Wild Things: A Chicagolands Vampire Novel (Chicagoland Vampires) by Chloe Neill Read Free Book Online Page B

around him.
    I pulled my hands free, breaking the circle and pushing through bodies to get closer, to put him in reach in case my fear was real.
    Ethan,
I told him.
Stay where you are. I’m coming for you.
    Sentinel,
he said, obviously surprised.
What’s wrong?
    I didn’t have time to answer, because I’d been regrettably correct.
    The sky blackened as a thick, dark cloud began to spin above us, angry with sound and magic. The shifters stopped, the furious dance coming to a stumbling halt as they, too, cast their gazes on the threatening sky.
    “A storm?” someone near me asked.
    I moved forward until I reached Ethan, grabbed his wrist. But he didn’t even look at me. He stared at the sky as it broke open, revealing the truth of the cloud.
    It wasn’t the forerunner of a storm, but an attack.
    All hell broke loose.

Chapter Four

    GHASTLY, GRIM, AND ANCIENT
    T hey looked like the harpies of Greek and Roman mythology. Bodies of pale, thin women. Massive wings, the feathers so deeply black they gleamed like velvet. They were naked but for their long hair—straight and black, with thin braids tied throughout—and their silver, crested helmets. Supernatural battle armor, I feared, as they spun above us like a supernatural tornado, blotting out the stars, the magic that accompanied them fierce and unfriendly.
    “Ethan,” I yelled over the rising din, adrenaline beginning to rush through me. “Nobody told me harpies existed!”
    “I imagine nobody knew it until today,” he said, pulling a dagger from his boot and gesturing for me to do the same.
    When the dagger was in hand, I looked for Gabriel. He stood a few yards away, shouting orders and sending his own sentinels in various directions. He and Mallory exchanged a glance, and I saw him weigh the choices, the decision.
    He made the call and nodded at her and, I guessed, authorized her use of that magic he’d been so careful to train up. Catcher had no such hesitation. He’d gone to Mallory, grabbed her hand, was already pointing into the air, discussing what looked like strategy.
    Gabriel unleashed a bloodcurdling yell, a call to arms. Light erupted across the clearing as shifters changed into their animal forms, the transition as stirringly magical as their ceremony had been. Changing into animal form was rough on clothes, so some shifters disrobed before they shifted, leaving shirts and pants in piles on the ground, ready and waiting for when it was time to shift back.
    The smaller creatures, pairs of sleek red foxes and coyotes, ran quickly for the shelter of the woods. The larger animals prepared to fight: the Brecks—big cats; the Keenes—big wolves. I recognized Gabriel’s great gray form as he sprung into existence.
    Jeff, a shockingly large white tiger with deep gray stripes, appeared beside him and roared with fury enough to raise the hair on the back of my neck. Fallon stayed in human form, a hand on Jeff’s back, perhaps to remind both of them that they fought together.
    Ethan was beside me, dagger in hand, poised for action. I had the urge to drag him into the trees to keep him safe. But he tossed the dagger back and forth in his hands, his history as a soldier peeking through his eyes, which were fixed on the harpies and flat with concentration. He wasn’t leaving now.
    The swarm of creatures descended, growing larger as it sunk toward us. I watched them fly for a moment, circling around the meadow but avoiding the trees—and the torches that lined them.
    Suddenly, they let out a horrific scream as sharp as nails on a chalkboard and dive-bombed the clearing like dogfighting World War II planes.
    What had been a celebration . . . became an unexpected battlefield.
    The shifters who remained on the field weren’t afraid of battle, and many of them leaped, meeting the harpies in the air. The human portions of their bodies might have been thin, but harpies were strong. Some overbalanced, hitting the ground in a tumble of fur and feathers that