Free Irish Magic by Caitlin Ricci

The werewolves were easy enough to tell, but there were so many other creatures on display there that she had no idea what they all were. She walked toward one white wolf’s face and tried not to cry out when she realized it reminded her of Evangeline, who was safely back at home in the pack. Before she could get to the wolf’s mounted head though she tripped over a trunk at the foot of the bed.
    “Ow,” she said, bending down to rub her bruised shin. “What’s in there? Its heavy.”
    “You’re impressed by all of them, huh?” the man asked her.
    Hannah played along, nodding even as she wanted to scream at him for his cruelty. “Um. Yeah. Sure.”
    He knelt in front of her. “Then you’ll really like this.” He opened up the trunk and pulled out a shiny pelt. He laid it over the bed and pulled another out, followed by yet another.
    “So many,” Hannah commented dryly. She caught sight of one that was different as he laid it on the bed. It looked wet and nearly dark brown. It was Caelum’s. She was sure of it.
    “Never met a woman that was a hunter before. Stay here, with us, we’ll train you up right. The wolves, they’ve brainwashed you. They’re beasts. Monsters. Nothing like us. We’ll be good to you.” He was looking at her like he really hoped she’d say the right thing. Like when her teacher asked her a question that she should have known. But unlike the times when she wasn’t paying attention in class, she knew what her answer was here.
    She smiled at him, hoping it would relax him long enough for her to do what she needed to do. She leaned forward and put a hand on his arm, hoping she looked innocent. “Really? I could stay here with you two? And you’d show me everything?”
    His expression softened and he nodded. “Sure. Whatever you wanted. You’d be the best hunter this side of the Mississippi. I know you would. Pretty girl like you, they’d come to you. The beasts are drawn to girls like you. They—”
    Hannah grabbed the keys out of his pocket and pushed him over, quickly jumping to her feet and picking up Caelum’s fur as she did. She was down the stairs a heartbeat later. P came out before she was at the front door, blocking her path.
    “Hey! What—”
    Hannah pushed him aside, using her speed and momentum to get him off balance as she bolted for the shed. She could hear them running behind her as she unlocked the door. Only two keys made it easy. Their mistake. Ippy’s cage was next and then she and Ippy started on Caelum’s ropes, but she felt the men behind her, blocking their way out even before they got Caelum untied.
    “Bad mistake, you stupid little girl. Now you’ll die first,” one of them said. She heard him step into the shed and bristled.
    “Caelum,” she whispered, looking down at him as he sat up, his hands freed. “I have your skin now. Help us get away. You don’t need to stay here. Not anymore. We can help you.” He got to his feet without saying anything to her. “You promised!” she hissed at him when it looked like he wasn’t going to do anything but stare the men down.
    She shouldn’t have doubted him, though. She realized that a moment later as P charged toward him. Caelum’s movements were jerky, but he was strong as he fought back against P. Hannah ran at the men, too, shrieking as she pummeled one of them and kicked at another. She wasn’t very good, but she’d had some training and she was fast. They had the men down, but for how long she didn’t know as she grabbed Ippy’s hand without asking and pulled him and Caelum out of the shed by their hands. They took off to the woods, a place she felt comfortable in despite not knowing these particular ones, and kept running, the guys behind her, until her lungs burned and sweat made her shirt cling to her back. Only then did she stop and turn back to them.
    “We did it,” she gasped out, grinning at them both.
    “Not safe yet,” Caelum reminded her, killing her brief moment of