Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,200
she had a set of pop beads—colored beads that could be put together and taken apart to make many combinations of necklaces and bracelets, and when you pulled them apart they made a distinct popping sound.
She heard that sound now as a man’s spine popped, as his body ripped in half.
Blood flooded out of that body, forming a puddle. Red red red.
The Elder that took a visible form stood on two legs—furred and fanged and clawed and huge. A nightmare humans were never meant to see. It stared at her as it held the two halves of the man.
This is what that woman saw when it killed her husband, Jana thought. This is why she killed herself.
It bared its teeth, and she felt its snarl rumble in the ground beneath her.
It took a step toward her, still holding its prey.
Then Virgil was there, standing over her, snarling in challenge as he faced down the Elder.
“Virgil,” she whispered. “Run.” She couldn’t help him, and she couldn’t escape. The best thing he could do for the rest of the shifters was get away from a predator that could break him as easily as it broke the man. “Run.”
Of course Virgil, being Virgil, didn’t run. He just snarled louder.
Stupid Wolf.
The last thing she saw before her vision faded was Virgil’s foot too close to her face—and that terrible Elder walking away with its prey.
CHAPTER 36
Watersday, Frais 1
“Stupid female. You think you’re a big predator who can ignore guns and challenge Namid’s teeth and claws. But you’re not a big predator. You’re a small predator puffed up with attitude.”
Oh, goody, Jana thought as she became aware of sounds—and pain—again. Virgil’s on a rant.
“… puffed up with attitude.”
Worse, the rant seemed to be on a continual loop.
“What happened?” she asked, barely able to hear her own words.
Virgil’s face was suddenly close to hers, red flickers of anger in his amber eyes. “You. Got. Shot.”
She remembered that. Remembered the pain, the man who was going to finish killing her, and the furred nightmare that walked on two legs.
“I licked the wound clean,” Virgil said.
Okay, she wasn’t going to think about that, especially since she could feel herself fading. Failing. “Through and through?”
“What?”
“Did the bullet go through me?”
“No. It was stuck in you. I got it out.”
“How?” Why were the last thoughts in her life going to be fueled by morbid curiosity?
“With. My. Teeth.”
She stared at him as he bared his teeth. He had something caught between two teeth, like a bit of greens. Except it wasn’t lettuce or spinach or anything that benign. It looked like meat. Flesh.
Her.
* * *
* * *
“Jana!” Virgil snapped her name and waited, watching.
His pack sister was gone again. Gone.
He leaned closer. Felt the shallow breath on his face.
“Jana!” Another voice calling her name.
He looked up and saw Tobias running toward them.
The man dropped to his knees, bent his face close to Jana’s. It hurt to see the look of relief on the human’s face.
“She’s still with us,” Tobias said, looking around.
“Most of the Wolfgard were dead when Kane and I got back to the den after the attack by the HFL humans,” Virgil said softly. “The pups were dead. My mate … I licked her wound clean, but it didn’t help. I couldn’t fix my mate. All I could do was stay with her until she wasn’t there anymore.” He looked at Jana. “I can’t fix my pack sister either, but I will stay with her until she isn’t here anymore.”
“Virgil.”
Virgil looked at the man. “Kane doesn’t answer when I call.”
“Virgil, Jana isn’t a Wolf.” Urgency filled Tobias’s voice. “Jana is human, and the human bodywalker is at the hospital right now fixing up people who got hurt in the fight. Help me save her, Virgil. Help me save Jana.”
They could save her?
Virgil sprang to his feet and ran to the edge of the street to look around. The horse that was not meat would be able to run fast to the human bodywalker’s den, but …
Seeing the van coming toward him, he stepped into the street. The van screeched to a stop. The driver lifted himself halfway out the window.
“Gods, Virgil,” Zeke shouted. “What the … ?”
Before Virgil could snarl a command—or bite the humans who had looked past him—past him—and now were foolishly scrambling out of the van—he heard movement behind him and turned to meet the threat.
Not a threat. It was Tobias, carrying Jana.
“Zeke, I’ll get the doors,” Larry said.
Zeke dodged around Virgil—who allowed him to dodge—and