Into The Dragon's World - Brittany White Page 0,47

asked Jasmine. “Anything at all?”

“He just grabbed her and left.” Jasmine grimaced and shook her head. “I should have been able to stop him.”

“Did you shift?” Brady asked, trying not to make it sound like an accusation.

“Yeah.” Jasmine’s eyes grew fierce. “I got a few good swipes in, too, but he’s big, Brady. Really big. It was like I couldn’t even touch him.”

Zack left the room and Brady could see him sniffing at the air, searching for the scent. Wallace’s stench was singular in its awfulness. But that was good. It made him easier to track.

“I thought I could smell him outside,” Zack said. “He’s out of the apartment building.”

“Catch his scent,” Brady said as he ran from the apartment. “I’ll meet you.”

In moments, he was on the roof of the building. He leapt off the edge and caught the night breeze under his wings, transforming as he soared higher. He breathed deeply, filtering through the millions of smells until he found the one he was looking for: Casey’s.

I’m coming, he thought, focusing in on the scent. I’ll find you.

I promise.

27

Casey

Casey opened her eyes to darkness.

She was on her back, lying on something hard. The ground? How did I get on the ground? she wondered. She blinked several times, trying to adjust. The darkness receded to a flickering, orange-tinted dimness. She looked around and saw burning torches on the walls.

Where the hell am I?

She moved to sit up and a bolt of pain zig-zagged from her temple to her jaw. Oh, yeah...that’s right. He’d knocked her out. Thank God he hadn’t been in his bear form or he would have taken off her head. She felt around her. She was near a wall. Okay. Good. She slowly sat up and leaned against it. If nothing else, he wouldn’t be able to come at her from behind.

As her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was in some kind of cave. The walls were roughly hewn stone, the ceiling higher than she would have expected. Everything smelled of dampness and decay. Where had Evan found a cave in New York? Was she still in New York?

Casey closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe deeply and release it slowly. Calm down. Think.

She had gone to Jasmine’s, found the apartment ripped apart, and run inside without a second thought. Wallace, still in human form, was grappling with Jasmine, who had shifted into a panther. Jasmine got in a few good swipes with her claws, but he quickly shifted and, with a swipe of his bear paw, knocked her away like she was nothing. Jasmine hit the wall and instantly transformed into her human form, dazed and hurt.

“Jazzy!” Casey ran to her side. Jasmine opened her eyes, shaking her head.

“Get out…” she whispered. “Run.”

Wallace growled low in his throat and Casey turned to see him towering over her. He had fully shifted, and as a bear he was a monster. His black fur was matted, stinking of blood and urine and God only knew what else. The claws that flexed out of his gigantic paws were long and tapered to a razor edge.

“What do you want?” she asked through gritted teeth.

Evan Wallace’s voice wormed its way through her mind. You.

He reached out for her with one of his paws, transforming it into a human hand as he grabbed her upper arm and hauled her up to her feet again. The shift back to human happened suddenly—a blink and the bear was gone, and Wallace was back. He roughly pulled her close, until his chest was pressed against her breasts, trapping her arms against her sides.

Casey grimaced and pulled back as much as she could. “God damn it…” she muttered. She looked back to Jasmine and saw that she was going in and out of consciousness. “Jazz!”

“She’s not going to help you.” Evan smiled and leaned forward, pressing a series of soft kisses along Casey’s jawline. She groaned in disgust as he flicked the tip of his tongue into her ear. “It’s just you and me now.”

Casey struggled against him, but he was strong. Stronger than she ever would have believed. She tried to force her knee between his legs to kick at his crotch, but he blocked her. He laughed and buried his face in the hollow of her throat again.

“I’ve wanted to do this for so long…” he whispered against her skin. “God...you taste so good, Casey-Case. I knew you would.”

Casey reared back and head-butted him, hitting him square in the nose in an