Read Online Silver Stake (The Werewolf Hunter Chronicles Book 1) by M.D. Bowden - Free Book Online

junction.
    “This way will be quicker,” said Lewis, pointing up the hill the way they hadn’t yet been.  Maya nodded and they went that way.  She stayed at the back as the wolves were fast approaching.  They rounded a corner and came face to face with a couple of snarling wolves, with teeth showing, midway through their transformation.  They were half way between beautiful and grotesque.
    Ollie immediately held out his cross and the werewolves fixed their glowing yellow eyes on the silver, wary.
    “Oh no,” said Maya.
    “Shit, what do we do?” said Ollie.
    “We fight them,” said Maya, pushing past, but just then five wolves appeared at their other side.
    “This is not good,” muttered Lewis.  “Wha—”
    A wolf jumped at him and he screamed.  Maya hurtled in between them, flashing her silver stake in their midst, slicing the one going for Lewis across the eyes.  Steam gushed from the wound and the werewolf whined and cowered, giving another the opportunity to butt in.  Maya could hear grappling behind her, but she couldn’t do anything about it as the onslaught was fixed on her.  She kicked and thumped and staked, then kicked and thumped, elbowed, kneed and punched.
    “Maya!”
    She heard a strangled cry and turned to see Ollie on his back, pinned down by the final wolf.  He was managing to fend it off with the silver cross, but it was salivating and growling not far from his face, trying to take a bite out of his arm.  Maya leaped to Ollie’s side and kicked the wolf in the stomach.  It flew back, hitting the wall and Maya staked it while it was down.
    It was silent.  Too silent.  Slowly Maya turned around, scared of what she might see.  First she saw Ollie.  He was staring at the floor, his face white, his mouth open.  Maya looked down.
    “Lewis,” she murmured, and quickly knelt at his side.
    He was lying on his back, eyes closed, throat torn open.
    “Is he …?”
    “Yes,” said Maya.  “Ollie, I’m so, so sorry.”
    Ollie leaned over.
    “No!  Don’t touch him.  Finger prints,” she muttered.
    Tears started to stream down Ollie’s face.
    “Ollie, I know he was your friend, but we have to leave him.  We have to get out of here before more wolves find us.  They were expecting us so there may be more.  We’ll have to come back later, with more weapons, to find Will, and to stop, whatever, however—”
    Ollie nodded.  He stood and started to go up the hill.
    “No,” said Maya.  “We don’t know where that goes.”  She didn’t add that she thought the whole thing had been a trap.  That maybe Lewis had led them to the wolves.  That was something that Ollie did not need to hear.  “Let’s go back the way we came.”
    They started down the passage at a quick jog, their footsteps echoing loudly.  They retraced their steps along the long, long passage, thundered up some stairs, wrenched open a couple of gates, and finally were out in the sunshine, both panting hard.  They looked at each other in relief, shock and dread.
    ∞
    “No word,” said the old werewolf.
    “She escaped then,” said The Lord Alpha, in the church where candles were forever kept burning.  His fur glistened and his amber eyes glowed.  “But all will be fine.  At least she has not found our lair,” he boomed.
    “Indeed, but the boy, he escaped too.”
    “At least we have—what was his name—Will?”  At a nod from another wolf, he said, “Yes, Will.  He will make a good sacrifice.”
    “He is ready.”
    “Good, but now I am hungry.  Bring me someone full of life to feed on.  In fact, bring me a whole hoard of humans.  I am going to need my energy…”
    “Yes, Lord Alpha.  Your wish is my command.” 
    “Impatience burns within my veins.  Soon I will be free of this, this prison ,” he spat, with distaste, “and I’ll find that little huntress myself.  I will drain her blood and then we will all be freeeeee!”
    ∞
    Kate flicked through a book on the sofa at