If Ambrose had given in to their horrific destiny.
Nick stared at the overhead windows where lightning flashed and thunder clapped like cannon fire. Today, it wasn’t looking good for either of them.
And he really didn’t relish the thought that he would one day usher in Armageddon and unleash an army of ancient ticked-off demons onto the innocent world. An army that would claim the life of everyone Nekoda loved…
As well as Nekoda herself.
It was a terrifying and sobering thought that he could become that monster. That was not what he saw when he looked in a mirror and it was not what he wanted to put on his résumé for his future plans.
Suddenly, Mason let out a howl and turned from human to wolf. The students closest to Mason screamed out loud and bolted fast from the bleachers to the floor.
Stone and Alex penned the wolf between them, while the teachers tried to decide how best to handle this. Personally, Nick would have voted for running and screaming like a cheerleader in a cheap horror movie. But apparently, they were a little more sophisticated than that.
“Squires!” Ms. Pantall clapped her hands together to get their attention. “I need all of you to head on home. Don’t worry about school until tomorrow. Brynna? Can you go to the cafeteria and let Mr. Head and Sister Katherine know to dismiss those students and call for buses? Tell him what’s going on, and we’ll hold the Weres here until their parents can come get them. We won’t be putting any of them on buses, given the risk factor. They should be fine in here with us until their parents arrive.” Biting her lip, she looked at Mason, who was snarling and trying to bite at Stone, and said, “I hope,” under her breath.
Nick wasted no time heading for the cafeteria to pick up Kody’s corporeal form. She was already back in her body, waiting for him, right inside the doors as the rest of their class rushed past him in their eagerness to vacate the building before the principal changed his mind and made them stay.
Or worse, someone assigned them homework.
He cringed as the storm outside picked up its fury. “Not sure it’s a good idea for anyone to be out in this.”
“Yeah,” Kody agreed. “But not sure how wise it is to be in here with Mason already shifted, and the others on the verge of turning into animals, either.”
No sooner had she finished her sentence than a pack of wolves came tearing down the hallway.
Since they were in the cafeteria, out of the line of sight, the wolves ran past them, toward the exposed students who were at their lockers.
Ah, crap.
The wolves attacked without pause. The humans screamed and ran for cover as best they could. Some even tried to climb straight up the lockers.
Wincing, Nick knew he couldn’t stand by and do nothing. Before he could move, Kody grabbed an unattended lacrosse stick and ran after them to protect the humans.
By the time Nick caught up to her, she was barely holding the wolves off. Stone – he could tell by the size, color, and ferocity of the beast who’d attacked him on previous occasions – had the scoop in his massive jowls and was trying to wrench it free to bite Kody. It was so tempting to send a jolt through him and watch him change into a naked human in the middle of the hallway. Only the screaming, fleeing baretos kept Nick from it. While Nick might want to traumatize Stone to get back at him for all the times he’d embarrassed Nick in public, no need in sending the innocent into therapy.
Or blinding himself with the unwanted sight of Stone’s hideous naked body.
Instead, he whistled for the wolves and then ran so that they’d chase him back toward the gym. They wasted no time in coming for him like he was the only bowl of Alpo to be had. It was a pants-wetting kind of intensity.
And as Nick slid through the gym door and Mason sank fangs into his arm, he regretted that decision in the worst sort of way, especially since the room was filled with witnesses who prevented him from using his demonic powers to get Mason off him.
Dang you, nonsensical rules of sanity! Dang you all!
Mason dragged him down hard. Nick tried to pry his arm free as the rest of the pack descended on him with vicious bites.
Yeah, this had definitely been a better idea in the abstract. The reality was much more painful than he’d imagined and it made him really miss Caleb. At least with Caleb around, his enemies had another moving target to chase and chew on.
“Get off him!” Kody tossed a net over Mason she must have manifested out of the sight of the others. She dragged him away from Nick.
Stone went for her throat. Reacting on pure instinct and forgetting the rules about using magic in plain sight, Nick threw his hand out and zapped him. The bolt sent Stone skidding into the bleachers, where he flashed from human to wolf and back again.