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I wasn’t a sadist at heart, but to get out of this? He could call me Mommy for all I cared.

My body twisted, that fire destroying my very nice outfit—including the fancy boots Galen had bought me—but it seemed to do what I needed.

The tiger let out a pained sound, one that was at least a little angry, as it leapt away, hissing.

I took the chance to stretch my wings, reacquainting myself with this form. I didn’t use it often enough to really understand it, which meant each time I did it, I had to get used to it again.

Of course, the time to get used to it wasn’t when a fucking tiger wanted to eat me, so I’d have to find my wings, and fast. Instead, I fluttered, the closest to flying I could manage, which allowed me to get atop the hut. There weren’t any trees around for me to get to, and even if I could, I was pretty sure tigers could climb. I looked around, searching for a rock cliff, foranythingthat would give me some much-needed distance.

Nothing.

A howl came from the distance, one pained and furious.Galen?Well, at least that implied he hadn’t gotten killed.

Good, I wanted to kill him myself. No one else deserved the chance. I’d earned that shit.

I hopped around on the top of the hut, searching for a way out, an escape route. The tiger was faster than me—no doubt about that. I didn’t see a path that I could take that it couldn’t, or one that would slow it down enough. Maybe going tree to tree? Of course, if I missed a hop, I was fucked.

The hut shuddered, and I swiveled my head to find the tiger perched at the side, having leaped up from ground level.

Nice kitty…

I doubted it could decipher that from the squawk I’d just let out, like a language that it didn’t speak, as I backed away.

My feet reached the end of the hut, my nails curling slightly as I realized I had no more room. I sure didn’t want it to land on me from above, so jumping down seemed a bad choice.

Of course, bad choices went out the window when the tiger pounced at me.

Instinct took over, and I fluttered, trying to avoid the strike. I didn’t make it high enough to fully escape, but at least the tiger didn’t grab me between its paws like a toy. Instead, it batted me on the side as it stretched, fucking up my amazing fluttering and sending me careering down.

I hit the ground hard, the air and most of my thoughts flying from me at the impact.

Ouch.

I normally would have said I’d never shake that off, but fear of dying did amazing things to a person’s stamina. As I rolled, getting my feet beneath me, I spotted something black beside me.

The stun gun.

I’d dropped it before I’d taken my crow form, so it hadn’t gotten ruined.

I shifted again, that familiar flame licking across my body. Dirt clung to my skin as I reached over, grasping the stun gun, not giving a damn that I was naked in the middle of the fucking jungle.

This felt totally on point for my life.

I grasped the stun gun, placing my finger on the trigger, praying it still worked. I’d getoneshot at this.

The tiger looked pretty mad, so I doubted it was all that willing to listen to me.

What exactly happened to a Were when hit with this sort of voltage, I didn’t know. Maybe I should have tested it out on one of the pack that I didn’t like first. For all I knew, the Were would shake it off as though nothing had happened.

It was still my only option, so I told myself it would work.

I crouched slightly, trying to gain the best balance I could. I curled my toes into the dirt, reorienting myself in place, ignoring the aches of my body from the fight already. This was it. One shot. It call came down to this.

“I didn’t want to do this,” I told the tiger. “All I wanted was a little question answered, so don’t blame this on me. This is your people problem. You should take a class or something—they have them online—” My tirade was cut short by the tiger moving forward in a rush.

It didn’t pounce this time, didn’t leap, instead coming at me in a full run. At the last moment, it lifted from the ground, paws out, and I twisted to the side. Not enough to avoid it entirely, but enough to hopefully get its flank.

I hooked an arm around it, dug the stun gun into its side, then pressed the button.