over here and knock him out before he kills us all.”
Frowning at his words, my mind sluggish from the hit, I figured it was human hunters, but that is a thought for another time. I hand myself over to my beast and he rips from my body, tearing my shoulder from the wood and shredding through muscle and skin until my arm hangs uselessly at my side.
Kicking my way out of the car, I watch the men circle me, with a cocky looking woman chanting beside him, her hands aimed towards me. Something knocks into my chest, and with a roar I realise it is a sleeping spell. If I sleep now, I will die, or worse—be captured.
Sniffing the air, I smell coyote, wolf, and vamp. I huff through my nose and stamp at the floor, and dodge another sleeping spell.
Charging at anyone I can, I rip through their masses. I ignore the pain as they tear at my body, trying to stop me. Spell after spell meets my skin until I stumble.
Shaking my head from the confusion and tiredness, I keep moving, but I am sluggish and it feels like I’m pushing through water. The world tilts sideways, but I keep fighting when three more spells rapidly hit me, sending me to my knees.
Looking up, unable to move, I glare at everyone but their shapes are blurry. “Time to sleep, beast,” a woman’s voice coos, before another spell slams directly into my head. I am asleep before I hit the ground.
When we get back to Griffin’s, we all just sit in silence. Tonight went well, too well. Surely it can’t be that easy to earn a crime lord’s trust? Victoria did seem struck by Dawn and impressed, so who knows.
For another night, we have nothing to do. No one to kill or hunt, and it is obvious by the way we all sit looking at each other that we do not know what to do. I feel like we should be moving or doing something.
“So, we just wait for her call about Tim and any information? What about The Others?” Griffin asks, obviously itching for a fight.
“We wait for these meetings with other races, and if Victoria finds something, we could hunt for them tonight, but I think we should lay low after the meeting. They obviously know someone is on to them,” I suggest and Dawn nods, sitting back.
“Did you get many responses on your phone?” she inquires, leaning into Griffin. I don’t think she even noticed she did it, but he looks down at her like she is breakable and awkwardly drapes his arm over her shoulder. He looks tense and I wonder if he has ever cuddled a girl before. He keeps throwing her worried looks and I can’t help but soften towards him. For all his faults, he has had a hard life and he seems to want happiness but he is not sure how to have it. Like someone might just snatch it away at any time.
“You heard my talk with the wolves, and I am meeting with the fae next week. I also left a message for the vamp queen of the city and the trolls. I managed to get through to the bears and they are happy to convene. I still need to ring Rgar, who is in charge of all the other shifters in the city like rats, snakes, foxes, deer, and so on. Their numbers are low so they tend to band together.” Crossing my legs, I list off as many as I can, wanting Dawn to know a bit more about this world she has found herself in.
“Wow, I guess I never realised how many there are. Okay, why don’t you ring him now, and then we can settle in for the night?” she suggests, like she is forgetting something. After all this, she could use some downtime. I might offer to show her my land or the fae kingdom—of course the fallen will have to come too.
“Of course, Little Monster.” I grin, grabbing my phone and scrolling through my contacts.
“I just realised, I don’t have your numbers...or a phone anymore. I must have lost it in the trousers I was wearing when we flew,” she mutters, her face clouding over, and I know she is thinking about the night she died and everything she lost. As selfish as it sounds, I’m glad it happened. I hate that she was hurt and betrayed, but it brought her to me.
“You