Pain sears through my scalp, and I grit my teeth.
Once standing, he gazes down at me with glazed eyes, and his full lips open as he mouth-breathes heavily. “You’s a feisty one. You know that? I’s like that.”
I swallow a cry of pain and jab him below the ribs. Following that, I nail him in the knee cap with a kick. He grunts and begins to fall but keeps his hand knotted in my hair.
Dammit. That didn’t go as planned.
Declan lands on top of me. Panic sets in as his heavy weight settles, crushing my ribs.
I yelp when the burning in my scalp increases. He’s pulling on my hair to steady himself. The only positive aspect of this fucked-up experience is that the gila monster has disappeared. In other words, I only have one toxic creature to contend with.
Declan relaxes more on top of me, and his large body is now completely covering mine. “That’s more like it.” He leers.
I push against him, intent on getting him off me, but he’s so heavy it’s hard to move, let alone force him away. It doesn’t help that the backpack is making it even harder to move. I’m squished between him and it.
“You’re a nice piece of ass, you’s know that?” He’s slurring again, and I can barely breathe. “It was the first thing I’s thought when I saw you. Those curvy hips, nice legs, and full tits. I’s wondered what it’d feel like to have you beneath me. I’s—”
I spit in his face, which stops his monologue.
But before I can act further, a blinding slap explodes on my cheekbone, catching me completely by surprise. Stars shine in my vision.
“You’s gonna pay for that!” He yanks my head more before reaching for his pants. The sound of his zipper opening comes next.
No! I begin thrashing wildly.
He pulls my hair again, making me yelp. “Don’t fight this, or I’s—”
A terrifying growl comes from my left. The deep menacing sound has my eyes widening just as a flash of tawny fur enters my peripheral vision.
Collin?
Declan cries out when the wolf barrels into him. One minute the drunk is on me, and the next second he’s off.
I scramble back, the grainy sand cutting into my hands just as Collin pins Declan beneath him. Collin’s wolf is huge, easily fifty pounds heavier than a large natural wolf, and the beast’s eyes are glowing brightly.
Dread fills me when Collin’s wolf opens his mouth. Saliva-tinged teeth glow in the moonlight.
Declan screams pitifully. He flails, doing everything he can to dislodge the werewolf. But despite his best efforts, he can’t. The drunk’s screams turn shrill when Collin’s wolf leans down.
“Collin!” I scream when I realize what he’s about to do.
But my terrified exclamation doesn’t stop him. The wolf doesn’t even pause.
He locks onto Declan’s throat, and with one terrifying jerk, he tears Declan’s neck wide open.
My hands fly to my mouth as blood gushes out of Declan. A gurgling sound comes next.
I watch in horror as the man I had dinner with—the man who was probably going to rape me—dies before my eyes. But Collin’s wolf doesn’t stop there. He growls again before leaning down to bite into Declan’s shoulder. Declan can’t cry out. He’s dying too fast.
Collin’s wolf shakes his head back and forth until another piece of flesh tears free.
My horror increases when the torn flesh slides down the wolf’s throat after he tilts his head up. And that’s when I see it, the deranged gleam in the wolf’s eyes.
He’s crazy. Absolutely crazy.
But instead of standing and sprinting away, I sit frozen. Nothing I’m doing will make my limbs move.
It’s not until minutes later, when the wolf has had his fill of Declan—who now lies in a mangled bloody heap in front of me—that a strange glimmer fills the air around the wolf.
I blink, and a man appears.
Collin breathes heavily. His limbs are quivering, like a newborn fawn trying to stand for the first time.
“Shit. I…” Collin shakes his head, then turns his still-glowing eyes toward me. “Brianna? Bri? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see that, but he was so enraged.”
I stare at him dumbly. Who was enraged? The wolf? Or Declan? What the hell is he talking about? What the hell is happening?
A shiver strikes me, then another.
In the moonlight, dark-red blood glistens on Collin’s face. Blood. He’s covered in Declan’s blood.
“You… You…” But the words won’t come. I’m hyperventilating, and I’m losing it, but is he freakin’ serious? He just killed a