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It paused at the edge of my sight, and then in the distance a wolf let out a long howl. My heart lurched. They were close. Close enough that the skeleton’s head snapped around and it when running off into the trees at a full horrifying sprint.
“We have to change and run. Whoever that was is going to need help,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“What was that?” I hissed.
“We don’t know what they are,” he said. “Not yet anyway. I’ve been trying to find out, but we need to go now.”
Stepping away from me, he flexed his hands, inhaling a deep breath. He rolled his shoulders and as he flexed his bones shifted. Jamie gave a muted cry, and he doubled over onto one knee as the magic of the change overtook his body.
Turning away, I listened to his bones crack, and then a flash of light rebounded off the walls around me. The air filled with the scent of a thunderstorm, and the pack bond between us reverberated through my body. My own bones began to shift and crack. My knees gave out, and as I felt the magic consuming my human form, I met the golden eyes of a beautiful black wolf.
Light flashed around me, blinding me as the pain rolled from my head to the tip of my tail. It faded and the transformation completed.
I stepped forward and the black wolf sniffed at my neck before darting out into the night. My heart leapt into my throat, but my wolf knew what it had to do. Racing after him, I let him lead me to where the monster had gone, where the wolf no doubt would need our help. The only question was would our paws carry us there fast enough.
I caught up to Jamie just as the growls of another wolf became audible in the distance. He jerked his head, towards me, and I felt him through the pack bond, urging me to approach from the other side of the creature, to flank it. I gave him a sharp huff and took off into the trees away from him.
The clearing came up on my left as I moved, and I skidded to a halt at the edges of the skeleton’s shadow. It stood facing away from me, it’s aura swelling to the size of a giant as it swept it’s hands down at Maria.
Jamie shot out of the trees in my peripheral vision snarling, and jumping at the shadows, drawing its attention. The skeleton pivoted its blow, a swarm of black shadow slammed into his side sending him tumbling end over end into the bushes.
Anger and fear speared me through the chest, and a loud snarl ripped from my throat. I pushed off the ground, breaking through the brush, and with one bounding leap threw myself into the shadows.
Cold energy washed over me as I dove for the creature’s bony neck. My teeth clamped down on one of the bones, and my weight dropped, yanking it free as I flew off kilter.
The skeleton reared back letting out a loud shriek, and a burst of black shadow shoved me back out of it’s radius. I hit the ground feet first, and rebounded, charging forward to Maria’s side as I spit the bone out. The skeleton staggered toward us, but as another arm of shadow extended it crumbled.
Jamie snarled back on his feet, and I watched as he launched at the shadows, but missed the skeleton by a mile. An uncomfortable weight sank in my gut. He’d missed it. He couldn’t see it. I had to take the monster down.
The skeleton threw him again and he yelped as his spine connected with a tree and he disappeared out of sight. My instincts screamed that I should go to him, but that would leave Maria vulnerable.
Turning back to the skeleton, I charged a second time, this time aiming more carefully for its throat. The creature tried to swipe at me, like it had gone after Jamie, but my form passed through its outstretched hands, and my weight slammed into its chest. I bit blindly trying to angle my teeth downward. I connected with something, and as I did the skeletons boney fingers stabbed into my sides.
I whimpered at the intense pain, and clamped my jaw tighter, ripping my head back to pry the piece of spine free from it’s mooring. The world tipped upside down and I hit the ground inside the cold cloud, hot lines burned across my ribs. I felt the change slip away from me, but the darkness flooding in my vision was too much. I couldn’t stay conscious.
I fell away to the sound of howling, and someone screaming my name. “Eve!”
