Page 100 of Psycho Shifters

His eerie snake eyes glowed, bits of green, red, and were black visible in them. With my cat eyesight, I could see more of the colors from such a close distance.

They were breathtaking.

I chuffed in his face, and he blinked back creepily.

Nope, his slit eyes were weird.

Behind us, the sound of crunching exoskeleton echoed.

Cobra should have been in a frenzy, working hard to defeat the fae and helping Ascher battle. Instead, like a total creep, he stood and stared at me with his head cocked to the side.

I was held off the ground by the web, so Cobra’s eyes were aligned with mine.

I opened my mouth to show off my dagger fangs.

A smile split across Cobra’s pale face. It wasn’t a smile of happiness.

He stood eerily still, the backbreaking winds hammered against him, but the only sign was his inky black hair slapping back and forth atop his head.

The longer he stood, the more shadow snakes slithered across his icy jaws and darkened the crystals and emeralds embedded in his face.

The thousands of tiny jewels sparkled and winked as if they physically responded to the snakes’ caresses.

I chuffed louder to let him know I didn’t need his help.

Apparently, Cobra spoke saber-toothed tiger, because he threw his handsome head back and laughed like what I had said was hilarious. Like we were old chums hanging out, and we weren’t in the middle of a vicious war.

Ascher bleated behind us, and the noise was louder and more frantic, like he was screaming at Cobra to help.

Stay perfectly still.

The numb sounded subdued, like it was afraid I would startle Cobra and would have to face his snakes.

On my back, obscured by the web, I felt the small snake that had been with me for the last week give a little zing of excitement. It was excited by Cobra’s proximity, and it slithered in joyful circles across my back, zigzagging amid my downy fur like it belonged there.

Even numb, I rolled my eyes at its antics.

Its happiness left as something slammed into my back and pain shot down my spine.

The force threw me forward with ridiculous momentum, but somehow the web was strong as steel. I didn’t break free. However, the collision banged the sharp edges of the web deeper into my flesh.

I roared loudly.

Stay calm. Chew through the web to free yourself.

I leaned forward and tried to drag my dagger-like fangs across the web. Unfortunately, the web didn’t break and some of it got snarled on the corner of my lip. A gush of tangy blood flooded my mouth.

It had razored through my mouth deep.

Do it again. I ignored the numb. Most of the time, it had great ideas, but sometimes its lack of self-preservation was concerning.

More pain streaked down my back, and it felt like someone had taken a hot poker to my flesh.

Burning tar filled my nostrils, and if I weren’t numb, I probably would have passed out from the onslaught of pain.

A spider is stabbing you with its leg.

Writhing in the web, I growled at Cobra to do something.