Driven by Dean Murray Read Free Book Online Page A

didn't need to. I
could hear that all three of them were chasing me.
    I
could hear them, breathing hard, their footsteps getting heavier as
they shifted into the huge, hybrid-like forms that made them so
deadly. I was faster than they were, but not by much. Werewolves were
the single deadliest predator in existence, and it was more than just
their phenomenal size and strength that allowed them to occupy the
apex spot. They had an energy and endurance that was unnatural, even
in comparison to a hybrid.
    The
only way for shape shifters to defeat werewolves was to fight them on
our terms. If we outnumbered them and could bring the fight to a
quick conclusion then we could bring them down, but everything about
this encounter was stacked against me. I was the one outnumbered and
my only hope of survival was to stretch the run out long enough to
put a significant distance between us.
    Their
supernatural endurance was going to make that an extremely tough
challenge. It had been done before, if not by me, but there was only
a very tiny window in which it could work. I was going to have to run
in a long arc, far enough to create the kind of lead I needed, but
not so long as to let exhaustion set in and rob me of the precious
inches and feet I was currently building into the cushion that was my
only chance.
    I'd
been running for less than a minute before I realized that the ground
was working against me. We were traversing fallow fields and the
partially frozen dirt was soft enough that it robbed my feet of some
of the energy of each lunge. If the werewolves had been likewise
slowed then it would have been a non-issue, but their talons seemed
to be digging deep enough into the ground that they were catching
ahold of something harder and the earth wasn't robbing their
movements of energy in the same fashion.
    My
beast knew we were in trouble. I'd half expected her to be urging me
on to greater speed, but she remembered our last encounter with a
werewolf and she knew just how close we'd come to beating it by
ourselves. I was big, even for a hybrid, and I was stronger than any
of the other hybrids who'd been following Alec.
    I
still came up short against the mountain of muscle and claws that was
a werewolf, but with some more experience and with intelligence up
against savage cunning I knew I'd eventually be able to give at least
the smaller werewolves a run for their money.
    Unfortunately
the operative word was eventually. As things stood right now, turning
and fighting like my beast wanted to do would be a quick kind of
suicide. The only good thing about fighting off my beast's urges was
the fact that it gave me something to do other than just panic.
    By
the time I'd bound my beast back down to my will, I had a plan. I
needed terrain that favored me, which meant something that would slow
the werewolves down, speed me up, let me lose them, or provide me
with some kind of respite.
    A
forest, one with thick underbrush, would have been the best option,
but the empty farmland didn't offer any natural phenomenon that would
suit. As far as the eye could see was nothing but the faint light of
tiny plant life. The only trees, brightly-glowing behemoths that
otherwise would have served admirably, were miles away and they were
nothing more than a single line meant to serve as a windbreak.
    Instead
I turned towards the large black area to my left. From this far away
it was hard to be sure what I was headed towards. I thought I could
see the black bars of bare structural steel, but I'd have to get
closer before I'd know for sure.
    Things
were as desperate as they were going to get. By the time I got close
enough to find out what I was up against, I'd be too tired to try for
an alternate destination, but the decision was surprisingly easy
despite that. I simply didn't have any other options.
    Three
more heart-pounding, exhausting minutes passed with the werewolves
losing ground on me far too slowly for comfort before I was able to
see the partial