Half Past the Witching Hour (Paranormal Personnel Saga #3) by Joanna Mazurkiewicz Page A

my human form!’
    He turned around to face her. Kelsie was circling slowly, baring her white teeth with loud growls, her back arched and all her fur pointed up. She was ready to attack him, to drag him away from me.
    ‘Hey, big guy, why don’t you try someone your own size?’
    A man’s voice came a few meters away from me. He appeared out of nowhere. For some reason I felt like I knew his voice, but I was too high on adrenaline to recognise him. Hissing and gasping I started crawling away from Craig’s side.
    Craig didn’t think twice about attacking. He jumped, turning into a large, grey wolf, ripping his leathers apart. Spit rolled over his large teeth, as he started moving slowly towards the newcomer, snarling loudly.
    I looked at the stranger, some of the light from my hands reflected on his face and I let out a gasp. Michael Longbridge stood in front of Craig in his human form. A few seconds later he was a fully grown wolf, moving slowly towards Craig. Loud, rasping and roaring voices filled the corridor as the two animals crashed into a bloody fight, ripping at each other throats. Furious snarling sounds erupted around me. I heard cracking bones and the raw smell of torn flesh.
    For a long moment I stood paralysed as two animals crushed with each other in a barbaric fight. I gasped as Craig’s wolf, who was bigger than Michael’s, grabbed him by his throat and slammed on the ground. For a moment I was seeing only blood and then I snapped out of the initial shock, remembering Tron’s lessons. Craig was tearing Michael’s neck apart and I had a split second decision to make.
    I didn’t care what Michael was doing here. In the end of the day he was saving our skin. Everything became blurry, my magic came back, charging through my body, pumping me with courage and desire to kick Craig’s arse. I concentrated, recalling Tron’s protection spells. The energy came lashing out from my toes upwards, building, moving so fast that I couldn’t control it anymore.
    Then two wolfs broke apart and the moment they weren’t at each other’s throats, I screamed empowering myself with defence spells. Raw, multiple waves of magical power surged through me. Red light lashed out off my hands, taking my breath away. The backfire pushed me to the ground as the light lashed into Craig’s wolf.
    It took me a moment to figure out what happened, when I shook myself. I was on the floor, breathing hard. Kelsie was beside me.
    ‘Julia, are you all right?’
    She helped me get back on my feet. In front of us, I spotted Craig who was moaning by the wall in a pool of blood. The smell of burnt flesh reached my nostrils. I was pumped in adrenaline when Kelsie and I got to naked Michael. He was conscious, but there was a nasty large open wound on his neck.
    ‘Mr. Longbridge, please, are you all right?’ I asked, afraid to touch him. His dark eyes found mine.
    ‘Miss Taylor, we all need to get the hell out of here. You shouldn’t have interfered. This shifter is summoning someone,” said Michael through the gritted teeth, his face contracted with new dose of pain. I glanced to Kelsie to help him out. Craig was breathing hard and swearing loudly.
    Michael was also swearing loudly, gasping with pain, but he managed to lift himself up and the three of us left, reaching the stairs.
    ‘It’s easier if we separate. I can smell other shifters. We have less than two minutes,’ he shouted.
    ‘He is right; let’s go Julia,’ hissed Kelsie.
    I didn’t even have time to think. Michael was already limping back in the opposite direction. They were shifters, so maybe it was safer to just obey. Kelsie grabbed my hand pulling me down. We hit the stairs fast, running quickly with pounding hearts. I kept glancing behind me wondering if Michael was going to be all right by himself. Humans were rushing, passing us on the stairs. Someone was shouting. No one stopped us.
    We hurried back to the lobby, then we headed straight towards the exit. I