Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Emory shot up into the air and aimed a downward kick at one of the others, knocking it back into a tree. It crumpled to the ground and lay still.
Landing, Emory rushed one of the others as it crouched and leaped for him with claws extended. He dodged the claws and used his telekinetic magic to start hurling large stones at its head, but it was surprisingly good at evading them. He jumped up high into the air again, his wings holding him aloft as he scanned the entire clearing.
Three of the creatures were down. The remaining two were still fighting, but Bain grabbed one and aimed his deadly stare right into its eyes. It froze, then just collapsed to the ground.
The one remaining rougarou took off running.
Emory landed, then jumped into the air again, spotting it through the trees. He sent a heavy tree limb into its path, and the rougarou hit the ground hard before scrambling to its feet. But it was moving slower now, a heavy limp making it stagger every few steps.
Bain, whose form was half man, half snake, slithered fast around the trees, and he whipped his tail around, tripping the rougarou.
This time, Emory toppled a tree onto its head. He landed next to the now-dead rougarou. “That was entirely too easy,” he murmured between panting breaths. “They seemed almost…weak.”
“Probably been feral for too long.” Bain knelt and looked over the dead creature. He pointed to something on its shoulder. “Wonder why it has this tattoo.”
Emory eyed the tattoo, taking in the sorcerer’s staff with a circle of fire around it. “Interesting. We’ll have to tell Xavier about that.”
Bain got to his feet and pointed into the trees. “I’m pretty sure he’ll want to know about that as well.”
There was a deer lurking at the edge of the clearing. It was no ordinary deer. Instead of soft, brown fur, ragged, human-looking skin covered its back half. It turned its face toward Emory, and its snout didn’t look anything like a deer’s, its face misshapen and grotesque.
It wasn’t a shifter caught mid-shift, but something else entirely. Something Emory had never seen before.
“That is so wrong,” Emory said, keeping his voice low.
“It must be a mutation of some sort.” Bain shifted fully back to his human form.
The deer’s ragged ears suddenly twitched, and it ran, rushing through the clearing where Alaric waited.
Emory and Bain hurried back, and Alaric turned to them with wide eyes, his jaw tight with concern. “This is not good. I’m guessing that the intensity of the ley lines has made the magic unstable. The tremors in the earth we’ve been feeling are because of that as well. But now that it’s affecting the flora and fauna, it’s turned into a serious problem.” He pulled out his cellphone. “I’ll fill Xavier in and get a clean-up crew out here.”
Emory nodded and leaned against a tree trunk. Alaric was right. This was serious. That thing was something out of a nightmare, and if there was one, there were probably more mutated creatures. Plus, something had been off about the rougarou pack.
His gut clenched when he felt the rumbling tremor of yet another earthquake. He looked at his coworkers, seeing the concern in both their eyes.
Something needed to be done about the ley lines.
Chapter Two
Julien
“Planning to burn the midnight oil again, Julien?”
Julien Davenport glanced up from his monitor to see his CFO, William Cummings, leaning against the door jamb. His tie was loosened, his normally crisp dress shirt wrinkled, and faint circles darkened his eyes.
“You’re here, too.” Julien narrowed his eyes. “And you look like you need to go home. Maybe take a day off. Something I need to know about?”
William shook his head. “No. I was just going over some numbers. What are you working on?”
“The same.” What Julien didn’t say was something was off in those numbers and he had stayed late to investigate. But then he’d gotten distracted by a report about suspicious data one of his employees had discovered. Julien owned and operated a cloud storage service company, and though he had a feeling this information came from a backdoor that shouldn’t have been there, it still had his gut tightening. “I’m also looking into some people who have been using our service to communicate.”
William straightened. “Why? Lots of people use the service for that.”
He shouldn’t have said anything since he couldn’t very well tell William his suspicions—though he was well aware that William wasn’t quite who he pretended to be. He looked at his computer screen. “I don’t have enough details yet. Have to dig in some more.” He looked back up when William cleared his throat.
“I wouldn’t worry about whatever you found. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Julien frowned because William wasn’t quite meeting his eyes. But then, the man looked exhausted—probably wasn’t seeing straight.