Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain) - By Amanda Carlson Page 0,77

prayed my body didn’t get jammed under the big boulder. If it crushed my neck, it would be all over. My wolf snarled and barked in my mind. Nothing we can do; just hold on. My muscles hardened together as adrenaline rushed through me, my body needing the natural protection of my Lycan form. I took it greedily, fortifying myself as best I could as I continued to tumble down the embankment. Once I leveled out, I threw my arms to the sides and clawed the earth to slow my final decent. The tumble felt like it lasted an eternity. I hadn’t realized we had climbed that high.

I slid to a stop among a heap of rocks and debris, only a few feet from the river. Fuck. I spit dust and pebbles out of my mouth. My face was bloody and my hair was matted around my shoulders and I was covered with gravel. “Jesus,” I muttered. “Great idea, Tyler. Let’s bring the mountain down on top of us. It’s the perfect way to get rid of the Scorpers.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I heard a rattling noise.

It was close.

I lifted my head slowly. Was it too much to ask that they’d all be crushed to death? I spotted four of them creeping over the mess of boulders, only ten feet from my face. They appeared to be completely unharmed. My wolf snapped her jaws at me to get up and get moving. No argument there. I jumped to my feet and took a tentative step backward. My body was bruised and dried blood caked my arms. I was regenerating, but it would take a minute.

The water splashed behind me.

I whipped my head around and there were so many Naiads disturbing the surface it looked like a breeding ground for angry eels. Their seaweed tresses danced back and forth in a jumble of mossy green. I’d already done the Naiad thing; there would be no repeat performance.

Naiads behind, Scorpers in front.

Channeling my wolf, I showed my teeth and snarled toward the stream. “Do not fuck with me. Do you hear me!” I yelled to the rippling water. “You will not like what you find.”

“Hold on,” Danny said from somewhere close. My gazed landed to my left on a group of small river birch nestled right next to the stream. Danny rolled out of a pile of rocks. He sat up and brushed himself off. “That was quite a ride, wasn’t it? Wasn’t expecting that—”

“Danny, look out!” I yelled right as a green blur darted from the water.

I leapt into the air.

The Naiad had shot out of the water quickly, but I tracked it as I moved. In my Lycan form, I was just as fast. Its long arms reached for Danny, its body already shriveling out of its environment. I screamed as we collided. Danny rolled out of the way. The Naiad’s horrid face met mine, its eyes putrid in their moldy sliminess. The thing barely weighed anything. My canines were down, my claws slid into the soft, squishy flesh of its shoulders, poking though the other side.

I had to stifle a wave of nausea as we hit the ground. It struggled beneath me, its gaping mouth snapping its rows of sharp teeth open and closed, its tongue like a giant green worm wiggling back and forth.

I snarled through my raspy throat. “If you tell your people to back off, I will let you go. We don’t mean to harm you, but I will do what is necessary.”

The thing continued to thrash beneath me. I had no idea if it understood me. We were right next to the water and waves started churning in earnest on the surface, the angry Naiads wanting their comrade back. I gazed down into its face, watching as its eyes shriveled in its sockets. This one was an adult for sure. It was twice the size as the one I’d fought in the water. Pieces of its flesh were deteriorating at an alarming rate. They were flaking off and falling to the ground. “I don’t want to kill you,” I snarled. “Give me a sign you will not attack and I will toss you back in the water! Do you hear me?”

The thing stilled.

I knew I had only moments to decide. I shifted myself off of it to see if it would fight, but it didn’t move. It was too weak. Its hideous arms resembled shriveled raisin skin. I bent down without