1
Dani pulled her hood tighter around her face, and winced.
Even in her human form, her new sense of smell was powerful. Alcohol. Urine. The acrid stench of old sweat. She caught a whiff of the man before she saw him.
Tucked into a doorway, he scanned Dani as she walked by. His gaze paused on her clean tee shirt and hoodie. He wasn’t a big guy. Both would fit him.
Even though dull streetlamps cast the only available light, she had no trouble making out details. He hadn’t shaved in weeks, maybe longer. His skin had the brown, weathered look of someone who seldom showered, and an old canvas bag lay at his feet—it no doubt contained everything he owned.
She met and matched his unblinking gaze, her chin raised and shoulders square. The message was clear.
Don’t mess with me.
Rather than backing off, his eyes grew more intent. He rolled up on his toes, ready to pounce.
At one time, she would have had to fight to keep her clothes. But now, she had a secret weapon.
Dani released her beast.
Just enough to let it shine through her eyes. Her human ones were so dark a brown they were almost black, but her beast’s shone bronze with a hint of gold. They glowed from her inner soul. She peeled a lip back from a canine grown long, and growled.
The man’s eyes widened, and he stumbled back into the shadows. Dani walked away with a sense of relief. Hell, she could have really used this when she was growing up on these streets. That man might be predator, but she was no longer anyone’s prey.
Her new talents might just keep her alive through this. Sharp teeth and glowing eyes offered a good bluff when she was falling to pieces inside. Because, while her skin looked intact, her soul left a blood trail a mile wide.
A quick glance told her that Mr. Doorway had not only decided he’d been delusional about her eyes and teeth, but he’d acquired a friend. Both now followed her with shuffling steps that fooled no one.
She was being hunted.
Dani needed to deal with these guys, and fast. Bigger sharks circled, sniffing out the blood in the water. She couldn’t afford to make a scene. What hunted her reduced these human predators to the mice they really were.
Her feet carried her toward Winnipeg’s downtown core. She’d passed businesses along this main drag—locked up tight at this time of night—but now she walked by the entrance to one of the largest, and oldest, cemeteries in Winnipeg.
A seven-foot fence bordered it, and the gates were locked. She considered jumping it—her new skills would enable that—but the predators she was really worried about used more than just their eyes to track. And a fence would mean as little to them as it did to her.
Ahead, the Disraeli Freeway, a bridge that carried traffic over the Red River, would take her into downtown Winnipeg. The area at its base was far too open for her purposes. She cast around for a spot where witnesses would be minimal. The last thing she needed was the cops pouncing on her.
Dani jogged across the street—five lanes wide but almost deserted at this time of night—and ducked down a back alley. The men behind her broke into a run, becoming more focused when they should have been suspicious as hell.
It told her much. They didn’t give a damn about her clothes. Or rather, they’d take them, but they hoped for a bigger score—money, which would buy them what they craved. Booze or drugs. A few moments’ escape from an unpleasant reality. They also weren’t likely to abstain from a bit of fun while they stripped her of anything salable.
Few lights shone along the lane and the houses lining it were dark. Garbage bins and other backyard debris lay propped up against fences or near the garages.
Dani eyed the material at hand and debated. She could shift form to finish this. One look and they’d be sure to bolt. But she shook with exhaustion, so much so she wasn’t sure she could manage it.
She could die if she got partway through and lost energy or focus.
Not worth it. There were other, less risky ways to deal with them. Thanks to a man she’d come to loathe, teeth and claws weren’t the only weapon in her arsenal.
Dani walked to the darkest spot she could find, turned, and waited for them.
They spread apart in the near perfect darkness, trying to flank her. Uneasy with her stance, and the fact she’d come along here at all, but confident they could take her.
She spread her hands out to her sides, palms up. “I’m giving you fair warning. Leave!”
Mr. Doorway snorted and grinned at her, revealing several broken teeth. Not the face of someone who learned lessons fast or well. “Why don’t you and I just have a bit of fun? This doesn’t have to be unpleasant.”
“Yes,” Dani said. “Yes, it does.” Her long, black hair rose from her shoulders as though it had come to life, the odd, white streak at the temple floating across her face. She raised her hands high.
