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“Riley! Call the cops!” Shannon yelled. “There’s more coming!”

Shit.

“No! No cops! Don’t call them.”

Riley shrilled something I couldn’t understand from beneath the fabric, or maybe she was inside her car. If I didn’t do something quickly, they were going to call the police.

That was when I heard footsteps from several more scrambling into the parking area. Using my shifter senses, I could almost see the scene in the parking area.

Trainingwould have made all the difference in the world. No way I could keep on as though I didn’t need to learn anything about what I could do now.

“Holy god,” Shannon exclaimed. “Is he… is he… changing?”

“He’s turning into a wolf!” That had been Riley screamed at the top of her lungs.

My chest heaved as I sucked at the air, trying to drag as much oxygen into my lungs as possible through the bag. “Get…”Gasp. “Out…”Gasp. “Of…”Gasp. “Here…”

Shifter magic blew through the parking area, smoothing over my shivering skin and bringing a rush through me. I threw my head back, slamming my skull into my captor’s nose. The crunch brought an anguished yell from my would-be kidnapper and a grin to my face. The shift wasn’t happening to the guy who held me. It was another one.

I bent forward, easily lifting him off the ground. The magic in the air had enhanced my abilities. If I could summon my own shift…

A bear… A bear…My body becomes a bear.

My limbs contorted, jerking this way and seized the other way, bending in terrifying ways. A burst of windcircled me and punched down in an explosion of colors. The fabric of my clothing ripped as it had the first night, falling like leaves around my new form, and my cell phone clattered to the ground, shattering the screen. Then I was towering above the man who still held the bag on my snout and nearly straddled my back. A raspy bear chuckle worked up through me.

Oh, now you did it, you asshole.

A shiver worked through me, shaking my fur in a movement which easily dislodged the man from back, and I snorted the thick, black pillowcase off my nuzzle. As my attacker slid down my side, he morphed into a mountain lion, and all I could see was the beast who had attacked me in the woods.

Instead of fear, power surged in my veins. My giant paw landed square in his side, sending him sailing into the brick exterior of my practice, and he lay still—not dead but unconscious.

Then I whirled to find the other shifters. Where had they gone? I had to find them, but a bear couldn’t hide. What could hide and run quickly?

Shannon and Riley cowered in their vehicles, staring up at me, unable to drag their eyes away. Fuck. This was going to be a mess to clean up after, but that was for after, if we made it toafter. I had to catch the other shifters.

Fox… Fox…I contorted again and dropped to all fours, darting between the vehicles and turning my head from side to side, scenting the air. Then I darted through the bars on the wrought-iron fence into the alley.

There!

The wolf peered around a dumpster, his amber eyes trying to determine what was happening in the parking area. Other shifters hid in other spots. Their scents filled my mind, but first, I yipped as though I knew the wolf, and his snout came out a little farther, and his ears swiveled. He had been hiding from a bear, not a fox, and he didn’t seem to understand I could shift into more than one kind of animal.

What if I tried a form I hadn’t yet…

My short reddish legs jerked and lengthened into black furred feline legs, and my cougar haunches were ready to pounce. Instead of a puffy tail, the appendage was long, sleek, and stretched out to help keep my balance.

The wolf whined and darted away, and I bolted after, feeling my instincts take over. One of my long strides overtook two of his, and I sailed through the air to land on his back before he reached the end of the alley. He howled in pain as I brought my jaw down on the back of his neck. Crunching his bones wasn’t my intention, only incapacitating him, and he dropped to his belly in front of a snarling raccoon. My paw sent the raccoon sprawling, and a left hook knocked the wolf into unconsciousness.

Two more down…

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

emma

How many had there been?

How many?

I zoomed to one end of the alley then the other.