Stone was awakened with a snarl on his lips by Gavin mentally yelling in his head.
[Vampires are in the city!]
He bolted upright on his large, plush bed, fear mixing with his anger. [What?]
[They slipped through the werewolves in the north. A swarm of them, like locusts.]
Cursing, he kicked off the blanket and hurried downstairs. He mentally called out to everyone in the pack for updates. Alistair and Gunner were already on their way to the city, while Gwen was just waking up and running downstairs, stark naked like him.
"Why didn't the werewolves warn us sooner that their borders had been breached?" she asked. Worry creased her brows as she looked upon her father's face in sympathy.
He held the front door open for her since she was right behind him and followed her out. They were far away from the city and deep within the woods, that they didn't need to worry about locking it.
They shifted quickly, their bones crunching and grinding against cartilage. Their skin rippled as the muscles shifted position, turning to rubber in order to bend and move before hardening once more. Fur broke out on their skin and spread throughout their bodies. Their arms lengthened, their hands turned halfway between hands and claws larger than a human head. Their mouths and nasal cavities lengthened into muzzles—a painful procedure, but one that they got used to after a hundred times of doing it. A tail sprouted from their tailbones as they fell forward on their mutated hands and feet. Their internal organs churned and gurgled as they shifted slightly within.
As soon as he was transformed, Stone reached out to Gavin. [Is Aubree's position secure?]
Gavin responded with a slight edge in his voice. [Yes.]
Stone's throat rumbled, not liking even a hint of uncertainty regarding Aubree's safety. The whole reason he had someone out there patrolling her neighborhood was to ensure no harm came her way. Maybe it was a little overbearing, protective, and controlling, but she was his soulmate whether he liked it or not.
[Oh, so you're finally ready to admit that she's your mate now, huh?]
Stone snapped his enormous jaws at Gwen as she ran next to him through the forest. She barked in laughter and skittered around a few trees to avoid his teeth.
[Guard the southern border in case any leeches try to slip through there,] he commanded.
She yipped back. [Aye aye, Captain.]
Stone picked up his pace and flew through the forest and into the dark backyards of suburban homes.
The position of the half moon in the sky told him it was the middle of the night. They had roughly four hours to find the vampires and chase them out of the city because once they found a place to hide, that meant more complications and hunts until they were certain the streets were cleansed of them.
[How close are they to Aubree?] Stone asked.
There was hesitation in Gavin's response. [Maybe a mile off.]
Stone knew that was a generous estimate. The city sounds and smells made it harder for them to pick up vampires, which only further encouraged them to keep them from entering the city limits. Out in the forest, the vampires were easier to sense because their hearing could stretch for miles. With city distractions, it was much harder to zero-in their senses on the living dead. Vampires were nearly soundless in their movements because of their grace and their scent was faint, except when they opened their mouths and the pungent odor of metallic blood filled the lycans' nostrils.
YOU ARE READING
Heart of Stone (Parts I & II)
Werewolf[COMPLETE] Some bonds can't be broken, even in death. -- He couldn't endure another heartbreak. "Accepting her would be a mistake," he said. "She's a human. I can't afford to have her blood on my hands." Gwen looked away, and he knew she saw the ima...
