Dr. Wolf, the Fae Rift Series Book 2- Demon Spiral Read Free

door. Changing form took energy, and he would be naked; it wasn’t a situation he stepped into willingly. He let out a growl.
    “Fine, fine, I’m coming,” Gregory replied.
    A moment later, the sound of the knob turning was loud in the stairway. Aleric could hear the individual parts of the doorknob shifting, metal rubbing against metal, and the pull of the latch against the wood of the frame as it slid free. The door opened slowly. Aleric pushed his nose against it.
    The sound of Gregory scrambling backwards was mixed with a cacophony of metal on metal, wood on tile, and a loud clunk. Aleric peered around the door.
    Gregory was hunched against the opposite wall with a pot on his head, a pan lid in one hand, and a wooden spoon in the other. He stared at Aleric with wide eyes for a moment before lowering the spoon.
    “Where’s the goblin?”
    Aleric snorted. He made his way to the door and waited, impatiently shuffling his feet for Gregory to get up.
    “Do you need to go out?” Gregory asked. “I’m glad you’re house-trained, otherwise I’d have to explain that to Dr. Worthen along with why the rest of his pasta got eaten.”
    Aleric rolled his eyes.
    As soon as Gregory opened the door, Aleric bolted around the side of the house to the cellar’s small window. Cautious of the glass, he sniffed the ground carefully. The goblin’s scent was impossible to miss. He took off running.
    “Where are you going?” Gregory called. “Should I return my battle armor or take it with us?”
    Aleric didn’t slow. He heard the clunk and clank of the orderly running to the car. The voice in the back of his mind wondered how the red-head would drive the vehicle with the cook wear he was actually wearing.
    He slowed just long enough for Gregory to turn the corner in the little blue car and catch sight of him, then he broke into the mile-eating lope of the wolf. His paws hit the pavement in a cadence he could run for hours. With the pungent smell of the goblin to guide him, he left the upper neighborhoods of Edge City and made his way into the streets. The closeness of the buildings, the rush of the cars, and the way the skyscrapers blocked out the sun as it arched through the sky gave Aleric a feeling of claustrophobia. He turned a corner and his steps slowed.
    The goblin’s scent was joined by several others. Why there would be so many goblins in Edge City was beyond him. In Blays, goblins usually inhabited dark, musky places like the swamp at the other end of the Drake City forest or in the basement of Grimmel’s factories in the Sludge. There had been rumors that the troll paid goblins in pixies to keep the riffraff out of his warehouses.
    Aleric heard Gregory pull up at the last alley. The clatter of the human climbing out of the car echoed along the bricks. Aleric stalked deeper into the darkness that was barely penetrated by the light overhead. His paws sunk into the refuse that had piled up until the pavement was only a memory. The sour lemon and mud scent filled Aleric’s nose. Foreboding murmured at the back of his mind.
    Aleric was nearly to the end when a whisper of claws on brick made him pause. He looked up and his heart slowed.
    Seven goblins watched him from their places along the walls, their spider-like legs holding onto the bricks while their heads swiveled from their black, shiny abdomens.

Chapter Two
     
    Aleric barked a warning.
    Gregory stumbled into the alley with a clatter of metal. He looked at Aleric, then followed his gaze up.
    “Uh, Dr. Wolf, this goes way above my pay grade and my experience level,” Gregory said. He took a step back and the goblins scurried down the wall on either side.
    “Dr. Wolf!” Gregory yelped.
    There were so many of them. Aleric didn’t know how to stop them all. If Gregory got bit, he would never forgive himself. Aleric dove in front of Gregory. His teeth snapped shut millimeters from the closest goblin. It skittered back up the bricks.
    Aleric snapped at one on the