Read Online Change (The Shape Shifter Series) by Jennifer Loiske - Free Book Online Page B

would come. They were too far away and wouldn’t get there in time.
    Her eyes were huge as she stared into the beast’s maw. She could feel its warm breath on her face and smell the bloodlust in it, but she refused to close her eyes again. If I’m going to die, I want to look into its eyes when it kills me, she thought. The wolf lowered its head. She gasped.
    But just before its teeth touched her face, a huge dark-brown wolf jumped from the woods and pushed the other wolf away. The dirty-brown wolf howled, frustrated, but surrendered surprisingly easily. The bigger wolf growled dangerously. It had revealed its sharp canine teeth, which looked huge, its eyes were narrow, and the hair on its back was up. Marie could see how it struggled and tried to control itself, but it wasn't easy. It was in the mood to fight and waited for the smaller wolf to move. To stand up and try something, anything that would give it a reason to attack. The look in its eyes was lethal, but the other wolf had completely surrendered and stayed down. The bigger wolf howled fiercely and pushed the other wolf roughly with its snout. And then it shifted into a human.
    “Tiamhaidh,” Marie sighed with relief, and rushed into his arms.
    The smaller wolf turned into a human as well and stared at Marie with her beautiful baby-blue eyes. She smiled contemptuously and stood up gracefully.
    “Isabel!” Marie was confused. Not once had she thought the wolf could be a shape shifter, and that felt stupid now. She was surrounded by hostile shape shifters, so why wouldn’t one come to her door and try to attack her? But Isabel? What was going on? She had tried to kill her and now she just stood there and smiled, like everything had been a game to her. And why didn't Tiamhaidh attack her?
    “Isabel indeed,” Tiamhaidh grunted and held Marie tighter in his arms. “What the heck are you doing here?”
    Isabel stretched her glorious body and laughed. “Entertaining myself. You know, a young girl alone in the woods and a wolf. I just couldn’t resist the temptation.”
    Tiamhaidh pushed Marie behind him and grabbed Isabel's throat. “That's not funny! You scared her to death!”
    Isabel didn't even seem to notice his anger or his fingers on her throat. She placed her hand on his bare chest and stroked his tattoos with a fingernail. Tiamhaidh tightened his grip.
    “Oh, stop it!” Isabel croaked between her teeth. “I was just playing with her.”
    “It didn't look like play to me!” Tiamhaidh grunted. “You've done nothing but try to scare her since we came here. I warned you once and I'm not going to warn you twice. I'm going to take this to the elders and you'll finally get what you deserve.”
    Something that looked like fear flashed in Isabel's eyes, but it was gone as fast as it had come. “Fine. I doubt they'll judge me because of one prank,” she purred, but she didn't look pleased.
    Something came from the forest and soon they were surrounded by six wolves. One by one they shifted into humans and came closer to Marie.
    “What’s going on here?” Baz thundered.
    Isabel shrugged and smiled slyly.
    Tiamhaidh was too furious to say a word, so Faol went to him. “Let go of her,” she ordered, but Tiamhaidh didn't move.
    “Leig rach, Tiamhaidh,” Sofia said and he obeyed unhappily. She glanced at Faol, who didn’t look happy. “Mathair, I know what happened. Isabel came here to kill her.”
    Baz and Faol looked searchingly at Isabel and Marie, who had now hidden herself behind Tiamhaidh's strong back.
    “Interesting,” the three other shape shifters said at the same time.
    “Indeed,” Baz added quietly. “Isabel, do you have anything to say about this?”
    Isabel lowered her eyes humbly and her shoulders slumped. “I was just going to scare her, that's all. I would never even dream of hurting your grandchild.”
    Suspicion flashed in his eyes and he drilled his dark eyes into hers. Isabel kept her ground and didn’t even flinch.
    Marie