Magic and Wolves: Book 1 of West Mountain

Chaos Erupts

The clearing was silent, as if the world had stopped spinning in disbelief. Even the Mages hidden in the trees were still, shocked into inaction.

Then

Chaos erupted.

A scream of fury tore from Alistar's throat as he hurled a shattering spell at the orb hidden in the fire pit, his arms bursting into flames, the dark blue of his iris's ablaze and visible.

The orb shattered in a brilliant flash of light. Francis dropped Hammer and ran to the woods.

Cecilia, Oscar and Carson shifted as one and their howls filled the forest, loud and eerie in the dusk. Their howls were answered from all around as the barrier collapsed. Time to start fighting.

Alistar and Cecilia ran for Hammer first as Oscar circled closely, keeping watch and Carson ran into the trees.

The flames on Alistar's arms disappeared as he neared Hammer. Cecilia could hear his heart still beating.

"He missed the heart, I'm not sure about the lung or any other vital organs. I don't recommend taking out the knife. We need to get him to the SUVs, one of the medics can help stabilize him tell he gets to the doctor."

Cecilia nodded her large wolf head, her ears pinned back in fear. Alistar's hand hovered above the knife as he muttered, ropes of power came out from his palm and wrapped themselves around the knife, binding it to Hammer's body, immobilizing the blade.

Oscar, take Sampson to the cars then come back. I need you here as soon as you can. They should be close.

Alistar lifted Hammer onto Oscars back and used the scraps of shredded clothing from the sudden shift of the wolves to tie him to Oscar's back.

"My spell will fade in a few minutes, enough time for you to get him to them without the knife shifting."

Oscar nodded once and took off running toward the road where the SUVs would be parked. Alistar turned to Cecilia, his glowing eyes meeting the hardened steel grey of the Alpha wolf.

"Ready to hunt some Mages?"

The large wolf growled and took off into the trees, following the scent of Francis.

All around them the sound of battle filled the woods. Cecilia came up behind a mage who was shooting orbs of glowing light from their hands, the runes around their wrists glowing brightly. The wolf they were fighting was quickly tiring, having to focus on dodging the attacks, not able to get close to the Mage. Just as Cecilia was about to launch herself at the Mage, a large black panther jumped from the trees, its claws digging into the flesh of the Mages back, its jaws latching onto their neck and digging in. A loud crack could be heard as the Mage's neck snapped under the pressure of the cat's jaws. The panther rode the Mage down to the ground as he died before dropping the lifeless body and padding over to the wolf. They butted heads gently before taking off towards more sounds of battle.

The Mages did not make it easy on the shifters. They were clearly battle Mages, trained to be able to produce fast and debilitating spells, all of them had multitudes of magical runes tattooed over their bodies, helping them preform their spells.

Carson came upon a huge white male lion, his mane already splattered with blood standing over the body of a female lion. Asher was growling at a female mage who had two whips in her hands that sparked with electric current running down them. The Mage moved the whips back and forth before snapping them at the lion. Asher yelped in pain as one of the whips connected with his side, drawing a thin line of blood, and sending an electrical charge through the large cat. The charge would have downed a smaller animal, like being tasered but Asher was strong and protecting his sister. Carson, crouched down, approaching slowly, not wanting to catch the attention of the Mage. When he was close enough, Carson surged forward, closing his jaws around the Mage's thigh, and ripping a huge chunk of flesh out.