Wolves’ Bane Read Online Free Page B

much for me to make them work. The wolf was almost at the steps of my house, a couple of feet from me. I was too late.
    “What do you want from me?” I cried as tears sprang to my eyes, my body vibrating with fear, my gaze darting all around into the darkness as if somewhere out there was my salvation. But no, I’d left my only savior a writhing mess back at the carnival.
    When the beast lunged, I covered my head with my hands and braced for the impact.
    “Get behind me,” Caleb ordered, his words punctuated by the zinging sound of metal.
    I lowered my hands, my body forced back, pressed against the door as a familiar form blocked the wolf from my sight.
    “You!” I whispered, in awe once again at the sheer bulk of him. He dwarfed me by at least a foot. Caleb, the hunter.
    “Unlock the door,” he growled over his shoulder. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to protect you.”
    I peered around his body. The wolf had been joined by others, all growling and snarling, closing in on us quickly. Caleb held a huge sword and he was swinging it from left to right, in a sweeping arc in front of him.
    Protect me?
    “Open the fucking door, woman.”
    I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly yanked the keys from my pocket, steadying my hands before jamming the right key into the lock and twisting the knob. He pushed me back as I opened the door, barreling both of us into the house, and then quickly slammed the door shut behind him.
    The wolves howled their anger, bolting up onto the porch and throwing themselves against the door. Caleb twisted the lock into place and slid the deadbolt home then braced himself against the vibrating door as he glared at me. Plastered up against the opposite wall, too terrified to move, I stared back, unsure of what he wanted.
    The light from the half moon shone through the skylight, bathing the small foyer in an eerie glow. I squinted at him, my eyes slowly growing accustomed to the dim light. His clothes were in tatters, he had long, blood-encrusted scratches on his exposed flesh and dirt caked his head. He had fought to get to me, had been through hell after I’d left him at the carnival.
    Yeah, left him writhing in pain on the ground. I winced at the memory of kicking him in the groin.
    So what? He scared the crap out of you, remember?
    The ringing of his cell phone startled me out of my thoughts. He pulled it from his pocket, then swiped his finger across the screen before pressing it to his ear. “What?” He glared over at me. “Where’s the cloak?”
    I swallowed the lump in my throat and winced. “I left it on the sidewalk up the street.”
    He nodded, his eyes blazing with new anger. “Did you hear that? Yeah, okay. Make it quick, they’re blocking the front entrance.” He tapped the phone screen off just as the window to his left shattered and a long paw slithered in and snagged on the window ledge.
    He reacted swiftly, swinging his sword down like an axe. The paw landed with a thump on the floor, blood gushing in an arc. The wolf let loose a yowl as it yanked what was left of its leg out the window. I covered my mouth, my eyes wide, shock stopping my throat from working properly or surely I would have screamed.
    He dropped his sword into the floor, the sharp point embedded into the wood.
    The floor! Hardwood! No, wait, scary wolf. Oh god.
    Caleb’s back was to me, his fingers moving along the door, sweeping up, down, in circles, creating invisible words or symbols. I watched as he traced and retraced the same pattern, my gaze following his fingers so that I could practically see what he was putting there. He was murmuring under his breath as well, his voice a whisper. As I moved a step closer, a sudden current of energy washed over me, tingling my skin, creating goose bumps, pumping my heart back up to the frenzy of moments before.
    “What are you doing?” My words were a whisper.
    He cocked his head, his fingers still on the door. He spoke to me through clenched teeth.