Gemini stalked toward the door. “It’s getting closer. Everyone outside—now!”
“I don’t want Shayna involved,” Koda growled.
Gemini furrowed his brows. “There’s no choice, Koda. It’s too late to get them to safety.”
Shayna jetted past me, her determination tensing her slender frame while fear blanched her face. She was spooked. And yet there she was the first one out the door. Koda and I bolted after her. I didn’t understand her need to race ahead of us, especially given her blatant terror. I stopped short of plowing into her when she stumbled to a halt on the snowy front lawn. She froze, her focus glued toward the sloping entrance of our neighborhood.
I froze, too, when I saw what had crashed the party. Oh, hell no.
What appeared to be a giant maggot, the size of a city bus, slithered and crept its way along our cul-de-sac in wet and small slimy bounces.
Gemini rushed to my side. “Taran,” he growled, “put the neighbors to sleep—as many as you can. No one else needs to see this.”
I wished she could have done the same for me. The thing looked nasty. I didn’t remember Buffy having to deal with this shit.
Taran stepped forward, releasing ribbons of blue and white mist from her core. They spread like widening translucent streamers encasing the neighborhood in a light fog. Unfortunately for Mrs. Mancuso, that was the moment she chose to storm out of her house to harass us. “Taran Wird! What in the name of sin are you up to?” Mrs. Mancuso’s eyes crossed the moment she inhaled Taran’s mist. She flipped over the porch railing and landed in her hedges, snoring the moment her orthopedic shoes hit the lawn. It was a tense moment, yet one that couldn’t stifle Taran’s chuckle.
The wolves changed and prowled toward the Tribemaster. Danny, the pack’s newest werewolf, awkwardly followed suit. Poor guy, he hadn’t signed up to go furry. Bren had turned him following a near-death battle a few months back. The others moved with predatory grace, their heads lowered and their ears pinned back. Their actions promised a vicious assault and a battle to the death. Poor Danny just concentrated hard to put one paw in front of the other. The giant larva lifted his wobbly head when he saw them approach, though his eyes weren’t visible through the rolls of pale gray flesh. His voice sounded wet, garbled, and sinister as his giant lips peeled back to reveal a mouthful of serrated fangs. “Bring me Celia Wird and I might let you live.”
Emme’s breath caught. “Could he be the one who tried to kill you last night, Celia?” she whispered.
Maggots weren’t known for their hearing. This one did just fine. His wrinkled face shot in my direction. He didn’t know me when he’d first arrived, but now he did. He roared, furious and loud, his black tongue shooting out past his daggerlike choppers. “Mine!”
“Sorry, Celia,” Emme squeaked.
I answered my attacker with a roar of my own, my anger and fear calling forth my protector. I took the offensive and ran toward him, yelling at the wolves to destroy the brain. My sweater and jeans ripped like Velcro from my almost four-hundred-pound tigress form as my claws broke through the frozen surface of the snow.
The wolves and I attacked as one. I leapt and dug my claws and fangs into where I thought his skull might be. His skin bounced like thick, rubbery gelatin—really nasty, slimy gelatin. I raked his flesh; it felt like I was scratching an oversized bouncy ball with human nails. He shook his head sharply, more to buck me off, and definitely not because I was inflicting much damage. I flipped back and sprinted around him the moment my paws touched the freezing asphalt. I circled him, searching for a weak spot. Strange rounded spikes protruded along the length of his back. I didn’t think they were meant to enhance his beauty and hoped we’d kill him before we discovered their true purpose.
A wolf howled in pain as I leapt onto the Tribemaster’s back. The maggot struck Danny hard with his monstrous head. Danny staggered back, trying to escape.
The Tribemaster flung his giant tongue out his mouth and spiraled it around Danny. He lifted him high into the air and slammed him repeatedly against the road. I drove my claws into two pink spots on the Tribemaster’s head, mistaking them for eyes precisely the moment my sword-wielding sister stepped in.
Shayna sliced off the Tribemaster’s tongue with an expert flick of her wrist. He roared in pain and spewed Shayna with black-colored fluid. The inky mess knocked her back, blanketing her completely. She rolled to her feet, narrowly dodging his snapping fangs.
I yanked my claws free, pulling out what resembled long, wrinkled, fluid-filled earlobes. I realized too late they were his testes. Oh, gawd. I shook my paws like a madwoman—or, rather, an extremely skeeved-out tigress. One of them landed on the hood of Taran’s new car, splattering the windshield with thick pink foam; the other exploded all over Danny’s back. He yipped excitedly over the Tribemaster’s roars, knowing I’d caused some damage, but sadly oblivious to the amount of supernatural se**n coating his bluish fur. Perhaps that was a good thing.
I shook off the disturbing chills buzzing down my spine. I didn’t like how close the maggot’s fangs were to Shayna, and neither did Koda. We landed at her side. Koda caught one of the larger fangs between his jowls and pulled with the force of his entire body. He extracted the tooth, causing the creature to writhe in agony. I tackled Shayna out of the way just before his head whipped back, barely missing us. His skull landed so hard it rattled the neighborhood and cracked the road. Danny wasn’t so lucky. The Tribemaster nailed him in the ribs and sent him flying into our neighbor’s yard. He landed with a loud crack and his head twisted in the opposite direction. I shoved Shayna back toward the house with my body and growled at her to stay put. Her fear was making her reckless. I worried she’d get hurt. When she didn’t make an effort to return, I raced back to check on the others.
Emme knelt over Danny, trying to heal his broken neck. Liam perched at the top of the screaming creature’s head. All I could see were his back legs and his wagging tail as he burrowed his way through the thick gray flesh and toward the creature’s brain. Black blood and chunks of flesh splattered his brown fur. He’d caused major damage. In a few more feet he’d cast the blow to end the Tribemaster’s life. Koda distracted the creature from attacking Liam by continuing his role as the periodontist from hell. Extracted fangs littered the street like piles of bones.
Taran stood in the middle of the road, generating wicked blue and white fire and waiting to strike should Liam fail. She was in a good spot—safe, and ready to sear the Tribemaster’s hide. I joined Gemini and Bren, who gnawed at the creature’s side trying to reach the vulnerable underbelly. I raked with my claws and pierced the flesh until I caught something long and slick reaching for my throat. I veered out of the way, narrowly missing the long wet tongues that ensnared my friends. The tongues had emerged from the spikes lining the Tribemaster’s back. They squeezed, cutting through the wolves’ fur and into their flesh.
I sliced through the tongue, tightening around Bren’s large neck, only to have another whip me across the face and pull Bren tighter. Gemini howled, calling the pack. Another tongue encircled his muzzle, sealing it tight and silencing him. Usually another were would answer his howl. My ears strained to hear a reply. None came. The pack wasn’t coming, and we needed help.
Having a master vampire for a guardian angel had its advantages. I concentrated on Misha and called him through the connection he’d passed to me long ago. Misha, I’m under attack. Get your Armani-clad butt over here.
I fought the other tongues trying to snatch me while I clawed my way up the creature’s back. I sliced Bren free and charged toward Gemini. Gemini’s oil-black wolf snarled and something cracked. A second identical wolf punched through his back, severing the tongues with a powerful snap of his fangs. My tail flicked with excitement. Watching Gemini split into two wolves never got old.