AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That was when I noticed it. My shifter sense of smell might have been nullified, but my inner wolf still stalked through my mind, awake and watching. It felt no connection to this woman. There was no pull, no desire, no need. My inner wolf knew the truth my eyes couldn’t see. The hairs on my arm stood on end as I took a hesitant step away from her.
I needed to kill it. There were seconds left until the timer ended, but I couldn’t do it. She looked, moved, spoke, and acted exactly like Kira. I couldn’t force myself to hurt the thing, even though I knew in the depths of my soul that it wasn’t her. Even the thought of crashing my fist into that beautiful face made me want to throw up. My body froze with indecision as my breath came in quick, panicked gasps. I couldn’t tear my eyes from her.
Seeing my distress, Kira frowned and took a step toward me. “Wyatt? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” She took a step toward me.
“Don’t,” I gasped, holding out a hand to ward her off.
Her face softened and her voice dropped to a whisper. “What’s the matter? Did you see something you didn’t like?” she cooed. A hungry and wicked spark flashed in her eyes.
A scream ripped through the room, and she and I turned to look. Abel had broken a champagne bottle and now brandished its jagged edge toward Tate.
“Back up, motherfucker. Iknowyou’re the changeling,” Abel snarled through gritted teeth.
Terrified, Tate took a step back. “Hey, man, watch it with that thing. It’s not me, I swear.”
Abel lunged, swiping at Tate with the makeshift weapon. “That’s exactly what a changeling would say.”
A deep, resonant bell chimed, ending the ten-minute timeframe.
Kira turned back to me. “Isn’t that cute? The little shifter thinks he knows what I’d say.”
Her face twisted into a grin of determined rage, and she leaped toward me, slashing a hand at my face. When her palm struck me, I felt pain through my skull like I’d been hit by a car. I fell backward.
“Oh, shit,” I grunted, pushing away from her.
Kira stalked toward me as the rest of the contestants ceased their own arguments and backed away. Even as I watched her walk closer to me, I couldn’t force myself to believe that it wasn’t actually Kira.
“Holy shit,” Tate barked, pointing toward us. “It’s Kira. She’s the changeling.”
“What’s wrong, Wyatt?” she said, drawing nearer. “Didn’t like my little love tap? Maybe you should spread your legs, and then I can show you what I can really do.”
Scrambling to my feet, I held my hands out in front of me. “Stay back. Stop, Kira. Stop it.”
Now only a few feet away, she jammed her hands onto her hips and put on a fake pouty frown. “Aww, don’t you like me anymore? Come give me a kiss. Then we can make up. Maybe…” She raised an eyebrow. “I can have you for dinner. Oops, I meant, have you over for dinner.”
A surprised shout exploded from my throat as the Kira-thing leaped toward me again. On pure instinct, I shifted, dropping to all fours and sidestepping her as her fingers grasped the air where I’d been a moment before. The Kira-thing stopped mid-stride, spun, and kicked out with her foot, catching me in the side. It was like being kicked by a horse. I spun through the air, landing on a cocktail table. Glasses of champagne went flying through the air. Gods, this thing was strong.
The table shattered under me, and as I fell, I flipped and landed on my feet. Everything in my mind screamed at me that this was not Kira, it was the changeling. Knowing that, I still hesitated to attack. I couldn’t do it. What if it was her, and the fuckers running the show had given her some kind of potion to screw with her head? For all I knew, she was some kind of distraction from the actual monster.
“Wyatt, watch out!” The warning came from J.D. as he took a few steps toward me as though to help.
I shook my head and gave a warning growl.
J.D. frowned but did as I’d asked. None of these alphas had my training. I wasn’t about to get someone else killed.
The Kira-thing advanced again. I had to do something. Even if this really was Kira, whatever they’d done to her had made her go crazy. I had to incapacitate her somehow. Jumping forward, I slammed all four of my paws into her chest, shoving her back. She tumbled and fell, cracking her head on a table as she went down.
The dull thud as her skull hit the table made me sick inside. Part of me wanted to rush to her side and see if she was okay, the other part screamed at me to finish the fight. Before I could decide what to do, the Kira-thing sat up. She didn’t look like she was in pain at all, even with the blood pouring from the gash in her head.
“Enough playing,” she hissed at me.
Terror had me almost shifting back spontaneously. The horror that rose in my chest was beyond anything I’d ever felt. Kira’s face melted away, revealing a warped and twisted maw of twitching tentacles, writhing and dangling to her chest. Her shoulders slumped then rose, turning into pointed and jagged protrusions, almost like horns. Her delicate fingers and hands swelled and elongated into mottled, green-skinned digits tipped with razor-sharp talons.
“What is that?!” Abel screamed.
“Are you good?” Mika asked, taking a lunge forward.
The thing lashed out, backhanding Mika in the chest and sending him tumbling to the ground. Mika cursed in irritation rather than pain.
