Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 105815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Someone moved, and a wooden chair clattered to the old tile floor. It was like the firing of a starter pistol. The elves hovering in the doorway surged forward with crossbows in hand. Tiny but lethal arrows sliced through the air.
A rumbling growl filled the room like rolling thunder pouring across the sky as a storm crashed into a city. The handful of people who had crowded the small round tables began shifting one after another into large, angry wolves.
“Holy shit!” The bartender dropped behind the bar, and Leo’s heart went out to the human. Leo had been coming to this bar for months now, and he’d had the chance to watch it steadily grow more popular among the shifters as a place where they could get a drink and not have to talk to anyone. After the recent displacement of the local wolf pack, more than a few wolves were simmering balls of anger and frustration.
For now, hiding behind the bar was the bartender’s safest decision.
But the man didn’t stay there. He popped up, holding a shotgun with the butt against his shoulder. The loud chunk of his cocking the weapon did little to capture the attention of the wolves and elves as they fought at the entrance of the bar, but the boom of the first shot did wonders drawing eyes to him.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
Leo was not sticking around to see who’d win this fight. Let the humans, wolves, and elves kill each other.
When he’d first spotted the elves, he’d jumped from his stool and stopped in front of Sage. Without looking, he reached behind him to grab her arm and shove her toward the rear of the bar, hoping to escape the building. Only his hand hit empty air.
His brain locked up as he whirled to find Sage’s stool empty. He’d taken his eyes off the annoying cat for a second. Where the fuck could she have gone?
A low meow reached his ears above the gunshots, wolf growls, and elf grunts, thanks to his enhanced hearing. He twisted farther to find a slender calico with poofy fur standing on the end of the bar, staring at him like he was the idiot for lingering.
Maybe she was right, and he was the idiot.
With a growl, Leo lunged at her while shifting from his human form into his house cat form. Orange and white fur covered his lithe body. Deft cat paws landed on the sticky bar and he ran, not caring if the human saw him change. It was unlikely the bartender was going to come out of this fight alive. Hell, it would be a wonder if any of the wolves escaped with their lives intact.
This wasn’t the first so-called random fae attack of a human business. They were striking at odd times throughout the suburbs of Hartford, going into places where there were handfuls of people and slaughtering them all. Afterward, they’d burn the buildings to the ground. It wasn’t doing a lot to eliminate the humans, but it worked wonders at striking fear in them.
He was a step behind Sage as she leaped from the end of the bar and hit the handle for the rear door with her front paws. The door creaked open, and Leo slammed his larger girth into it, sending the door swinging open and slamming into the wall.
The scent of beer and liquor was even stronger in the storeroom. His nose burned and twitched, but he fought through it as his pupils expanded to soak in what little light permeated the area. He pushed forward on quick, quiet paws, searching for a door that had to lead to an alley or parking lot. There was no way in hell this place had just one door. Bars always had a back entrance for deliveries and provided an area for the employees to smoke on their break. Right?
Except this bar was the diviest of dive bars. The bartender was probably the owner and only employee. He didn’t look like the type to care if he smoked indoors.
Fuck!
Leo darted here and there, bumping into Sage and letting out a low growl when the cat hissed. He might have made a grab for her to help her out of the bar, but that was the end of his helpfulness. She was on her own now if she wanted to get out of there safely.
A hint of fresh air cut through the thick miasma of alcohol. Leo stiffened, tipping his nose up to get a better fix on the direction. The happy, clean smell sharpened, and he shot forward, winding between rotting boxes and awkwardly stacked crates. He didn’t know what was out there, and he didn’t care. The bartender could have doubled as a mortician with stacks of decaying bodies, so long as he had another door.