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He rose from the ground on two sets of large padded paws, the tip of his tail scraping against the grass. His jaws parted and cracked a little in a wide yawn, stretching a different set of muscles. Senses were now closer to what he was accustomed to, but his night vision was so much keener, sharper. He could easily make out the six pestilents standing near the back wall. They were all gathered around one pestilent in particular, but Baer couldn’t see anything different about her.
The female pestilent stood about average height for a woman with long dark hair and glowing red eyes. Her face was incredibly thin and sharp, but he was starting to notice that about all the pestilents. There weren’t any chubby or voluptuous pestilents. Maybe their rotting away was keeping them sickly thin.
Her clothes were the only thing that really stood out about her. Where the others tended toward jeans and T-shirts so they could blend in with the humans, she was wearing head-to-toe black leather as if she were a Dom escaped from a BDSM porn. Not that he watched those…often.
“Hold here. Give Grey some time to clear the place.” Clay said as he came to stand directly beside Baer. His hand rested on the top of Baer’s head for a moment, fingers threading through his mane.
But Baer didn’t want to wait. They had the element of surprise. If they waited, they could lose that advantage. Grey had everything under control.
Muscles bunched for a second before Baer launched himself forward with a deafening roar. He charged toward the pestilents and guns fired. Human voices raised in panicked screams, but they didn’t all come from the pestilents. Apparently Grey hadn’t been able to get rid of all the humans just yet.
Shit! Clay was right. He should have given him another minute.
Well, at least they’d have some interesting stories to tell.
As he launched himself at a male pestilent in a black shirt and buzzed brown hair, Baer could feel the rush of Clay’s magic sweeping under his paws and up through the trees around him. Wood creaked and leaves scraped. From the corner of his eyes, he could see limbs and moss reaching out toward the pestilents, but he ignored it as his extended claws sank deep into the man’s chest. He made short work of the creature, ripping his throat out. One down, five to go.
He spat out the chunk of rancid flesh and shuddered. Godawful taste.
Gunshots rang out. A sharp, slicing burn cut across his shoulder and he snarled. Someone had shot him. Leaving his first victim, Baer jumped out of the range of the female pestilent with the white-blond hair who was shooting at him, and Clay pulled him to cover behind a large vault. He stretched out on his belly in the grass as more bullets bounced off the brick and concrete.
“Fucking bastards! This is a historic site!” Clay bellowed. The shooting didn’t stop. Not that Baer really thought the pestilents would give a shit about the historic significance of the graveyard.
His friend turned back to him, his face twisted into a scowl. “What were you doing? Why didn’t you wait? Your recklessness is going to get you killed, Baer!”
The Animal Weaver couldn’t answer in his lion form, but it didn’t stop the words from stinging. It wasn’t just his life he’d put into danger. Clay could have been shot pulling Baer to safety. He nudged Clay’s hand with the top of his head, hoping the man understood he was trying to apologize.
Clay rolled his eyes and ruffled Baer’s mane for a second. “Circle around that way,” Clay said with a jerk of his chin toward the far side of the vault they were hunkered behind. “I’ll go the other way and see if I can distract them.”
Creeping along the vault, Baer got into position as another pestilent came into view and he launched himself at it. The creature went down hard, bent in half over a stone bench. His spine broken in half, Baer clamped powerful jaws around his throat and quickly put the creature out of its misery. That was at least two for him. There were two more limp bodies dangling from the trees, sending a cold chill up Baer’s spine.
Just two left and Baer wanted the woman in black leather.
Before he could take even a step toward the mastermind standing near the wall, there was a strange rustling through the grass, accompanied by high-pitched squeaks.
A second later, the grass parted enough for Baer to make out the fat, dark bodies of rats. Hundreds of rats.
Baer frowned and lifted one paw as a wave of discomfort and disgust hit him. Where were all the rats coming from? They rushed him, and Baer backpedaled while at the same time trying to climb into their brains. But he couldn’t. It was like there was a wall in their minds. The rats clawed and bit at him. He’d shake one off his massive frame only to have it replaced by three others.
