Page 48 of Psycho Shifters

Then all hell broke loose.

Betas shot bullets at the fae creature and stabbed it with their swords. I held the gun in my hand and fumbled with it.

The air was so cold that my fingers were numb and I could barely use them. I struggled with the cold barrel as I tried to switch off the safety.

When it finally clicked, I held it up in front of my face and took a deep breath.

I crept out from behind the trees and waited until betas weren’t standing in front of me because I didn’t want to hit anyone.

I aimed at the creature and fired.

A couple of my shots went wide, and I almost hit Jax’s bear form, which was hanging off the spider’s body.

My hands shook badly, and the cold only got worse, so I lowered my aim and tried to hit its many legs.

My bullets seemed to do nothing. It just appeared to get more enraged.

The spider kicked out its long legs and sent shifters flying backward through the air.

Jax leaped forward and latched onto the creature’s neck. His massive claws sawed at the creature’s body as he stabbed repeatedly.

Cobra stood to the side of the forest with his yellow snake eyes glowing. He raised his hands forward, and hundreds of black shadow snakes twisted off his skin and shot over the snow toward the fae.

Cobra’s shadow snakes reared their heads back and revealed needle-sharp shadow fangs. They snaked across the trees and ground, then latched onto the spider’s legs.

The fae creature shrieked, and black blood slid out like sludge from where the shadow snakes bit it.

All around, shifters were covered in blood as they struggled to contain the massive spider.

Jax had told me to stay out of the way, and I was really trying, but the fight was stumbling closer to my hiding spot, and I was too terrified to run and expose myself.

The fae’s legs reflected light as bits of sunshine filtered through the clouds. Thousands of tiny daggers covered the spider’s legs.

Red blood coated the white snow, pouring from where its dagger-clad legs made contact with shifters.

Suddenly, the spider fae released a loud, chattering shriek that echoed through the forest.

With a rapid lunge, the spider fae bent its head backward unnaturally and lunged with its pincers.

It grabbed Ascher off its abdomen and held him between its pincers. Ascher’s ram head bleated and chuffed, and he raked long claws across the spider’s eyes.

It didn’t release him.

Abruptly, the fae reared up on its back legs and shook itself violently back and forth.

Jax was thrown off its back, and all the betas went flying.

In a blur of movement, the fae turned around and began sprinting through the forest sideways.

Everyone was lying on the ground, momentarily stunned by the force of the fae slamming them against trees.

The fae moved deeper through the forest. Directly at where I was hidden.

The massive beast moved toward me, and my entire body froze. I’d thought I would run away, or fight, in a moment of high stress.

I froze.

Ascher was wrapped in its pincers.