Free Sage's Mystery by Lynn Hagen Page B

all through the town when he had first shifted, so they knew he was there. Sage saw two more werewolves out of the corner of his eye.
    Jeremiah must have seen them as well, because he spun left before Sage did. Just how many were here? Sage didn’t care if the town was overrun with them. Mystery belonged to him, and these trespassers were about to learn this.
    Sage tackled the first werewolf dumb enough to show himself. He gnashed his teeth inches from the wolf’s face as he took him down.
    Sage could see Jeremiah fighting the other, but he focused on the one trying to claw him.

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    Sage feigned left, slicing four gash marks into the werewolf’s side. He was playing for keeps, just like the wolf he was fighting was doing. This wasn’t his best friend. No, this was an unknown that Sage wasn’t taking any chances with.
    Just as Sage took the werewolf down, two more came rushing at him. He quickly killed the one below him and then spun around, letting out a howl as he leapt toward the closest one.

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    Lynn Hagen

Chapter Seven
    William hugged Terror close as the howls filled the air. He prayed Sage was okay. It shocked him, but didn’t, to find out Sage was a werewolf. He had known of were-creatures in these parts. Hell, he had lived through their brutality.
    He just wished they had stayed a distant memory.
    Tucking Terror under his arm, William slid closer to the window, peeking out. Sage said to stay put, and William had no intention of doing otherwise. As he stared over at the town, he couldn’t see a damn thing. He could hear plenty, but all he saw was a deserted town.
    Frowning, William turned his head at a slight noise coming from the hallway. Was Sage back? When Terror began to tremble and whine, William became nervous. He listened harder, trying to make out the noise.
    He was a chicken, so it could just be the house settling, but to him, it was ghosts, zombies, or werewolves coming after him. He had a very vivid imagination when it came to things that went bump in the night.
    He had a very good reason to fear the dark.
    William scrambled over to the blanket with Terror still tucked under his arm when he heard the floorboards creaking right outside the bedroom door. The entire house was dark with no electricity, making his surroundings all the more terrifying. The only light offered to him was from the moon spilling into the bedroom through one of the windows.
    He held his breath, his grip on Terror strangling as the bedroom door squeaked open. William could feel his entire body shake as he Sage’s Mystery
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    saw a large werewolf standing in the doorway, his teeth bared as his fingers curved into the wolf’s palms and then uncurled.
    This wasn’t Sage.
    Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell…
    The werewolf took a step into the bedroom, his eyes narrowing as he watched William. He knew this wolf wasn’t just going to sniff him and go on his merry way. No, the look in the creature’s eyes said he had other plans, more diabolical plans for William.
    He shouted and tried to crab-crawl backward but the werewolf was quicker, leaping at William and sinking his teeth into the soft spot of skin between William’s neck and shoulder. He kicked and fought without success as the pain hit him hard, feeling as though his skin was being torn away.
    Terror barked and ran around the werewolf, biting him on his back leg as the wolf clamped down even harder into William’s tender flesh. He banged his fists into the creature’s face, but that did nothing to detour the thing from trying to eat him.
    William’s shoulder felt like it was on fire as the werewolf released him. He collapsed to the floor, crying out as lava-hot fire raced through his blood.
    “Welcome to our world. Tell Sage that Brody said hello,” the creature said with disdain before turning and running from the room.
    William rolled over to his knees, his shoulders scraping across the floor as he tried to crawl away from the pain. It was so intense