Page 16 of Scout’s Honor

Thorn’s eyes went wide. “What were they going to do with those women?”

Maze’s jaw hardened. “Feed from them.”

Thorn paced, shaking his head, pounding one fist into the other.

“What’s ‘The Cause’ got to do with it?” Thorn almost yelled. “What’s their goal?”

“Fill the covens with switches. Win the war,” Maze said, his voice monotone.

Thorn’s mouth twisted. “Covens? What—”

Dallas shoulder-checked Maze, throwing him shut-the-fuck-up death glares. They were supposed to be figuring Thorn out, not him figuring them out.

A noise in the bushes drew their attention.

A reddish-brown snake with a triangular pattern on its back slithered out of the undergrowth, straight toward them with its head up. Dallas jumped back, spooked.

Maze pulled a knife out of his pocket, flicked it open, and whipped it at the snake, pinning it to the ground by its head, appearing to kill it instantly.

Thorn burst toward Maze, fists up. “What the fuck? It wasn’t going to hurt you!”

Thorn swung at Maze, Maze dodged it. Thorn moved past Maze on the follow-through and disappeared down a trail.

Dallas looked at Maze and Maze stared at Dallas.

Maze hooked a thumb in the direction Thorn had gone, shrugging. “Maybe he’s vegan.”

“Bro,” Dallas said.

Maze stepped on the snake, yanked his knife out and wiped it in the grass, then he swiped it clean on his pants and put it away. He stomped on the snake’s head over and over again until it was mush, growling, “I fucking hate snakes.”

“Me fucking too,” Dallas said. “But what the fuck, bro?”

“What?” Maze challenged. “You’re not glad it’s dead?”

“Damn right I’m glad it’s dead but why’d you tell Thorn all that shit?”

Maze shrugged, his scent shifting for a moment, telling Dallas he was unsure, then he crouched, examining the snake. “Ah crap. I thought it was a copperhead which is deadly to shifters, but it’s a corn snake. Harmless.” He kicked the thing into the bushes. “Why’d it rush us?”

Movement in the bushes caught their attention. Maze backed away, his eyes on the spot. Dallas stared, too, ready to bolt if it was like, a den of snakes or something, come for revenge.

Pink glowed in the bushes, then it deepened to magenta, shaking the forest, making it look like a fairy world. Air moved past them like a tornado, whipping leaves and twigs and a woman stepped out from behind a tree ahead, directly from the center of the light. She wore a dress made of pale leather, woven through with beads. At her waist was a leather belt, weighed down by primitive-looking knives and arrowheads. Her wild black hair had acorns and small rocks tangled in it.

“Warrior Woman,” Maze breathed, sounding awed. “She’s a switch, and a-a myth, or that’s what I heard.”

“She looks real,” Dallas gasped out over the humming in his gut. Being so close to her was like being next to a live wire.

She had no scent. She drew close to Dallas with her eyes locked on his. Maze backed away. Dallas felt like kneeling, like he was standing before royalty. Warrior Woman stopped and held out her hand to Dallas, revealing a notched ring of flat leather, like the cuff to a shirt sleeve, covered with strange symbols.

She grinned at Dallas, then flicked her wrist, and the cuff somersaulted through the air. Dallas reached out and grabbed it, then examined it.

Warrior Woman stared, her eyes fixed on Dallas’ like she was trying to mind-meld with him. Dallas stared back. Her lips moved, but no words came out. All Dallas heard was rushing water.

Maze reached for it. “Lemme see.”

Warrior Woman screamed soundlessly and pointed at Maze, blasting him with pink energy. It hit Maze and turned to dozens of pink snakes, all with mouths open, pink fangs biting Maze’s arms and neck.

Maze whooped and screamed, then ran a short way and threw himself on the ground, rolling like his clothes were on fire. Warrior Woman scooped her hand closed and all the pink snakes disappeared, but blood leaked from Maze’s many snake bites.