The first creature lunged, claws like hooked blades slicing through the air.

I didn’t move back. I let the fire erupt from my palms. It shot forward in a violent stream, lighting the clearing in white-orange blaze.

The thing shrieked not like a wolf, not like anything living. Its flesh blistered, but it didn’t fall. It kept coming.

“Raine!” Luka’s wolf form slammed into it from the side, golden fur flashing, his jaws crushing into its shoulder. The thing screeched, thrashing, that ...