spiteful satisfaction at having
aroused him. “You need to get out of here right now, Layla. I’m
serious. You are in danger.”
He
shoved the door open and quickly forced her out into the parking lot.
She landed against the side of a rusted Ford, her breath whooshed out
and she turned to yell at him but her breath stuck in her throat and
words failed her.
A
giant wolf’s face hung over Lucas’s broad shoulder. Even
as she watched a patch of foamy spittle dripped from its muzzle and
landed on his faded blue work shirt. A scream wrenched out of her and
she ran, not away, but toward him, her fists flailing as she screamed
at him to look out.
Running
into him was like running into a steel tank. She had time to wonder
if she had totally lost her mind, if she were hallucinating or just
plain crazy then the beastly stench of the wolf hit her and she
gagged. Her hands landed on a patch of thickly matted fur and Lucas
was shoving her away once more. The door slammed and she landed on
her ass in the middle of the parking lot. A sliver of broken bottle
lanced into her right ankle and she groaned as pain echoed along her
nerve endings. She stood, from within the bar was the sound of growls
and a low howl that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
The
door buckled and what was obviously a large paw came through it. She
didn’t need any more incentive, she ran like hell for her car.
She jumped in and gunned the engine, not even noticing that during
her headlong flight she had somehow managed to run right out of her
shoes.
Peeling
rubber as she went, she fled Good Time Charlie’s lot. Her hands
gripped the wheel with white knuckled intensity and her legs shook
violently. Her right foot kept slipping off the gas pedal and stark
terror made her breath whoosh in and out in long billowing gulps. Her
belly was loose and hot and she kept her eyes forward, too afraid to
look backwards.
The
black wolf came out of the high standing elms trees at the bend where
the road arced along the sea. The guardrail was to Layla’s
right and the wolf to her left, not knowing what else to do she
gunned the engine of her tiny sedan, hoping to knock it off the side
of the road and down the steep hillside.
Instead
the car made a hollow booming noise that did not bode well at all.
She had to fight the wheel as the impact tossed her and the car to
one side. An involuntary scream broke from Layla’s throat as
the wolf’s face mashed into her windshield for a split second
in a gruesomely funny distortion that sent her into hysterical
laughter even as panic overrode every rational thought.
The
car bucked along the centerline and the wolf clung to it, one massive
paw digging deeply into the hood. Steam billowed up and he howled in
pain. His enormous body blocked her view and she screamed, sure she
was going to go over the side at any second.
Instead
the car skidded along the opposite side of the road and hit a tree.
The hood crumpled and the wolf was thrown off. Layla threw her hands
up over her face as limbs and leaves shot through the windshield:
broken glass starring and shattering all around her.
***
Layla
came to slowly. Her entire body ached and she couldn’t remember
where she was. Had she gotten drunk? The dreams she had, she tried to
sit up and a pain burst through her skull, forcing her to sink back
down into bed.
“ Wow
that’s a hell of a hangover.” Her voice sounded odd, it
echoed and she forced her eyes to focus. The ceiling was too far
overhead, the bed too close to the floor. She had to concentrate to
make details take shape and when they did she wished they had not.
She
was in a large cave: stone walls dripping long trails of moisture
around her. The bed she lay on was a rude pile of pelts; a quick
inspection showed that thankfully none were human, but that made her
feel no better. A bitter musky scent hung in the air and when she
tried to move her body she realized that while she could feel her
arms and legs and her