Page 102 of Psycho Shifters

The spider ran quicker, but then scuttled slower down the side of the mountain as dangerous ravines jutted out around us.

One wrong move and we both would be dead.

I tensed all my muscles and pulled my head forward again until my maw was close to one of the spider’s dagger-covered legs. The sharp pain intensified.

Do it now. Too much blood loss. Act now.

I lunged.

Three things happened at once.

First, my teeth caught one of the spider’s legs and its thousands of tiny daggers stabbed through my jaw as the leg crunched in two beneath my bite.

Second, the spider fae screamed, slipped on ice, and tumbled to the side. Ascher had already taken out two of its legs, and it didn’t have enough left to control its movement.

Third, the spider released the web from its pincers as the creature tumbled down a ravine.

Claws extended. Grab purchase now.

The web still dug into my skin like a sticky blanket, but when the spider had released the sides, it had flapped open, allowing me to move.

I reached both of my front claws forward and dragged them along the side of the mountain. My skin burned as the web hooks bit into it at the movement, but the strands no longer constricted me.

My furry body skidded across the rough, icy boulders, my paws screaming in agony as my claws struggled to find purchase. With each bump of rock, it felt like they were being pulled out of my paw.

Finally, my claws slid deep enough into rock that they stopped my momentum. My back feet kicked at nothing.

I was hanging, with only half my belly on the mountain.

The other half dangled over the ravine.

Beside me, the massive spider screeched as it slammed against a large boulder balanced on the edge of the ravine. Its black body clattered in a splay of limbs.

It twitched in pain. With the boulder slowly rolling back behind it, its hundreds of eyes turned to stare at me.

For a long moment, beast and fae stared eye to eye. Both of us were covered in blood.

Help it.

The strangest urge overcame me. The longer its hundreds of eyes stared into mine, the more I became certain that it needed my help.

We weren’t foes. We were two animals on the side of a mountain, staring at our deaths.

I dragged my aching limbs forward, crawled away from the edge, and stood on my four legs. A part of me noticed that my fur was no longer white. It was blood red.

I opened my maw and took a step forward to help the fae.

Abruptly, Cobra’s massive snake barreled down the side of the mountain like a shot.

Its scales glimmered like stars in the night sky. There was a loud crunch as the snake slammed into the spider fae, broke the boulder behind it, and plummeted it into the ravine. Turning, I watched them both fall hundreds of feet.

The spider fae splattered into tiny pieces at the bottom of the rocky outcrop. Cobra’s snake bounced and turned its creepy eyes back up the mountainside. It slithered calmly into the forest.

“Boom,” Cobra said behind me.

I turned and roared into his perfect face as Ascher climbed down behind him, covered in cuts and blood.

Cobra smiled down like I was a little kitten and patted my head.