Okay. I can do this. She sighed deeply, reveling in the sanctity of her surroundings.
The birds were unnaturally quiet, their usual twittering her music in the mornings. The rustling of the leaves grew louder to her left. A branch cracked and made her whip her head down, her eyes wide, fingers curled around an arrow. The hairs on the back of her neck snapped to attention. She slid her bow from her shoulder before silently nocking the arrow. Scanning the tree line for movement, she took a few steps forward, and then froze mid-step.
A huge white wolf emerged from the brush, its black eyes narrowed, fangs bared, saliva dripping.
“Oh fuck.”
Every nerve in her body told her to run but her brain kept her feet firmly planted. This was no ordinary wolf.
“She’s gone.” Aubrey steadied her voice, knowing the beast would understand simple conversation if she spoke clearly. “I’m not a Huntress.”
Common sense screamed for flight, her instinct held her still. Running would only get her killed faster. The wolf lowered his muzzle and snorted. She didn’t know what that meant, but guessed it wasn’t good. Where there was one wolf, a pack usually followed. She raised her hands and let the arrow slide from her grip, the bow swinging loosely on her fingers. “I’m not a Huntress,” she repeated as she took a step backward.
The wolf growled and she froze. Baby steps. Baby steps.
“I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong girl.”
The wolf growled again, low and long, an eerie call to the pack that made Aubrey’s body vibrate with a mixture of fear and anger. The beast lowered its muzzle further, shoulders hunched as it took a few steps in her direction. She mirrored its movement, one step back for every step it made toward her. She’d seen this behavior in real wolves. She was being stalked, taunted. It wanted to chase her and she was just about ready to give into her fear and take off.
“You stupid beast, I’m not a Huntress!”
The wolf paused and Aubrey let go a held breath. Her moment of relief dissolving as the wolf reared back, gearing up to launch. She pivoted away and drew her blade from its sheath. Time to level the playing field. Shifting her arm out, ready to launch her steel, she spun back, only to be shoved aside in a flurry of fur. A second wolf barreled into the first, a massive brown beast taking the white one in the flank, sending Aubrey careening backward until she landed on her ass.
Snarls, growls, saliva went flying. Confusion rocked through Aubrey, stunning her into a dumbfounded paralysis as she watched the wolves battle. What the fuck?
She scanned the tree line again in disbelief. Surely, this was a joke. The beasts didn’t attack one another, especially if they were from the same pack—not over a human. At least, that was what the stories said.
Blood smacked against her cheek as the second wolf ripped a chunk of flesh from the first. Aubrey snapped out of her dangerous trance.
She pushed herself to her feet and beelined for her bow—which had fallen a few feet away—nocked an arrow and let it fly. She hit the big white beast through the chest and dropped it. Not a fatal wound, as only a Huntress could deliver a killing blow to a werewolf, but it would slow the fucker down. She nocked another arrow and aimed for the big brown wolf, but just as suddenly as he’d appeared, he was gone, vanishing into the forest like a ghost.
With shaking hands, she released the tension on the string and lowered her weapon, the usual forest sounds making her jump. With one last glance at the white wolf that still lay motionless on the forest floor, Aubrey tore off. She needed to warn her parents not to come home.
The wolves were after her sister, thinking that she was still living at the cottage—one step behind the Hunters, as usual, but deadly all the same.
Chapter Two
“There are wolves attacking humans,” Jaylon bellowed the moment he transformed from beast to man. The magic was like a rush of light, blinding him, the sensation jolting. Not painful exactly but jarring, and thankfully very quick.
Mayhem cocked an eyebrow and stood from his crouch, his ever-alert gaze tracking each member of his pack. “You were around humans?”
Mayhem had given them leeway to venture off the mansion’s property and outside of their usual forest territory. A brief respite after months spent on tour—the band’s growing success kept them away for longer and longer. Their shifting cycle at the mercy of the sun and moon, the boys spent their nights on stage and days locked up in hotel rooms as wolves, hidden away from discovery. Once back at the mansion, the wolves had scattered, eager for some alone time.
Jaylon shook his head, his mind racing with what he’d seen. “I was hunting a deer, stumbled onto a wolf attack in progress.”
“What kind of wolf?” Raven brushed a stray leaf from his shoulder as he stepped next to Mayhem.