With anyone else, I would have encouraged the instinct.
Yes, beware the Big Bad Wolf. I might bite your head off.
But seeing Red cower gives me a strange, twisty feeling in my stomach. I don’t like it. I want to taste her again, but I want her pliant and willing, like she was before.
The harsh sting of hydrogen peroxide hits my senses like a sledgehammer. The temperature around us drops sharply, and the broken glass on the ground begins to frost over.
The human condom is an ice mage.
Well, fuck.
The mage winds their arms around with dramatic flair before shooting their palms forward. Rain blasts inward through the broken glass wall, turning into ice as it rails toward us.
The idiot wants to take Red captive but could hurt her in their attempt to take me out.
I turn and blur toward Red. My hands slamming protectively against the wall on either side of Red’s head. My body crowds over hers. She bites her lip and is still protectively covering her torso with her arms.
Good, it makes her a smaller target under my large form. Her pale eyes search mine, and I see the panic rising in them. I give her a half smile to let her know everything is going to be alright.
Then the ice chunks slam into me like frozen fangs, their bites cutting my skin. Blood dribbles down my back, and I groan in pain. Thankfully, I’d begun the shift and my thick muscles protect me from any serious damage. But the human condom drew blood, and now I’m even more irate.
Red’s hands press against my bare chest, something sparking in her eyes. Fear for her? Fear for me? No, she is trying to comfort me. And there is still something darker flickering in her gaze, like lust or anger. The girl is an enigma.
Again, the question continues to circle my brain.What is she?
But this time I answer.
Addictive.
For a millisecond, her touch moves every single emotion inside me, even the ones I thought long since atrophied and shriveled up.
I harden against the notion. I won’t have feelings, even for doe-eyed girls who burn me with their touch.
“Get out of here, Red,” I growl. I can’t have her getting hurt. She’s my only link to finding my target right now, and I can’t afford to lose my lead if I want to wrap this little mission up and get back to my own life. Back to my solitude.
She continues to stare up at me, as if frozen to the spot.
“Get out, now,” I roar, pushing her toward the door. She jerks back, nearly falling down. But she grabs the doorframe just in time to stay upright. Then she flies out of the room like the devil is on her heels.
She doesn’t need to see what’s about to happen. She doesn’t need to see the beast I’m about to become.
The hairs in my nostrils shiver from the sting of rising magic again. I turn back to the masked intruder. They swing their arms a second time, gathering blue sparkling energy from the air. Magic shoots out from their hands with a boom. I charge right at them and leap. My skin morphs with a painful yet satisfying crack, white and silver fur sprouting from my skin as my muscles engorge and lengthen.
A biting, icy cold slams into me, but by then I’m fully wolf, crashing into the mage. My fur protects me from the worst of the freezing temperature. We both go down, until I’m standing on their chest, all two hundred fifty pounds of me.
The masked person grabs my muzzle and the air drops several more degrees around us. The cold burn of their magic’s scent intensifies in my nostrils. A painful ice explosion rakes through my mouth and nose. I yank my face away, howling in pain.
I paw at my nose, desperate to unfreeze it.
My muzzle may be frozen, but my rage has been ignited. I go blind with it. Succumbing to the animal inside, I lose my logical mind to the violence.
Back in my human form,I don’t know how much time has passed. Night veils the windows now, so I can’t see outside, but I’m on clear display for anyone who wishes to watch. Cold frosts my naked skin from the mage’s attack, but I’m still running hot and it’s melting fast. Blood covers my chest and arms.
Fuck.
I vaguely recall the gush of copper flooding my mouth and the satisfying crunch of the intruder’s neck under my jaws. They lay on the ground now, like a broken, eviscerated doll.
I kick the body. “Why did you have to piss me off like that? You interrupted the best sex of my life, and now I can’t even ask you any questions, you selfish fuck.”
