Page 73 of Throwing Shade
The shifter leapt and I dropped to the floor, rolling out of his way, my cloaking in place. He landed, spun, and pawed at the ground, swinging his muzzle from side to side.
The tension in my shoulders eased. He couldn’t scent me or hear my heartbeat under my magic either. Only Zev had the ability to pierce my magic invisibility.
The golem belly-crawled toward his severed leg. “Don’t leave me with him!”
I remained silent and hidden, my mind working feverishly. A compulsion wasn’t a dybbuk possession. It wasn’t something physical to pull out of a person, and yet it did have to be removed. Was it akin to being drunk? Could I sober Laurent up, so to speak? Snap him out of it? Since once again, the issue was an abnormal shadow, there was probably some magic fix to it, but as with Rupert, I had no idea what that might be, and I didn’t have time to trial-and-error my way to success.
Plan B it was.
Six feet of corded muscle sheathed in white fur put his nose to the ground and hunted me. There wasn’t even the illusion of human skin to let me believe I was anything other than prey to him. Stress ground down my nerves, but this was all on me. I’d gone into that forest, and partnered up with the wolf, fooled by his human face.
There was nothing human behind those eyes now.
But I wasn’t Red, waiting for the hunter to save her. I was the Jabberwocky and Laurent was the vorpal blade in my employ, so he could damn well stop trying to kill me.
I ran over and snatched Emmett’s leg away. Nice and solid, a good heft to it. Jude did exceptional work.
Emmett screeched and pounded the floor in frustration.
“Shut up,” I hissed. “You’ll get it back.”
The golem looked around confused, since he couldn’t see me, then sighed and rolled onto his back.
Clutching the limb to my chest so it stayed hidden, I snuck up on Laurent, got into the stance that Sadie’s Little League coach had made me practice in order to help her at home, and swung.
Home run! I cracked the wolf across the head so hard that the clay leg snapped, the shin hitting the ceiling like a champagne cork and knocking out one of the lights. Glass tinkled to the ground.
“Fuck my life,” Emmett moaned.
The wolf skidded across the floor, his limbs flailing like a cartoon character. He crashed into the wall head first, then stumbled backward, shaking himself dazedly.
I peered at his shadow, but it blended into others on the ground, and I couldn’t tell if it was normal again. “Laurent?”
His gaze was muddled by anger and an unquestionable hunger. A wolf’s hungry expression was not a cue to put on some Barry White for a little bow chicka wow wow. It was a time of deep regret that I hadn’t gone to the gym more because I was the equivalent of a grass-fed cow.
“Are you still under BatKian’s influence, or just mad?” I said at his growl. “Look, I had to hit you to break the compulsion.” I peered closer. “I did break it, right?”
He loped towards me, his lips bared in a feral grin.
Uncertain of whether he was compulsion-free, I waved the stumpy leg frantically. “Wanna play fetch?”
“Don’t you dare,” Emmett growled. He wobbled up to standing on his one leg and motioned for his errant limb. “Give it back.”
“Go get it boy.” I flung the leg back at Emmett. It hit him in the stomach, knocking him over. “Wow. Your balance is shit. Try yoga.”
At Emmett’s loud thud, Laurent stopped and looked back at the golem. That’s when the crescent of light flared up next to the wolf.
“Laurent!” I flung my shadow at him, but didn’t reach him in time.
The blindspot engulfed him. I threw my hands up against the dazzling light with a cry, but when it winked out, the wolf stood there, unconsumed by the ohr, that supernatural life force that fueled their magic.
“Tha—that’s impossible,” I stammered.
The wolf flashed me a very familiar look of impatience, flicking his tail at me, his shadow echoing the gesture with its normal fluidity. He threw back his head and howled a torrent of rage, pain, and frustration that echoed off the walls. At least the compulsion was gone.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to kill me all on his own initiative for clubbing him.
“Feel free to thank me for returning you to your right mind.” I backed away in quick jerky steps that turned into a sprint as the predator charged me in a cloud of explosive violence. I tensed for the bite of his jaws tearing through bone, but the wolf raced past me, ramming the door until it splintered open and he escaped.
