Free Seven Days by Shari Richardson Page A

just because I got to your dinner before you did.”
    Mathias snarled and bared his teeth at Lane. A shudder rolled down my spine. I’d never seen Mathias like this and I was suddenly and forcibly aware of how dangerous he really was.
    “She is not a meal to me, cat,” Mathias said. “She is my sun’s sister. Release her or I will remove your hand for you.”
    From the football field, I heard screams and whistles. Something big had happened on the field and the paramedics began parting the crowd to get the ambulance through the gate and into the stadium. Mathias and I both turned back to the stadium and Lane seized the opportunity we gave him. The hand with which he’d been reaching for the side of the van swung around and raked down my chest. The pain of the claws sinking into my flesh was hot and the scent of blood filled my nose until I was certain I was going to vomit. My senses became hyper focused and I could feel hot liquid running down my body and hear each drop as it splashed to the ground. My heart thumped heavily and pushed the blood out of my chest, forcing more drops to hit the pavement. The world began to spin and I reached out for anything that would steady it. What I found was Mathias‘ arm.
    “Kerry?” Mathias‘ tone was a terrifying combination of concern and hunger.
    I looked down at my chest and saw the gouges. At the same time I heard the van’s tires squeal as Lane barreled out of the parking lot. The earth tilted and I slipped to the ground and lay panting on my side. I could see the stadium through the lanes between the parking spaces and watched the crowds flow through the gates. The paramedics were backing the ambulance into the stadium when I started screaming in earnest.
    Mairin skidded to a halt between me and Mathias. “Oh my God, Kerry,” she whispered. She pulled her jacket off and pressed it against my chest. I shrieked as pain burned under the pressure. Mairin turned to Mathias and waved him off. “Go, Mathias.”
    Mathias shook his head. “I am fine,” he said. I could still hear hunger in his voice, but it wasn’t as loud as it had been moments before.
    “Then go get the paramedics to come here,” Mairin said. “They won’t need all of them for Xavier and Braden.”
    Mairin helped me lay flat in the parking lot and leaned against her coat where it covered the gouges in my chest. I gasped and batted at her hand. I didn’t want her to lean on me. It hurt too much. “What happened to Xavier?” I gasped.
    “Later,” she said. “What happened to you?”
    “Partially changed panther,” I said. I still hadn’t wrapped my head around the implications of what Lane had done. All I could concentrate on right then was the searing pain in my chest.
    “Can you heal yourself?” Mairin’s voice held an edge of panic I’d never heard before. Usually she was calm and cool under pressure. I tried to focus and raise the energy to heal myself, but I couldn’t. I was too distracted by Mairin’s panic, Xavier’s absence and the lights of the ambulance now pulling up next to us.
    “You have to try, Kerry,” Mairin whispered. “Please, honey, I need you to try to heal.”
    I shook my head. I was too fascinated by the color of the blood and the quick nature of its flow to focus on stopping it. I glanced toward the stadium again and saw Christian, one of Xavier’s youngest panthers, rushing across the parking lot. He stopped and knelt next to me.
    “I got the East Hampton crew to agree to take you, Kerry,” he said. “Doc Coffman will meet us at the hospital.” The sadness in Christian’s eyes told me what I had already guessed and dreaded. The were virus was only transmitted when a wereanimal was changed into its animal form. Lane had clawed me. Christian believed I was going to be a panther when the moon was full next. Doctor Coffman was the doctor the pride trusted to help when a panther needed medical attention. He was researching the virus and trying to find ways to