Once Bitten (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #1)(85)

Turning to Shaz, I found him hovering between the front room and the spacious kitchen. I saw the conviction in his eyes, and it cut deep.

“Shaz?”

“You have his eyes.” The disbelief was strong in his tone. He could barely look me in the face.

“Shaz, I need you. Don’t you see that?” I positioned myself so that I could see the entire room.

Jez and Raoul took out two of the four table legs with a crash. A decorative fruit basket hit the floor hard enough to send grapes flying like bouncy balls.

Shaz looked at me with lost puppy eyes, and I grew desperate for him to understand. “I need you to balance out what he does to me.” I reached for him. I needed his wolf so badly that I could taste it.

“I can’t share you with him.” His jade green eyes flicked to the feasting vampire then back to me. “Lex, she’s shifting!”

When Zoey’s human body had ceased fighting for life, the wolf trapped within her was free to take over. The essence of the wolf flowed over her, and she began to shift beneath Arys. Blood spilled from his lips as he put a safe distance between himself and the writhing creature on the floor.

Raoul had Jez pinned beneath him and growled down into her face. He gripped both of her slender wrists in one hand, while the other stroked a claw along the soft skin under her chin. I didn’t waste another second. I kicked him in the temple with as much force as I could muster.

He must have been seeing stars from the way that he slumped over with both hands on his head. Jez got to her feet. I watched as she picked a chunk of long black hair from a perfectly shaped claw. Her previously sleek up do was now a mess of long, tangled curls in disarray about her shoulders.

“This isn’t good,” she murmured, watching the spectacle in the middle of the floor.

I didn’t want to watch, but what choice did I have? I whispered a prayer beneath my breath that Zoey wouldn’t get stuck in mid-shift, a horror too cruel for anyone to endure.

“Lex?” Shaz’s evident worry mirrored my own.

On the floor, Zoey writhed and flailed as if having a seizure. Her hands reached and flexed over and over as clawed fingers became fully formed paws. I wanted to look away from her face, but I just couldn’t. Her face lengthened and narrowed into a muzzle. The worst high-pitched wailing filled the house. Her shift was so slow and agonizing.

It dawned on me that shifting might be a good idea right about now. I slipped out of my top and jeans, thankful for the steady rush of power and adrenaline that prevented me from feeling any embarrassment. Once I was furry, the awkwardness would be left to Shaz and Arys.

“Watch my back.”

I directed those famous last words at Jez and my two lovers before I freed the side of me that was scratching to get out. Much like springing the latch on the cage at the zoo, I went down on my hands and knees and was wolf before they touched the floor.

This kitchen wasn’t going to be big enough for all of us if everyone decided to sprout fur. This had to end quickly. My one weakness was that in this form I had little to no use of my psychic side.

I’d have to trust Arys with that as I trusted Jez and Shaz to be the fangs and claws at my back should I need them. I had a feeling Raoul may be the unpredictable one here.

‘If I didn’t know better,’ a cool velvet voice echoed in my thoughts. ‘I might think the lady wolf has feelings for me after all. I’m honored to have your trust.’

‘How is it that you’re able to do this when I’m wolf?’ I thought back to what he’d said in the coffee shop about seeing me running with Shaz.

I knew I’d sensed his presence then, but I had been distracted by Zoey. Our link seemed to vary quite dramatically based on what form I was in. Strange.

‘Be thankful for limitations.’

Raoul leaned heavily on the kitchen counter. Heavy lines in his face betrayed his distress. Four ugly cuts marked his neck as well as his face just below his right eye. I doubted if he could stand much more.

He stared in mixed horror and relief at Zoey. With her slow metamorphosis complete, a small black female wolf stood on shaky legs and fought to get her bearings. She was wearing a wolfish expression of absolute shock. She sniffed the air and eyed each of us in turn. With a gentle swish of her thick tail, she shook off the remnants of her shredded clothing. She pawed lightly at the floor and a confused whine escaped her.

Raoul moved with the instinct of a parent to comfort her, and she turned on him in a blur of black with her hackles raised and her lips peeled back in a snarl. Hands up in defense, he stared down into her dark face with a strange look on his hard features.

I wanted to speak, to warn him not to get so close. I wasn’t sure how much of her human mind remained. All of it, I hoped.

I glanced at Arys, as if he should speak for me, but he carefully ignored my eyes.

What the hell was Raoul thinking to walk up to her like that? She could tear his balls off and spit them back in his face before he could react. Ok, maybe not. She didn’t know how to use her new body yet, but her instincts drove her actions.

“Might want to back up a little, buddy,” Arys decided to give voice to my concern.

He had moved so that he stood a few feet behind me, where he could also see the entire room. His fingertips danced with blue energy outlined in yellow gold.

Raoul didn’t look up from Zoey’s true wolf eyes. “I’m not your buddy, you useless f**king vampire.”