Wild Blood by Nancy A. Collins Page B

buddies!”
    â€œLet me go, asshole!”
    â€œDon’t say anything else, Perry,” the woman pleaded. She was a bottle blonde in a black party dress that had lost her high-heels while gaining a nasty welt under her right eye. “He’s crazy. They’re all crazy.”
    â€œShut up, Sheri!” Perry hissed, somehow making it seem like the whole situation was her fault.
    Jag knelt down and thrust his face into that of the terrified woman. “Crazy? Sweetheart, we’re a lot more complicated than that!” Rend tossed him a set of keys, which Jag caught in midair without even looking. “We’re not drug-crazed psycho-killers; we’re sporting types. And there’s no sport to be found in shooting fish in a barrel. So we’re going to give you two a fighting chance. We’re going to set you free and give you and Perry here a nice, long five minute start,” Jag explained as he quickly removed the handcuffs and stepped away.
    The captives sat up, exchanging uneasy looks as they massaged the circulation back into their wrists.
    â€œDon’t just sit there. The clock is ticking,” Jag grinned, exposing far too many teeth for a human mouth.
    Sheri scuttled backward on her heels and hands as Rend made a noise somewhere between agony and orgasm and dropped onto his knees, his spine twisting and bunching underneath his leather jacket. Perry lurched to his feet and grabbed Sheri by the wrist, dragging her behind him as he ran into the darkness.
    Ripper whined in anticipation of the hunt, hopping about on one foot, then the other, as he took off his boots. Sunder unbuckled the bondage straps that basically held his jeans together and joined Ripper in his dance, his penis growing rigid as he shifted. Hew tossed back his head as the Change came over him and gave voice to a lusty howl of exultant pain. Jez cried out as well, whipping her head back and forth as her bones restructured themselves, her shrieks quickly turning into a yowl of release.
    Jag shook out his cream-colored mane and leapt atop a nearby boulder. He was happy with the way the pack was working out. They might have their differences in human form, but once they shifted into their true skins the petty annoyances disappeared and they became a tightly-knit, fiercely loyal team.
    And he was the leader of the pack.
    â€œCome on, damn it! They’ll be after us in a minute!” Perry snapped.
    They were halfway up the side of a low hill, the face of which was studded with scrub and small outcroppings. Sheri leaned against one of the larger rocks, sobbing in pain. She wiped at her tears, smearing her mascara across her cheeks.
    â€œWhat are they?”
    â€œThey’re not a black-metal band, that’s for fuckin’ certain!” he replied. “Now hurry up!”
    â€œI can’t! Look at my feet!”
    He didn’t have to as he’d seen the bloody footprints a quarter-mile back, and he had no doubt whatever was pursuing them had noticed them as well. Even if they somehow managed to survive their ordeal, Sheri would be crippled for life.
    â€œSo what do you expect me to do? Carry you?” he snapped.
    She stared up at him with those big, stupid Bambi eyes of hers and began to whimper. Fine. He never asked her to fall in love with him in the first place.
    â€œForget it!” he spat as he resumed his climb, scrabbling over the loose soil and gravel. “I’m not lugging you through the fucking foothills!”
    Sheri stared after him, open-mouthed. “That’s not funny, Perry! Come back!”
    Perry paused to shoot her a venomous glance over his shoulder. “I mean it, bitch! You’re on your own! I told you when we met I wasn’t into commitment! Nice knowin’ you, kid!”
    â€œPerry!” She tried to follow him, but the soles of her feet had been reduced to raw hamburger. After a couple of agonizing steps she fell and lay there in the dirt,