Page 40 of The Shade of Things
There was a pause. Emmett cleared his throat. “Uh, toots, I don’t know how to break it to you, but that wasn’t me.”
A loud, hoarse rumble like a saw rasping through wood shattered the unnatural silence.
I flinched and ducked like it had been gunfire, my eyes snapping open.
A leopard stalked toward us from the far end of the bridge, its pale blue eyes glinting. Had I seen it on a nature documentary, I’d have proclaimed its fluid prowl magnificent. Now I clenched my bladder as tightly as the rope.
The animal roared again, the sound shivering up my spine a fraction of a second ahead of the goosebumps I got when it cracked its powerful jaws.
Eli pulled his gun and fired twice. He hit the beast in the shoulder but missed its foreleg. Crimson blossomed against the rosette-patterned fur, but the animal barely stumbled, intent on getting to us.
Falling had dropped to second place on my list of fears so I manifested my scythe and let go of the rope. I’d like to say that I ran at the leopard, weapon aloft like a knight of yore, but I shuffled forward, hacking at the shifter. “Shoo!”
A low growl rent the air, a blood- and mud-splattered wolf stalking us from behind. His steel-gray claws extended from massive paws, tapping against the boards like a clock counting down seconds. He was easily two hundred pounds, and his filthy fur bristled over rippled muscles. The beast flared his nostrils and swung his large, blunt muzzle. He curled his lips to bare incisors sharp enough to slice through his prey like butter.
A tiny sigh escaped me; I was rooted to the spot in wonder.
Emmett cowered behind his hands. “Why am I such a tasty little succulent? I’m too young to die.”
Three things happened in rapid succession: the leopard broke into a run, Eli fired his gun at it again, and the wolf roared in fury, shaking the wooden slats.
“Cloak us!” Eli cried.
I was too stunned to disobey. As the mesh locked down around our trio, a furry torso flew overhead.
The wolf bowled right into the leopard, the two locked in a vicious grapple as the bridge swayed.
I stifled a scream. I couldn’t draw attention to us, but this bridge wasn’t built to handle this much weight. If we fell…
Emmett’s flask flew out of his pocket and he lunged for it, but it sailed over the side into the void. The golem whimpered.
Eli dropped into shooter stance, his legs planted firmly on the bouncing slats.
“Don’t fire! The wolf could have easily gotten the jump on us but he didn’t. He’s defending us.” In my urgency to stop Eli, I rushed my words, the sentences coming out in a fast, sharp burst. “It’s Laurent.”
The beast assaulted the leopard in a flurry of bites, but the feline sank its fangs into its attacker’s neck, using its claws to drive the wolf off the bridge.
“That’s not possible.” Eli narrowed his eyes. “No, that wolf is simply taking out his own enemy.”
“I know when it’s him.” Releasing the rope, I dropped our cloaking and stepped closer to the fight, but Emmett hauled me backward.
“Are you crazy, exposing us like that?” Emmett hissed.
The wolf’s back paws slipped off the edge of the bridge, and Eli raised his weapon because he now had a clear line of sight to the leopard, but if he hit that animal, Laurent would be knocked over the side.
I smacked Eli’s elbow away, the bullet going wide and the sound startling the two animals.
The wolf sank his teeth into the leopard’s flank, using the weight of the other animal to drag himself back onto the bridge, but the feline swiped along the wolf’s torso and got free.
It leapt up as if to attack from above, but the wolf reared onto his hind legs, six feet of lethal predator, and tore into the feline’s underbelly. Blood cascaded over the dirty white fur.
“Fuck me,” Emmett exhaled.
Eli lined up another shot.
“Stop it!” I cried, wrenching Eli’s arm down. “You’ll hit him.”
The wolf shook the leopard then slammed the animal to the bridge with such force that it broke three slats.
