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I dart forward, past trees and over logs, when two silhouettes linger straight ahead.
But I keep running, my wolf refusing to pause. The inner battle inside me is like two animals fighting for control. Next thing I know, I’m veering directly into a pine tree.
My wolf silences, and I use that moment to sniff the air. The pungent reek confirms the creatures are Shadow Monsters.
Ruffling myself, savagery plays through my veins, and I lunge toward the newcomers.
Foliage crunches under the feet of two undead lurching forward, their heads suddenly jerking upward like something’s caught their attention. Something behind me.
Dušan.
My heart pounds just as my wolf unleashes a dangerous snarl.
I fly past a dense bank of trees and charge for the first creature. Crashing into it, I bring it down with a thud to the ground. The sharp snap of my teeth crunching bones in its shoulder cuts through the silent woods. Tainted, stale, putrid blood coats my tongue, and I release my grip. Even my wolf agrees and backs off.
The breeze whips around me, and I coil around, throwing myself into a sprint after the second Shadow Monster.
I glance at the four other undead standing in the woods, watching like spectators at an arena.
I close the distance between me and the new fiend, then I slam into its back, flattening it in a heartbeat. I lash out, sinking my teeth into the back of its neck. I’m certain biting them will be more reliable then scratching. His flesh is tight and hard. Like before, I lurch off him right afterward, and shake my head to get the taste out of my mouth.
Wrenching my gaze over my shoulder, I watch the first Shadow Monster stagger to its feet. The shoulder I’ve bitten into slopes lower than the other, dark blood oozing from the wound down its gaunt, bare chest.
I’ve done my deed, and while my wolf is still coping with the putrid taste in our mouth, I shove her deep within me. The flare of energy clamps around me, and I suck in rapid breaths, calling to my human side.
Darkness rises in my mind as she fights the transformation, her hunger spilling through me like a river breaking its banks. Panic grips me, but I won’t give in, won’t let her take control, won’t let her win.
The air pulses. I clench my whole body and shove her aside.
A warning growl cracks past my throat, shuddering me right to my bones.
No, you don’t.I stiffen, holding myself strong… She is mine and I won’t let an animal take me. I shove her energy as far as possible within me. Grasping that moment of reprieve, I fling myself out.
My change tears through me. I wince at the agony, at the drumming of my heart. I stumble upright on two feet, falling into the arms of a tree.
That was too damn close. She’s getting harder and harder to control.
I turn to the encroaching undead, watching everything, waiting to see its behavior.
The second one is climbing to its feet as well.
There’s no sign of Dušan, but if the Shadow Monsters gained his scent earlier, they’ll keep following him.
“Please stop,” I whisper. Holding myself tightly, I glance from one fiend to the next.
In unison, they both come to an abrupt halt a couple of feet in front of me. They stare at me with blank, dead eyes.
A hulking outline emerges from the shadows from the direction of the cave. Dušan steps forward, and his eyes are wide, shock palpable on his face. What is he thinking? What a freak I am?
“Fuck, you did it!” he says, and his words soften the hardness in my chest.
“Where there were four, now we have six.” I grin at him.
He closes in to my side, and none of the monsters are going for him. They literally don’t sense him. “This is incredible.”
I look over and search his eyes. “Maybe this is going to work. I think six will be plenty. Easy for me to command and we can go do this now. Sneak into the compound. Right?”
The corner of his mouth twitches with tightness. “We only get one chance to take him by surprise with the zombies. So we need more of them, as Mad’s guards know how to take out the undead.”
