Page 26 of Shifter Situations

Vaughn pushed at my shoulder, silently asking me to lean over so he could see what he was healing. He sucked in a harsh breath, turning his earlier grumbling on me.

“Gods, was it down to the bone? Lay on your stomach, Lo. They go halfway down the back of your thigh.”

I flipped over, giving him a full view of the damage as I thought about what he’d said. I felt the freshly knitted skin tear open again with my movements.

“I don’t know. I didn’t stop to look, and I don’t quite remember when I got the scratches, but there were teeth marks.”

His fingers were frigid as they lightly brushed across my skin, accelerating my already rapid healing. Goosebumps raced across my arms at his touch. Now really wasn’t the time to be turned on from his caring nature.

I could absolutely jump his bones—bone?—right here and not think twice about it.

Yeah. Just one bone.

From Vaughn.

Novak snorted at me from across the yard, tossing into my mind, “Just one? The fae can go all night, and you want just one?”

When Vaughn finished, I stood and brushed the dirt off of myself while I glared at my nosy vampire. I snapped my fingers out of habit, pulling a t-shirt and denim shorts to my hand before dressing.

Palmer handed Briggs a pair of jeans as my other mates wandered through the bodies. They were checking for anyone still breathing, hoping they could ask some questions. But I knew that we’d get nothing out of these rogues, and they were definitely all dead.

“Lo?” Jack called. “Did you bring Pete? Of course, you did,” he answered quietly before correcting himself. “Do you think Pete could move these bears into the Void while we get the rest of the animals in?”

“I’m sure he could. I’ll get him. Dad will have a conniption if I release his magic while he’s in the cabin.”

“Please don’t do that,” Jack whispered, rubbing his forehead.

I wasn’t dumb. Now was not the time to be testing the Alpha’s patience. Tomorrow maybe, but not today.

I walked to the porch to grab Pete in his tortoise form, placing him in the middle of the yard before removing the magic. Blaire gasped when he rose to his full, leathery form.

Obsidian tucks glimmered in the streaks of sunlight that broke free from the canopy, and his black eyes gleamed playfully. His trunk wrapped around my waist as he picked me up, dangling me upside down in front of his face.

Bay’s deep voice rose several octaves, echoing around us as he panicked. “What the fuck is that? And what are those? And where the fuck did they come from?”

“This is Pete,” I calmly replied, tapping his trunk so he would put me down. “He’s a pedmar from the Underworld. And those are hellhounds.”

“Your dogs are hellhounds,” Blaire commented absently. “I guess that makes sense. I wondered what they were when we were in Baton Rouge. They came out of nowhere to fight.”

“I don’t have dogs. I mean, I disguise them as mastiffs most of the time, yes. But if you get close enough to them, they don’t act or smell like dogs. And they were bats when we got to the party at the House of Vampyre.”

“The bat hanging from Stone’s handkerchief?”

“Mmm, that was one of the boys.”

I called the hounds’ magical collars to me because I couldn’t remember where I’d dropped them. As I put them back on the boys, Blaire watched in fascination while the glamor flowed over them.

I turned my attention to Pete, rubbing my hands down his chest as I spoke softly. “Would you mind helping us move some of these bigger animals into the Void? I’ll get you some more oranges when we’re done.”

He chirped happily, waiting for instructions, so I sent him to Jack. After listening to what we needed, Pete turned into three smaller pedmars and began pushing the bigger bodies to Grim. The reaper opened and closed the Void beside each animal that Pete cleared.

Dad stood near Grim and checked each body before it went through the Void. He had started a mental list of their species and scent, trying to figure out if he knew any of them. He knew them all so far, between his memories and the missing person reports.

I couldn’t even make myself call them shifters at this point. I hated the thought, but it was true. There was nothing human left in them when they showed up.

Just pre-programmed attack orders.

“Where did the mountain lion go?” Dad asked us when there were only four bodies left.