Black Mountain Magic (Kentucky Haints #1)
Page 27
“Shit.” Deacon dropped the beer. “Daddy, get your shotgun!”
Stacy hurried over to the fire. “Kids, get in the house.”
Deacon took off toward the driveway. Lorena followed him. They ran to their truck and opened both doors. Lorena reached under the seat and pulled out her Browning. Deacon grabbed his shotgun off the rack in the back window.
When they returned to the yard, Ray and Zeke met them with their shotguns. Two of the dogs came racing back, tails tucked, yipping fearfully. They sped past them and dove under the deck.
“Shit.” Deacon huffed as the four of them marched down the yard. “So much for peace and quiet.”
As they approached the trees, a sense of dread swept through Lorena. A looming, dangerous darkness clouded her vision. She tensed.
“Wolvites,” she gasped. “I can feel it.” She raised her gun in both hands.
Beyond the dog pen was about fifty feet of tall grass, before the trees began. Though it was twilight, there was enough light to see the grisly scene spread out there.
The other three dogs had been brutally killed. They had ragged holes in their throats, blood splashed across the grass. One still writhed.
“Ah, hell,” Ray said miserably. “Shep.” He hurried toward the convulsing dog.
Lorena tried to push the horror out of her head and focus. The Wolvite—or Wolvites—that had done this were not gone. She aimed her gun into the trees. Something lurked and watched. Something that had every intention of tearing their throats out too.
“You bastards!” Deacon pointed his gun into the trees too. “Come out here and fight us.”
“Sons of bitches.” Zeke’s voice was tight. The other two dogs were his. “You cowardly bastards come out here and tangle with something more your size.”
Lorena swept her gun back and forth, and tried to control her witch powers so they wouldn’t distract her. The world around her brightened and her vision sharpened.
A shot rang out. Ray had put the mortally wounded dog out of its misery.
The second of distraction proved deadly. A dark shape sprang from the trees in front of Lorena and in an instant, huge powerful limbs locked around her. She didn’t have time to pull the trigger.
She screamed as she was lifted off her feet. Her gun flew from her hands. As she was spun around toward the trees, she caught a glimpse of other massive shapes. They were being ambushed.
“Lorena!” Deacon’s voice, before it was drowned out by the blast of shotguns and snarls.
The thing that had her squeezed so tight she could barely breathe. She struggled and kicked wildly, digging her nails into one of the hairy limbs locked around her middle. A huge, hot, reeking body pressed against her back.
“Let me go!”
The creature heaved and snarled, its snout pressed into her spine. Instead of biting her, it carried her into the darkness of the trees. At first, in blind terror, she assumed it was dragging her off to eat her, but it kept going. Deeper and deeper into the trees they went, until the blasts and shouting were muffled by dense foliage.
She screamed as loud as she could. “Deacon!”
The Wolvite continued to run, carrying her effortlessly. Where the hell was it taking her?
AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 2017