He wasn’t standing there anymore.
What she did see was a pile of brown and beige clothes on the ground and a gray wolf jumping through the air, jowl wide open and aiming for the jugular of one of the three men.
He had mentioned he was a wolf shifter, but that didn’t make this situation any more surreal.
You do magic, and you’re surprised that a man can transform into a wolf?
Well, at least that made some sort of sense. She bent the rules of air and made it her bitch. Zane had completely changed the physiology of his body from man to beast.
Shaking her head, she remembered she had to focus. What spell could stop a bullet in its tracks when they were so far away? That was way beyond the scope of the magic she knew offhand. Raven would have to get creative. Even if her head felt woozy and the world was starting to tilt a bit. What was happening?
From her hiding spot, she twirled her fingers through the air until she could feel a solid ball of air in her hands. The weight of it was similar to that of a baseball, and nearly the same size. With all her strength, she threw the airball at the man aiming a gun at Zane’s wolf shape.
Her pitch was weak, and it barely thunked the guy on the head. He roared and looked around, furious.
“Come out and face me, you wicked witch!” he screamed.
Wicked witch? Oh, hell, no!
He wanted wicked, he’d get it.
Chapter Eight
Raven
With her ass on the cold pavement and an eye on the three men who were trying to get the best of Wolf Zane, Raven twirled her hands, trying to capture as much air as she could.
This time, her airball had to be bigger and pack more of a punch when it hit the lunatics. No one assumed she was evil. No one attacked her without knowing her. No one went after her family.
Raven would show them.
The airball was about the size of a football and weighed about five pounds. It was the best she could do since she still had to throw the damn thing at the bad guys.
Gathering her courage, Raven stood and launched the airball. A loud grunt ripped out of her as she poured her energy into the throw. Her head felt heavy, and she began to pant as if she were running a full marathon. Seriously, what the fuck was that all about?
This time, the airball caught one of the guys straight in the chest. He stumbled back and fell onto his back with a loud scream. It must have hurt.
Raven took no pleasure in knowing she had hurt another human, but he had attacked first. More than that, he was trying to hurt her, her sister, her cousins, and Zane. An officer. That was a federal crime or something. These men were obviously out of touch with reality.
Intent on helping Zane, who had bitten through the leader’s leg and was circling the last man standing, Raven did her thing.
The air wasn’t responsive. All she could collect was a tablespoon. Her fingers trembled, and her arms felt like jelly. She’d heard of being magically depleted, but she had never felt it before.
It wasn’t pleasant.
And she’d only thrown two attacks. Sure, that last one had been a biggy, and the man was still lying on the ground from the force, but Raven was furious she couldn’t do anything more. She had to sit back and watch as Zane chomped at the last assailant’s leg. The sheriff wasn’t aiming to kill these men, merely to incapacitate them. No doubt this was because it would be hard to explain a wolf attacking three grown, armed men to his superiors.
Raven looked around, searching for some kind of weapon, anything that could help Zane.
She couldn’t get into her car and use that as a weapon, she’d left her purse and keys in the store. Oh! But Zane must have had his keys in his clothes. Raven crab-walked to the pile of torn brown uniform. His gun and badge where on top of his clothes. She picked up his gun and bad and rifled through his pockets. The key fob in her hand felt like a victory. With his gun and badge on hand, she unlocked the truck and ran to it.
As soon as she closed the door, she cranked the engine and threw the passenger door wide open. If anything, Wolf Zane could hop in, and they could regroup. It was a good plan. Raven was proud of it.
“Zane!” she shouted at him, gesturing from him to jump in.
The wolf shook his head and went back to snarling at the men. It was a good intimidation tactic, but unless Zane had learned how to handcuff perpetrators while in wolf shape, there was no way they were getting the upper hand.
The loud sound of screeching tires had Raven’s head whipping around.
An SUV barreled down the street. Judging by the way the vehicle was being driven, Raven knew it had to be more Order of Salem members.
“Get in the fucking truck!” she yelled to the sheriff.
Zane saw the car from which three men and a woman got out and he ran toward her. With an impressive bounce, he landed on the passenger seat and growled at her.
Taking it as a sign to go, Raven put the pedal to the metal and drove away. One of the new attackers aimed a gun at the truck. The bullet crashed into the rear window.
“Thank fuck for bulletproof glass,” Raven said after shrieking for only a second. Or two.
The wolf beside her started to change and morph, fur disappearing into flesh and elongating until the gray pelt was replaced by smooth, golden skin with the lightest dusting of blond hair.
It was a fascinating transformation. Raven couldn’t look away.
But then she had to, to drive, feeling her skin flush and heat to a thousand degrees.
“Um…” she stammered awkwardly. “Just in case you didn’t remember, you’re not wearing any clothes.”
Raven knew her face was completely red. The skin burned with the effort it took not to look down at his dick. Again.
Because she had definitely seen it.
She kept her gaze up and on the road, not wanting to see it.
No penis had any right to be alluring when it was flaccid and just flopping. Yet, here she was, after fighting for her life, imagining what it would be like to stroke the limp member to attention.
Raven imagined it would feel like silky steel beneath her palm as she stroked it up and down. Maybe she’d even take the tip of it to her lips…
“Yes,” Zane said, not doing anything to cover himself. Shit. Had he heard her dirty thoughts? Was that a shifter gift? “Losing our clothes is something that tends to happen to shifters. They rip and become useless when we shift.”
“Cool,” Raven mumbled, still trying to clear her head of all the dirty things she was still picturing. “Think you could cover up?”
“My change of clothes is in the back,” Zane answered with a deep frown. “I’m sorry if my nakedness offends you. I don’t even get fazed by nudity anymore. I’m too used to it.”
That bothered Raven, and she couldn’t exactly explain why. Did that mean other women also got to feast their eyes on Zane’s perfect, muscular body? Did that mean Zane was used to seeing flawless shifter females, all naked and toned?
Raven rolled her eyes. She might have more curves than the average cover model, but she wasn’t about to feel bad about herself because she was sitting next to a human-sized Ken doll. She’d never felt bad about herself, and she wasn’t about to start now.
“Fine. I’ll just avert my eyes.”
For a few minutes, they drove in silence. Raven felt she deserved a medal for sitting there, ignoring Zane and his manliness. It wasn’t easy. Her eyes had taken on a mind of their own and they kept wanting to dart back. Even if she had to keep an eye on the road.