Ray grimaced. “I’m going to take a leak.” He turned abruptly toward the trees and wandered away without looking back.
I bent over and opened the bin on the ground. “Let’s get this stuff packed,” I said. “The vamps should be here soon.”
Tyler, Danny, and I stuffed our backpacks with as much as they would hold: food, water, clothes, and essentials. The truck would be home base if it took longer to find Selene. If we wanted to, we could simply strap a mini fridge on our backs. Weight wasn’t an issue, but you can’t defend against an attack with a fridge strapped to your back.
The sky darkened around us, the sun dipping below the horizon. Tyler went into the woods to sample the air and scout the path. Ray perched on a dead log wrapped in his own thoughts. I stood from where I’d been sitting on the edge of the bumper as the last of the daylight flooded from the sky, expecting the vamps’ imminent arrival. “Danny, are you—”
The pack I’d been holding in my hands slid from my grasp.
I collapsed to my knees in the next breath.
My wolf snarled, barking fiercely in my mind.
It’s… another spell attack, I said to her. Like the one we had last night. But she already knew. The red lines amassed themselves quickly in my mind as my wolf snapped and ripped at them as fast as she could.
My body began to lock up, and I watched in horror as my hands and fingers became engulfed in red. The spell spread like scarlet vines up my arms. This time it was happening much quicker. Fuckity, f**k, f**k. I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were shutting down. Danny’s shocked face hovered above mine.
Was I lying on my back?
“What the bloody hell is going on?” Danny yelled, but it sounded like he was under water.
I closed my eyes.
Someone shook me. “Hannon, wake the f**k up. You’re turning red.”
“Hold on to her arms,” Tyler barked, but he sounded muffled and far away.
I convulsed. I felt it, but I was only vaguely aware. My wolf howled. I tried to hold on to consciousness, but I was losing focus fast. My wolf ripped at more of the lines, snarling wildly. We have to share power and attack it together, or we can’t win. Without coupling our strength, we wouldn’t make it. She growled at me, still attacking the sea of red in front of her with single-minded intent.
The entire spell meshed together like a honeycomb of lines, and I knew once it coated my mind completely there would be no way out. I pried open my eyes, but my field of vision was completely red. We have to combine our strength now. My wolf stopped biting and focused on me. A slow pulse tingled through my fingertips. No, you have to blast me! Like when we shift to Lycan form. She peered at me through the haze of my mind, tilting her head like she was trying to understand. Her eyes were unfocused and she faltered slightly. That’s why I hadn’t gotten any power from her. This time the spell had affected her, as well as my physical body. It was adapting, getting stronger. If we don’t snap out of it, we die here.
In a single moment, I made a decision.
With the last strength I had left, I blew open the opaque barrier between us. In an instant my wolf and I snapped together as one. My fingernails shot to sharp points and my canines dropped within the span of a heartbeat. Power shot through my senses like a lightning bolt as my muscles coalesced and fur sprang to the surface.
“What is she doing?” Ray yelled, dropping one of my arms.
“She’s fighting it; that’s what she’s doing,” Danny said. “Stand back. This could get ugly before it gets any better.”
On a thread of consciousness I put my wolf in control. As the energy shifted to her completely, she let out a fierce snarl, and as she did it, my mouth opened and I could hear the sound reverberate in my eardrums. It was terrifying.
“Holy shit.” I barely heard Tyler’s voice over the rushing in my ears.
Instead of snapping at the lines, my wolf closed her eyes, gathering as much power as she could to her. I understood what she was doing and, as my muscles pulsed and grew, I threaded all the energy to her as fast as I could. You have to hurry. I can’t keep it up. It’s too much. Her eyes snapped open and she lifted her muzzle to let out another grating howl. The power streamed out of her mouth in one huge mass of energy and exploded through my senses like a fireball. My body jumped like it’d been defibrillated. The power manifested itself in a shock of white and annihilated the red lines like a nuclear blast, racing through my veins, wiping everything clean in a single sweep. As the energy wound its way through every cell in my body, I felt exhilarated.
My eyes flashed open.
It was dark and I was on my back.
The red haze was completely gone. I sat up in my Lycan form, half wolf, half human.
“Jesus Christ, Hannon,” Ray breathed. His voice held both awe and revulsion. “What are you?”
“I’m a Lycan, Ray.” My voice sounded like rocks bouncing around a garbage disposal as air grated over my distorted throat.
Danny stepped forward first. “You turned completely red this time. That was too close for comfort.”
There was movement in the tree line. My head shot to the noise, my senses still on high alert.