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But he wasn’t.

I’d never openly admit to finding it ultra-sexy the way he cut down several goblins with a large arc of his sword. Or how his muscles straining in a downward punch or upwards kick were damn near beautiful andabsolutelymade my pulse race. Or how the deadly glint in his eyes just about brought me to my knees in teen girl glee. I’d definitely never voluntarily mention how one of his mischievous smiles could take my useless breath away.

Not when his head was as large as it already was.

Plus, I couldn’t afford to get distracted. Not by his good-looks. Not by the sensual way he called out to me, even when we were up to our elbows in goblin goo. Not when sex was one illicit comment away from my mind.

Christ. I’m already thinking about it.

Phillip swept his eyes across the growing mass, probably calculating how long it’d be before one of us fell victim to numbers alone. It didn’t show on his face, but I could do the math; the odds were against us.

No matter how many Shadow Goblins we killed, more would instantly take their place. We’d gone far past the initial twelve, and now I couldn’t count on both hands how many we fought and took down.

“Is this one of those high-count goblin communities you were talking about?”

Phillip brushed back his hair, like he was at a photoshoot and not battling a throng of goblin spawn. Then he quickly stabbed his claymore into a goblin that sprouted up behind me.

His body was a hair’s breadth away from mine when he flicked his light eyes over to meet my gaze. “Seems so. If there’s this many outside, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a whole society of them underground.”

“Well, isn’t that special. I thought you said there weren’t usually ones this large left undetected?”

I pivoted, my back resting up against Phillip’s, and hoped I could dispel the uptick in my pulse caused by a certain bad boy. I beheaded a goblin with one hand and sent another to the floor with a powerful kick.

“It’s not often, but it happens,” was all he replied.

Not exactly a comfort, his words.

Burning pain unlike the others struck my stomach, and I was immediately staggered by it. Quickly, I slid down the other Hunter’s back. Phillip instantly pivoted my direction to catch me before imbedding his sword between my attacker’s eyes. Then, with a growl, he lopped its head off.

Luminous eyes dropping to where I held myself, he hastily inspected the area, but it had already healed. “Good.” My partner breathed a grateful sigh. “All healed and fighting fit.”

“Funny,” I complained, no longer in pain but plagued by its memory.

I’d never get used to the agony of being stabbed. Never.

The number of goblins increased exponentially as I recovered from the anguish of being fully impaled, from front to back. The dynamics of fighting so many was a new thing for me. I’d never been so outnumbered before, even after facing my fair share of old vamps. It was a daunting reality when I looked out at nothing but red eyes and fanged mouths.

Forget training. I just want to survive tonight.

“About time they showed up,” my partner commented offhandedly, not the least bit concerned about the massive crowd of goblins closing in on us.

Before I could demand what he meant, several wolves cut paths through the horde and tore out several throats, effectively decapitating each goblin. But all I saw was fur, and I didn’t have to think too hard who the fur might belong to.

Goblins scattered like ants, evading the tactical attack of a hunting pack of wolves the size of Grizzly Bears. Sounds I’d never heard before left the mouths of the creatures we fought. It almost sounded like goblins were more afraid of wolves than they were Hunters, and I had to wonder why that was. But it didn’t matter when I watched the pack work seamlessly together to take down several screeching shadows. I was just glad to see them.

Reinforcements!

Sloan appeared off to the right, spinning a spiked chain in a deadly circle around his body and cutting into all parts of the goblins nearby. The crowd of goblins dispersed to avoid Sloan’s reach, except it put them directly in the path of Kris.

She twirled and worked around a line of goblins who attempted to retreat, cutting through necks and decapitating them with such beauty I was convinced it was a dance and not a fight. Every move she made Sloan responded to, and every action Sloan took she followed up on. It was a perfect mix of short and long range attacks that meant both were unbelievably in sync to make it appear so effortless. Their teamwork was what I aspired to have with Phillip one day.

The pack of wolves made quick work of a large group of goblins, wrangling them into a dense circle. Sloan and Kris flanked the group and worked quickly to decapitate what goblins they could before the wolves finished off the rest. And in a short span of ten or so minutes, over fifty goblins were defeated. The ground was practically liquid by the time we finished.

While Kris and Sloan managed to stay clean, the pack of wolves weren’t as lucky. Their liquid-coated fur was the same as mine. Basically, a matching set. Honestly, I was just happy not to be the only one covered in goblin goo. Even when the pack shifted back to human form, they were so completely covered it concealed their nakedness.

Thank Christ for that, because staring at a group of naked Shifters would’ve made conversation difficult. I may be many things—sarcastic, book smart, cleverly tactical—but eloquent with nudists wasn’t one of them.

Phillip panned the group, lips lifted. “Nice of you lot to join us. I forgot that Shadow Goblins are absolutely terrified of werewolves.”