Page 11 of Cherry Moon

Still ringing.

“Shit.”

The line went dead.

I tried again, my blood pressure spiking. “Come on, Aki.”

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

The sensation of wrongness didn’t let up. I knew myself well enough to trust my instincts. I’d built a career as a beta wolf to the High Alpha honing those skills, knowing to listen to them.

My hunches were never wrong.

Without a second thought, I tore out of the office and jumped into my car.

“I’m coming, Aki.”

CHAPTER FOUR

AKIRA

Islammed my bionic fist into the gelatinous orange creature hopping on its scrawny pink chicken legs. The metal knuckles bounced off the rubbery surface, sending me careening backward onto the sofa.

Hmmm. Not as squishy as it looked.

“Fool!” it cried, with no sign of a mouth or any other orifice on its body. “The Taker is no match for me!”

The what now?

I hauled myself over the back of the sofa and launched myself toward my bedroom to the left of the kitchen. Legs pumping, anger sparking to life.

This fucker clearly wasn’t gonna be scared off easily.

We’ll see.

“Run! Run! Run!” the creature bellowed after me.

Diving into a slide, I dove my flesh arm under the bed, slipping into focused mode. As a former hunter for hire, I knew my way around violence.

Why me? a tiny voice whined. Why can’t I just kick back and ignore this shit?

“Taker!” the blobby chicken freak cried. “Your end is nigh! I will clear your filth! Clear your filth for glory!”

Uh-huh.

My fingers found the hilt of one of my katanas. Once upon a time, I could stick out my hand and call for them. Not anymore.

A damn shame.

I dragged the weapon out, springing to my feet as the thing bounded into the room.

“Taker!”

Sticky ooze ran down the blob, dripping onto the newly laid duck-egg blue carpet. It looked like it would stain, and possibly burn a hole in it.