Caleb Read Free Page A

arms and
added a snarl of her own to the mix. “Fuck you.”
    Before
the last syllable ended, she drove the hard point of her mini boots up into the
beast’s groin, feeling a sense of satisfaction as they sank deep into the soft
flesh before striking bone.
    She’d
never heard a sound like what came out of the wolf’s mouth as it reared back
and spun around snapping savagely, missing her foot by a breath. She didn’t
wonder at it or catalog it for future reference. She just scrambled to her feet
and took off running, the hoarse howl that followed her raising the hairs on the
back of her neck and sending a chilling surge of adrenaline through her body.
One glance over her shoulder showed the wolf in pursuit, eyes glowing eerily
bright, all illusions of laughter gone from its expression as it raced after
her.
    Oh
God, she needed a miracle.
    She
didn’t hear or see a thing, but one minute she was running for her life and the
next something big and hard knocked her flat on her butt directly in the path
of the oncoming wolf. Oh God. Oh God. She threw her hands over her head,
curling herself into a ball, making herself as small a target as possible for
those fangs.
    Moonlight
winked under shadow. There was a loud thump and then a vicious chorus of snarls
punctuated the night, swiftly followed by the bone-chilling clash of sharp
teeth. She lowered her arms in time to see two shadows blend into one hellish,
writhing mass of primitive fury.
    Another
wolf, Allie realized as she rolled to her knees and panted for air. Her miracle
was another wolf, black and as big as the first, and from the timbre of its
growls, more than a little ticked off. Good. She hoped it killed the first.
Though it was irrational, she couldn’t help but attribute human characteristics
to the first wolf, and if she’d had to analyze him, she’d have pegged him as a
serial killer run amok. He just had that cold, disconnected feel to his energy.
    She
lurched back as the two wolves rolled toward her, barely missing a slash from
the gray wolf’s teeth as they whirled past. She needed to get out of here. She
also needed her keys because without them she had nowhere to go and no defense
at all. She cautiously edged to where they gleamed in the moonlight, swallowing
back terror, reaching for the anger that got her through so many scrapes as she
took another step. One more and she was within two feet of the wolves. One foot
from her keys. Never taking her eyes off the fighting animals, she stretched
for the leather key chain. The second wolf glanced her way, its deep green eyes
glowing red around the edges. For one brief moment their gazes connected and in
the fringes of her mind came an impression of fury, determination, and an
imperative.
    Run.
    As
she blinked in shock, her fingers an inch from the keys, the first wolf moved
in, taking advantage of the second’s distraction. His teeth flashed eerily in
the moonlight as he dove for the black wolf’s neck. With a twist of its body,
it had her savior pinned.
    The
order to run echoing in her mind, every sensible instinct telling her to obey,
she stood there, and knew—just knew—she was the stupidest woman alive because
even though he wasn’t human, and even though he probably planned on eating her,
too, she couldn’t just leave the black wolf to die. Not when it was her fault
he’d been distracted in the first place. Not when he’d saved her life. She just
wasn’t made that way.
    Grabbing
the keys, she hustled to the left and took aim. With a quick prayer that God
really did watch out for fools and idiots, she kicked the gray wolf as hard as
she could, right in the testicles.
    “Leave
him alone!” she hollered, terror and anger pitching her voice to almost the
same high tenor of the gray wolf’s muffled howl.
    It
turned, its eyes glowing, fangs dripping blood, and came at her, one measured
step at a time, looking no weaker from the fight, and none the worse for her
kick. And that smile, that totally