That was the only word to describe their disjointed, unnatural movements.
Ignoring the pet cemetery unfolding before our eyes, Asher whipped off his sweatshirt and wrapped it around my nude body.
“Remember when I said I’d haul you home the minute I sensed anything evenremotelyfucked about this?” He pulled a bandana from his back pocket and shook it out, then pressed it to my nose, squeezing gently. “Pretty sure this qualifies.”
I nodded, but a bloody nose and a bunch of mid-sized, half-decayed animals were the least of our worries.
Ten feet away, a pair of cougars emerged from the shadows. Unlike the others, their bodies were sleek and muscled, their eyes alert. If they’d been dead at all, it hadn’t been for very long.
“Fuckme,” Asher whispered.
“What do we do?” I asked.
“Get behind me.” He reached for my arm, but the movement caught the cougars’ attention, their heads following the motion of his hands.
Together they stalked toward us, the dead October leaves crunching beneath their paws.
Taking a cue from the cougars, the rest of the animals crept closer. Some of them didn’t even have eyes—just dark, rotting holes crawling with maggots.
“Don’t make a sound,” Asher warned, keeping me at his back. It was just as well; I wasn’t sure I could’ve screamed, even if I’d wanted to.
I dug my nails into his forearm, frantically scanning the woods for an easy escape.
There was no easy way out of this.
The female cougar growled, a wheezing sound that fell somewhere between a hiss and a moan and made every hair on my arms rise.
“Ash,” I whispered. “I think she’s—”
“Move!” He shoved me backward just as she lunged for him. She bit into his thigh, clamping down hard.
“Asher!”
He howled in pain, shouting at me to stay back, but fuck that.
I got looked around for something heavy, finally settling on my book of shadows—the only thing within reach.
The cougar came at him again, but I wasn’t about to let her hurt him this time. Magic surged through my arms, and I smashed the book down over head, feeling the power of that hit. She yelped and slunk backward into the shadows, but her retreat was short-lived.
She came toward us again, slower this time, her head based in at the top. I didn’t think she could do much damage now, but unfortunately, her companion was right behind her. He dove at Asher, catching him around the calf, tearing out a huge chunk of flesh.
I hit him, too, twice before I was convinced he couldn’t attack again.
Still, the animals didn’t leave, pawing at us even as they lost steam.
“I hate fucking cougars.” I dropped to my knees and grabbed the bandana he’d pressed to my nose earlier, wrapping it around the top part of his thigh and tying it extra tight, hoping to slow the bleeding.
“Have you ever actually tried?” he grunted out. “Older women can be quite… delightful.”
Clearly, the blood loss was already affecting his cognitive abilities. “How can you think about sex when you’re bleeding out?”
“Hi, I’m… Asher O’Keefe,” he said, his breathing becoming more labored, despite his devilish grin. “Friendly neighborhood… incubus. Maybe you’ve... heard of me?”
“You do realize you’re probably going to turn into a zombie cougar shifter now, right?”
Asher forced another smile I knew was for my benefit, the pain evident in his eyes. “No such… thing,” he panted.
“Says the incubus to the witch.” I grabbed the salt and tried to reform the circle around us, but there wasn’t enough, leaving the area in front of us totally exposed.
