Free Unwrapped: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 3) by J.A. Cipriano Page A

kitten in the face as I danced backward like a butterfly on the balls of my feet. I admit, I probably looked ridiculous. There I was, an eight-foot-tall werewolf bobbing and weaving as fire-breathing kittens circled like hawks. I popped another one in the nose, knocking its dragon breath to the left. The white-hot flame sizzled through the air, singeing my arm hair. The blast ignited the red rug beneath my feet and licked across the stone like someone had spilled gasoline.
    The kittens howled, and the cacophony generated by a thousand throats reverberated in my ear drums. Under the onslaught of claws and hatred, the creatures pressed me further back into the corner as they darted in several hundred at a time.
    “What’s going on?” Bast asked, watching me with a dazed look in her eyes. Her gaze swiveled from me to the kittens and back again as she shook her head like she was trying to get the cobwebs out. The strange heat in her eyes had faded away, leaving only fear and confusion behind in its wake. My throw had definitely knocked the crazy out of the cat goddess, but that left me with two other questions. Why had she been crazy and why had hitting her really hard solved my problem? I didn’t have the answer at the moment, but I was sure going to investigate further once our situation became less dire.
    “Your dragon-kittens are attacking me!” I screamed, stepping to the side and grabbing one particularly aggressive cat by its hummingbird fast wings. Their sharpened edges sliced into my flesh as I whirled and flung it into another creature. Several more went down in a heap as I threw myself at the sudden gap, using my size to burst through the cloud of frenzied flying felines.
    “My kittens?” she asked as I bounded across the room and grabbed the gilded door knob. It was locked. Damn.
    “We have to get out of here!” I cried before another blast of flame hit me in the back. The pain was indescribable. Agony leapt through my nerves as I slumped to my knees, trying to keep myself from screaming.
    “How?” she asked as some of the kittens turned toward her and began advancing on the goddess.
    I cried out, rage tingeing my vision red as I jerked on the knob with all my might. The room shook, gravel and dust shaking loose from the stone ceiling above as I tore the metal door from its frame.
    “Get behind me!” I whirled around, muscles bulging with strain, and swung the golden door like a baseball bat. It smashed through a horde of kittens, clearing enough space for Bast to reach me. The look of fear in her eyes as the swath of beasts went down let me know one thing. She was terrified of the creatures. That thought chilled me. How could a cat deity be afraid of furious demon cats? Shouldn’t that be her thing?
    “I’m through,” she huffed breathlessly, sliding past me and moving into the hallway.
    I gritted my teeth together and got ready to attack again as more of the kittens advanced, undeterred by their smashed comrades. Already the ones I’d hit were starting to get up, their kitten bodies popping back into place in a way that reminded me of how I healed. Awesome.
    Something seized me by the back of my collar and pulled. My feet went out from under me, and the door slipped from my grasp. I fell backward into the hallway just as kitten fire melted the spot where I’d been standing to slag.
    Bast grabbed the fallen door, her claws plunging into the gold like it was little stronger than Styrofoam. She hefted it easily, slamming it back into place just as the thunk of kitten flesh against metal filled my ears. Bulges began to show in the door as she glanced at me, cat eyes wide in horror.
    “I don’t think that will hold them,” she said, swallowing hard as I got slowly to my feet. My body felt raw and burned, but otherwise okay.
    “What kind of milk did you feed them? Don’t you know you’re supposed to use the kind without rbST?” I asked, looking at the other two doors and trying to decide if I