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I need a goddamn weapon, or I’m toast against whatever’s out there.
I rummaged through the bag and found a long, curved knife. I would have preferred a gun, but I didn’t have time to learn the ins and outs of one of Naxer’s projectile weapons by touch. Close to the dog, I could tell he was on such high alert he was trembling.
That’s when I heard it. A long, horrified male scream that was suddenly choked off. Male shouting. And a growl even deeper and more thunderous than Chaser’s.
What the hell is that?
I crouched and tried to move forward along the thin trail that Naxer had left when he cut through the underbrush. Chaser stepped between me and the path with a low whine. He wouldn’t budge, and he moved to intercept when I tried to get around him. Naxer must have ordered Chaser to guard me from whatever was out there.
“Dammit, dog, I’m a warrior myself. Naxer is in trouble and needs backup.” Shoving him was like trying to move a furry boulder. But he never snapped at me, not once.
I heard another scream and knew I had to do something the dog wouldn’t expect. I jumped onto his back and climbed into the wide, padded saddle.
Chaser froze, whining in confusion, his head tilting back to look at me. I paused for a moment, wondering if I could hop over to his other side and get past him. But when I tried, he expected it from the shift in my weight and corrected, dumping me back onto his back.
“Naxer needs us,” I yelled.
I grabbed his scruff like I’d seen the slavers do with their mounts, and to my surprise, he bolted forward, forcing me to hang on tight with my arms and legs. Chaser raced along the path his master must have cut, while I ducked as low as I could, praying we didn’t blunder into anything predatory.
The sounds of a fight grew louder and more distinct as we drew nearer.
I could see lights gleaming up ahead like the white-hot, spark-dropping torches of the slavers, throwing the jungle into sharp contrast. The lights danced back and forth as the shadows of aliens dashed back and forth, suddenly joined by a figure easily twice Chaser’s size.
Chaser slowed to a stop, maybe a city block away from the action, just in time for us to stumble across our first corpse.
It was a slaver.
My eyes widened as I saw the familiar armor, the pointed ears and horns, and the pain stick still hanging from his belt. I looked up and saw three other slaver guards still up and fighting, using their torches and blasters to fend off a giant, four-legged beast with fur the color of moonlit snow.
That had to be Naxer in his wolf form.
A wolf who could have carried Chaser like a puppy. Four-legged, each one with taloned paws and opposable thumbs, a long tail thrust out and up with dominance. Massive hackles bristled. Its eyes, wide with fury, were the gold of an alien sunset.
The massive beast was killing the slavers.
Loosening my grip on Chaser’s ruff, I stared as the wolf severed a slaver’s arm with one sweep of a forelimb and sent the slaver’s torch tumbling into the underbrush. Then the beast snatched off the alien’s head with another. Blood spattered over its silver fur.
The other two slavers broke into a run. One wailed in pure terror, and as I watched him flee on foot, his mount nowhere to be found, the beast caught him in one agile leap and seized him, flinging him so hard against a far tree trunk that his screams cut short and he went limp. He slid down the tree, leaving a streak of dark blood that told me he wasn’t getting up again.
I was enjoying those bastards getting ripped apart. The small group of slavers must have realized I’d escaped from their rustic jail and come looking for me. Unfortunately for them, they had blundered into Naxer in his roving predator form.
But what if, when the wolf destroyed the last of them, he turned his eye toward me? Did the wolf have the intelligence to recognize me as friend, not foe? I wasn’t going to test the theory.
“Okay. Time to go, Chaser.” I slapped his rump, but Chaser didn’t move. His ears were up, and his tail was fanning as he watched the wolf’s destruction. “Chaser, focus here…”
He ignored me, so I slid off him stealthily.
The last of the slavers let out his death scream, and I glanced over to see the wolf making his way across the clearing, heading toward me.
Oh shit.
The gigantic creature sniffed the air, then lowered its head to look at me again. It chuffed and sneezed, then ambled over, tail fanning casually. It didn’t look ready to attack. Maybe I was lucky. Maybe he was full.
Or maybe the wolf recognized me and was feeling playful.
Chaser’s tail wagged, his ears up. He play-bowed and barked excitedly.
The beast stopped a few yards away, cocking its head at me. Its tongue lolled for a moment and it sneezed again. And then…
