until death came knocking. Still, I looked around. This was a new sensation, and I didn’t know what to expect. When my guard rose in anticipation, I found myself standing there for too long.
What was happening?
I spun around. The wolf didn’t like this either. It was like hearing a twig snap in the woods only to find that no one was there. However, that left only one explanation.
Ghost?
I sniffed the air. The city stank. I couldn’t understand why a shifter pack lived here instead of the mountains. There were wide open spaces that didn’t reek of trash and death.
Death…
“I hate you, but my descendant is a damn fool.” A voice boomed inside my head.
I recoiled from the volume and tried to shake free of the voice, but she remained inside me. The way she laughed at my reaction wasn’t nice. I got the sense that she rejoiced in my discomfort, which made me growl.
“Calm down, you abomination.” She had the gravelly voice of a grandmother, but the cold intonation of a bitch.
As if she could read my thoughts, the woman laughed at me.
A skeletal hand reached out of my periphery and ripped into the gelatin-like veil between the worlds. It tore and flapped loose only for an instant before it started to close again.
“In you go,” she said.
A force shoved me from behind. I dug in my claws, but the force was stronger than me. I tumbled head over tail into the portal and plummeted for what felt like forever.
Who the hell was that?
I barely had time to wonder as a familiar scent reached my nose. It wakened my wolf’s protective instincts all over again. The time for thought was gone. I launched into action and righted myself before my feet hit solid ground again.
The black and white world bled with color as I was dumped back into reality. I quickly stood and launched into a run. There was no scent anywhere. While the world blazed with color, it still seemed painfully flat without smells.
But I saw her familiar silhouette ahead. My wolf wanted to let out giddy howl, but we both knew that we’d been sent here for a reason. This wasn’t a reunion; it was a mission.
There.
I caught a glimpse of movement to my right. A blur darted towards Addie. I leapt and forced myself between the two. Addie’s power spread out like a blanket that I could grab and wrap around myself. As the blur careened towards me, I twisted and lashed out with bone-like claws.
My claws connected with flesh and bone, much to my surprise. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. The creature snarled in response. It leapt back as Addie yelped in surprise behind me. I heard the distinct tumbling of rocks and spun.
Addie’s arms windmilled. Her eyes went wide. She wobbled on the precipice of the cliff. Behind me, the creature growled in warning, but I turned my back to it. The creature could tear into me for all I cared. Addie needed me.
My beast appreciated my priorities. Power flowed into my body. I moved so fast that the world became a blur of color. For a heartbeat, I thought I would lose control and knock into Addie, pushing her over the edge. My beast pulled back on the sudden flood of power at the last second.
I slowed enough to catch the hem of Addie’s shirt and tug her back onto solid ground. She dropped to her knees and whimpered. Forehead to the dirt, she thanked me.
Recoil hit me. My whole body rocked from moving too fast. Muscles coiled and my lungs clenched. I had a moment to think of those fainting goats and how this must be what they felt like before I remembered that this was a battle.
Claws scraped the earth. The creature must have leapt, but I couldn’t even turn to see it descend upon me. However, I heard the scrabble of rocks falling before a distinct, meaty thud sounded right behind me.