Moon Shifter 02 - Primal Possession

The sluggishness was starting to take over.
    “Fight it!” Jayce snarled.
    Before he could respond, Liam’s inner wolf took over. It was so fast, so unexpected, he didn’t have time to think about it. It rarely happened that he couldn’t control his beast, but something deep in his core knew there was danger nearby and made the decision for him.
    He bit back a cry as his bones broke and realigned. His clothes and shoes shredded to ribbons as he shifted to his animal form. The pain hit with the intensity of a sledgehammer throughout his entire body. The intensification of the agony was because the change was not his choice. His animal was taking over.
    Fast and hard.
    And his inner wolf wanted blood for taking away that control of power. As always, the pain was fleeting. Once his bones slid into place, he growled deep in his throat.
    Now that he was shifted, that euphoric sensation from earlier was completely gone. His wolf was ready to fight. Liam glanced at Jayce, who’d stripped off his jacket andunleashed his blades. He held one in each hand. They gleamed in the sunlight.
    For a moment Liam wondered why he hadn’t shifted, but then he remembered that enforcers preferred to fight in their human form. They were faster and deadlier that way.
    Jayce nodded at him and they headed deeper into the woods. The Fianna weren’t hard to track now that he was in his wolf form. There were two of them if he scented correctly. The distinctive fresh-rain scent of the fae was unique to their kind.
    “Go for their throats. They have the same weaknesses as us,” Jayce murmured as they continued stalking over snow and dried, dead underbrush.
    Yeah, Liam already knew that. Regular fae had killed his pack a hundred years ago in a battle for land. Killing them would be no sweat. Liam’s paws barely felt the cold underneath him. His entire body was primed to attack. The blood running through him was hot and fiery. As the trees grew thicker, he spotted two very tall men. They were dressed in all black, were lean, and each wielded a short sword. One had long blond hair, the other red, but other than that, they looked like brothers.
    Liam silently advanced on the blond. Whatever the two warriors had done to him earlier, it had worn off and now he was just pissed.
    He reined in the impulse to spring. Losing control was something he rarely did. Except around December of course.
    “We just want to talk,” the redhead said while gripping his sword tightly.
    He spoke the same time the blond wielded his sword in Liam’s direction. Talk?
I don’t fucking think so.
Liam lunged for the blond’s legs, careful to avoid the swordslicing through the air toward his neck. He rammed into his shin but didn’t take the warrior down.
    He wanted to knock this guy off balance. Liam rolled onto the ground and jumped back to his feet. In his peripheral vision he watched Jayce fighting the redhead. The sounds of their blades clashing against each other rang out through the air like a violent song.
    Liam bared his teeth but was careful to keep his neck protected as he began to circle the tall warrior. The man handled his blade with ease, but Liam noticed he favored his left hand.
    He started to circle the man faster, hoping to wear him down and maybe trip him up. The faster he went, the more the man’s annoyance grew. And the tighter Liam enclosed his circle. When he saw an opening, he lunged at him. Using all the strength of his hind legs, he hurtled himself through the air, full force, and slammed against the fae warrior’s chest.
    The blond cried out but didn’t let go of his sword. Liam felt the blade dig into his side. Not deep, but enough to piss him off and make his vision blur for an instant. The ache was excruciating as it ripped through skin and muscle. Instead of moving away, Liam grabbed on to the sword-wielding arm with his teeth and ripped through the man’s tendons and muscles.
    The warrior cried out again, though it was more of a guttural growl, and he dropped the sword.
    “Son of a bitch,” he shouted.
    Bleeding and snarling, Liam backed off but only because the warrior had dropped his weapon. Taking the life of another supernatural being could have dire consequences. If he could avoid the bloodshed, he would. Not that he’d sacrifice himself for this asshole. Especially not since he was fae.
    Keeping half his attention on the blond, he glanced at Jayce.
    Jayce had his two blades crisscrossed against the redhead’s neck,