She had less than a minute before the sun set but there was a gleam, a strange look in his eyes that made her desperate to stay and discover what it was.
“What?” she asked quietly, her voice already shifting, becoming deeper and more guttural.
His eyes traveled up and down her still-altered body. She liked her latest incarnation and wished to stay as she was a little while longer.
“You look very different.”
Not pretty. Not lovely. But different.
Hiding her disappointment, she gave him a weak grin. “I am a chameleon, knight, this is what I do. Remember, do not open the door, no matter what I might do or say. Not until sunrise.”
Red eyes narrowed, staring at her intensely, but she felt the seconds slipping by and knew she had no more time.
“Here.” She handed him the brass ring. “Secure it quickly. And…”
“Yes?” he asked as he reached for the key.
Reaching out a hand that was more wolf than woman at this point, she lightly caressed the side of his jaw. “I’m sorry for what will happen tonight. If you leave I will be safe. Not even an alpha would dare intrude on me as I will be. But they will come, I can’t help it,” she whispered softly. “If you stay here, this night will be hell for you.”
And just as the sun slipped beneath the horizon she slammed the door closed, trembling as her body shifted. Becoming neither human nor beast, but something in between. Something dark and wicked and full of claws and fury.
The heavy chains jingled against the door and then she tipped her head back and howled as the madness claimed her.
Giles slammed his back against the door as it bulged outward. Lilith had been crashing into it for the past hour, snarling and roaring and sounding unlike any creature he’d ever heard before.
There was a legend on Earth of a monster that shifted during a full moon, known as werewolves, he’d assumed—as he was sure many others did, as well—that they were nothing more than a myth. Little more than an exaggeration of what a shifter could do, but he could almost believe the legend with her as she was.
Her claws dug into the door and then she rammed into it again, almost tossing him on his ass from the impact. Kicking the door with his boot, he yelled, “Stop it, Lilith. If you’re aware at all, you have to stop. The door will splinter if you keep at it.”
Immediately the scratching stopped and a dog-like whining sound took its place. He could hear the click click click of her claws, as though she were pacing back and forth.
He frowned wondering if she’d really stopped because he’d asked her to.
But then the banging started back up again, although this time on the left wall. Taking a deep breath he hung his head, wiping at his brow.
His body ached from taking her blows, but there was no way he’d let her out, nor would he leave. Jogging over to the wall she was now tossing herself into, he noticed it held much better than the door had.
Whoever had built this shelter had let it fall into ruin, she’d said it was spelled, and that could be true, but there still needed to be some level of upkeep involved to keep it in functioning order.
A few heavy deadbolts on a ramshackle door would do little to hold someone with her strength inside.
Realizing he had a quick moment to gather whatever twigs he could from off the ground so that he could light a fire, he kept his attention always on the shack but picked up whatever he could find within a ten-yard radius.
Giles had prided himself on knowing all that Kingdom had to offer because he was the man in charge of Rumpel’s games. In order to make an applicant believe that they were in reality and not in some hidden keep of the castle, he’d had to learn all the little nuances of not just this world, but Earth, as well.
He designed each trial and he knew that to fully involve each sense and make the brain believe what it was seeing was fact was to make even the tiniest little details as accurate as possible.
It’s why he knew of the werewolf legend. What he hadn’t realized was that the legend obviously seemed to stem from a female’s blooming.
Picking up several fat dried twigs and a couple of brittle leaves, he tucked them against his body, wondering all the while how Lilith was faring.
Her howls echoed through the night, haunting and horribly lonely sounding. He closed his eyes for a moment as another one sounded. This one almost like a melody, a cry of heartache and yearning. And it was crazy that he should think it, that he wanted to attribute meaning to her howls, but when she did it, it was what he felt deep in his soul.
Turning back toward the shack, he couldn’t understand his sudden desire to throw open the door and let her out, because his intellect understood she’d given him the warning for a reason.
Shaking his head, telling himself it had to be her call and nothing more, he ignored his anxious need to return to her side. If there would be other wolves coming for her, then it would be well to have fire.