Free Cole’s Redemption by J.D. Tyler

would’ve reported something. As it was, I never even actually saw
     it, other than a brief glimpse of the outline it made as it went past. The beast was
     almost invisible, but not quite. Like looking through distorted glass.”
    “Like the creature in the
Predator
movie.”
    “Exactly. I didn’t know what sort of creature it could be, but I was afraid of it.
     Anyway, that morning, I was hunting for breakfast in wolf form when I saw the beast’s
     shadow moving through the forest. I decided to follow him, and he led me toward a
     stand of trees where there was sort of a clearing. And in that clearing was a woman
     examining the remains of a human. Of course, that woman was you.”
    Ryon’s face paled. “You’re saying he was hunting Daria?”
    “No. I knew in my gut he was returning to his kill, and the woman who’d found the
     remains was just unlucky enough to be in his path when he came back.”
    “God,” Daria said, eyes wide. “You ran right past him, didn’t you? You scared me off,
     made me run so he wouldn’t slaughter me, too.”
    “I did, and he followed us.” Selene’s jaw clenched. “He was closing in, and so I pushed
     you over the side to get you out of his sight. Then I ran back and engaged him in
     a . . . small skirmish.”
    “You did what?” Zan’s mind brought forth horrible images of his mate fighting the
     beast. He’d been on vacation, healing from his injuries, while the Pack tracked the
     beast. But he’d gotten a description from the others.
    “It was all I could think to do. There was nobody but me to lure the thing away, so
     that’s what I did.”
    Ryon still wasn’t satisfied. “Why didn’t you go back for Daria? How come you didn’t
     let anyone know about her being in the ravine, bleeding to death?”
    “I was out of commission myself. The beast’s claws raked my abdomen, nearly gutting
     me, and I had to find a place to hole up and heal. By the time I was well enough to
     shift into human form and make it back to town, Daria had already been found and the
     locals were buzzing about her rescue and the murders. I knew the authorities were
     on it by then. And I watched you all come and go, talking about attempting to capture
     the creature.”
    “Do you have any proof of your story?” Ryon asked.
    Nodding, Selene stood. Slowly, she lifted her borrowed T-shirt to reveal a pink scar
     that ran in a slightly diagonal curve from just below her sternum to her belly button.
     “It didn’t completely go away, I’m assuming because of the venom in its claws. I’ve
     never had an injury quite like this one.”
    Ryon leaned forward. “Convincing.”
    Lowering the shirt, she sat again. “It’s the truth. I have plenty of faults, but I’m
     no liar.” At that, she fell silent and waited.
    “Thank you for saving my life,” Daria said quietly. “You were almost killed trying
     to get the beast away from me, and I won’t forget that.”
    The tension leaked from the room like air from a balloon. Daria’s belief was good
     enough for them. Selene appeared relieved to have been vindicated.
    “No thanks are necessary. My parents raised me to help others if and when I possibly
     can.” She got the strangest look on her face just then and blinked at Nick, seemingly
     at a momentary loss for words. “Anyway, what happened to the beast? I know that it
     left the Shoshone, and there was some activity when the team left to pursue it, but
     I never learned what went down.”
    Ryon answered. “The creature was actually a human named Ben Cantrell. He’d been subjected
     to horrible experiments in Malik’s labs—”
    “Malik?” Selene looked from him to Zan.
    “I’ll explain later.”
    “Okay.”
    “Anyway,” Ryon continued, “they tampered with Ben’s DNA and turned him into this supermonster,
     one of many they hoped to control. When we found and destroyed the last of the labs,
     Ben escaped to wreak havoc everywhere he went. The poor bastard had no idea