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Because even though I tell myself this will never happen again, my body already craves more.
I don’t know how long I’m out for, but it doesn’t feel like much time at all before something shatters my dreamless sleep.
Crash.
My eyes fly open as my heart jumps.
I’m on my back in the fancy bed, staring at the gold fabric draped over the posts. I blink away the grogginess and try to get control of my senses to figure out what awoke me.
Turning my head, I glance at the window. There’s the slightest hint of early dawn on the horizon, though the sky is still dark.
I pause in the silence, waiting.
Another crash echoes through the house. It shakes the bed, and I jerk upright immediately, grabbing the post near my head. This time, raised voices meet my ears. Not any of my companions.
Unfamiliar voices.
Outside.
I launch off the mattress and race to the window.
Small beams of light bob around the house. At least a dozen of them, spread out as far as I can see. Whatever’s out there has come for us.
And I’m pretty fucking sure it isn’t shadows this time.
Chapter 19
My boots pound down the wooden stairs in time with my heartbeat, laces trailing on the floor from where I didn’t bother to tie them. Kian, Frost, and Malix are already in the foyer when I arrive, circled up in conference next to the broken front door.
A strong breeze and the sound of voices raised in anger and alarm drift through the crevice in the wood left from Kian’s assault last night.
“It’s humans,” I say, my heart leaping into my throat. “Just humans.”
All I can imagine is these men shifting to their shadow wolf forms and destroying every human life out there. Because that’s what I know they’re capable of.
Malix rolls his shoulders and looks over at me, unamused. “‘Just humans with guns. They’re not here to play cops and robbers with us.”
Kian nods his agreement. “Our best guess is they’re the humans who witnessed us battling the shadows in the motel parking lot. Humans aren’t accustomed to seeing the supernatural, and they’re reacting accordingly.”
I gape at him. “By coming to kill us?”
Kian just looks at me like I’m an idiot. “What would you do if you didn’t understand something that looked like it could eat you?”
“Not fucking engage it,” I snap.
“Then you’re smarter than the cattle outside.”
I glare at him. “They aren’t cattle. How’d they know to come here?”
Frost answers me. “Erik was not a subtle witch. They’ve probably suspected him of it for a long time. So when they saw some other shit they couldn’t explain tonight, he was probably the first person they thought of.”
“Not to mention,” Malix adds, “our bikes are just down the road from this place. Where else are shadow-fighting superheroes gonna be except at the local Merlin’s joint?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re not a superhero.”
“Speak for yourself, kitty.”
The walls shudder again, and I jolt, glancing toward the back of the house. “That came from the back door.”
