Free o 35b0a02a46796a4f by deba schrott

gaze flicked over her, and his blue eyes darkened to black; then he threw back his head and emitted a bellow of fury that seemed to shake the leaves upon the trees.
    The sound caused the polar bear to pull up short. Barlow threw out his arms, hands spread wide, and at the very
    -of his fingertips something twinkled.
    Then he was shifting in the blink of an eye, so fast Alex couldn’t tell the exact instant he changed from man to beast.
    Fury turned Julian into an animal. Rain or shine, sun shadow, if he became enraged enough, he changed.’ That was how he’d become what he was in the first place.
    He shot out his hands, reached for his magic, believed could become a wolf in the sunlight, and he did.
    As he leaped over Alex’s inert body, the scent of fear ~‘-oozed from her pores only infuriated him more, made Ii stronger, faster, better. She was one of his now. She should afraid of nothing, no one.
    But him.
    Julian stalked around the polar bear, which had the good sense to turn away from Alex and keep an eye on him.
    Unfortunately Alex didn’t have the same good sense. Instead of running, she lay there and watched.
    Against his better judgment, Julian took his gaze from the bear and met hers, lifting his lip, jerking his head. Ht eyes widened; he thought she understood. He was wrong.
    “Julian!” she shouted, an instant before the bear ‘hit h broadside.
    Flesh tore; bones broke. He might be magic, but he couldn’t prevent that.
    Julian hit the ground and rolled, stifling a whimper when his wounds howled at the impact and the movement.
    whirled, teeth snapping, but his jaws closed upon empty The polar bear had reared up, roaring, taking wild swipes Alex as she poked him in the chest with a stick.
    What was she thinking? She could barely walk, hunched to the side and bleeding. She was doing nothing but infuriating the animal with the smell of her blood and the annoyance of that stick.
    Julian hurried forward, crowding her back, meeting the beast with bared teeth.
    “He’ll kill you,” she managed, pain in every word.
    Doubtful, Julian thought, then wondered why she cared. Why hadn’t she run off and left him to be torn to pieces, or perhaps climbed a tree and watched? He knew why he felt compelled to protect her. But why on earth would she protect him?
    Alex stepped around Julian, then poked the bear again. The thing growled and swatted at her, giving Julian the opening he needed. He dived in and tore a chunk out of the soft underbelly. The animal cried out, then fell back onto all tours where Alex promptly poked it in the eye.
    The bear tried to swipe, but its vision was compromised. Julian snarled; Alex poked at the other eye, and the polar hear ran.
    “Woo-hoo!” Alex lifted her stick to the sky, pumping her arm once before she grabbed at her injured side with a hiss.
    Julian snorted even as a small kernel of admiration bloomed. It had taken guts to face that beast with nothing but a stick.
    Said stick landed on the ground in front of him with a thud. Julian glanced at Alex just in time to watch her eyes roll back. Then she tumbled to the ground, too, and without arms there was nothing he could do to stop it. Instead he watched, helpless, as her head bounced against the earth with a dull thump before she lay still.
    He nosed her arm, but she was limp. Not dead. Not from this.But she was broken, bleeding. He needed to get her out i the open and let her rest until the sun went down. For that he needed arms, hands, feet, and a body that wasn’t broken.
    Unfortunately, he’d shifted too many times, too close together. His head was fuzzy with exhaustion. He wanted lie down and sleep until dusk.
    But to heal completely and quickly he needed to sin from one form to another, so he stood over Alex and tried to get angry. It was the only way he knew to draw forth hi magic. Closing his eyes, he thought of why she was here, what she’d done, how she’d ruined his life. He remembered how he’d found Alana—or