Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
I was on my own.
Edric caught up to me first and swiped at my head, lethal claws ready and willing to separate it from my shoulders. They passed straight through me.
I shrieked victory and he jumped.
Shifting in midair, all two hundred pounds of ebony, oversized wolf came down on me, and crushed my feet.
My screams echoed through the rising night.
Pain blinding me, I yanked myself free and stumbled across the grass on the bloody stumps that used to be my feet.
As cool as a moon wolf’s powers are, everything had a downside. And we had a big one. No matter what, when we phased, we had to keep our feet solid, or we’d phase straight through to the earth into the cold, dark, and dirt below.
Leave it to my fates to know this. They had been hiding out for a whole year, waiting for me to bust in the door and murder them. Of course they brushed up on my weaknesses.
Suck it up! My speed healing consumed my feet, already pushing back on the pain. They don’t get to beat you at anything, so win. Win!
The internal pep talk lit a fire under my backside. I was halfway to the end zone. I could win this. I would win this.
Heat roared up on my back. I ducked Orion’s fireball, hit the ground rolling, and popped up limping on as fast as my ruined feet would carry me.
“Argh!” Badr roared. “Get her! Stop her!”
Little mounds erupted from the dirt, desperate to rip me up. I jumped, dodged, spun as the goalpost loomed closer and closer. The thrill of victory rising up in me.
Thud!
“Oh, shit! Badr!” someone shouted. “Guys, stop. I think he’s dead!”
What? I whirled around, coming face to face with a golden-furred wolf barreling toward me faster than the wind. Bright, blinding light erupted from him, and I clapped my hand over my eyes—dropping the ball.
A hard force slammed into me and sent me flying. I regained my form midair, and every soft, fleshy inch of me crashed on the metal bleachers.
Roaring cheers went up from both teams and everyone watching. Broken, dazed, and wracked with pain, all I could do was lie on the twisted hunk of metal that broke my fall, gazing at my own broken bone piercing through my elbow as blood pooled around me.
Fweet!
Coach’s whistle cut through the noise. “Excellent, red team. Great coordination. Great use of power, skill, and killer instinct. I want to see more of that from you, blue team,” she said. “Dismissed.”
A shadow fell over me.
“Are you dead?” Nia asked—more curious than concerned. “Should I call someone?”
“Call... someone to... do what?” I croaked around my broken jaw. “Take pictures?”
“Oh, no need.” Ava’s voice grated on my ears. “Pics are taken care of.”
Half a million shutter noises broke the air, driving the point home.
“Shifter football is hardcore, but still, they were pretty brutal,” Nia remarked. “You’re not going to freak out because you got your ass kicked, and expose all of Wolf Nation, are you?”
“Nia, can you give me some space, please?” I bit out. “I’m sure you’ve got more hearts to rip out and eat whole, so don’t let me keep you.”
“I said it wasn’t like that!”
Whether it was or wasn’t, the comment pissed her off enough to send her stomping away. That left the way clear for everyone and their phones to document my agony as my bones snapped back into place, knit themselves back together, and heal in time with the bruises marring my skin.
I couldn’t even be mad or claim persecution or unfairness. Anything goes in shifter football, and if it was me, I’d have done the same thing to them.
“And will,” I gritted, heaving myself up. Edric, Nyx, Paxton, and Orion smirked at me from among their adoring fans. Shifting during the game left them bare-ass naked, and their groupies were taking full advantage as they ran around getting them spares, and helping them put them on. “If that’s how you want to play,” I said, knowing they could hear me. “That’s how we’ll play.”
I stomped off the bleachers to where Nia waited—my forced follower.
Stepping off the final step, solid ground gave way. My foot came down in a grotty puddle of mud, and went flying. I splashed face-first into my sudden mud bath.
“Nyx!”
Roaring laughs bounced off the night air—shutterclicks going off hot and furious.
“Game on, baby,” Nyx tossed over his shoulder as he walked away with two women under his arm. “But fair warning, you can’t play on this level.
“And you fuck sure won’t win.”
I STOMPED THROUGH THE hall, leading a hissing Nia after me.
“Daciana, please! Please, listen to me!” She shot in front of me.
I feigned right, spun, and ran around her—laughing when she squawked and rapid footfalls ended up chasing after me again.
“Will you stop!” she cried. “You’re not allowed out of your room after curfew. You’ve already got three demerits. Two more and you’re out.”