Nocturnal by Jami Lynn Saunders Page A

nocturnals as well. “I can’t smell the ferals for some reason, but I know they won’t give up. In fact, I can’t smell much of anything.” Jack sat on a folding chair, too weak to stand, recovering from his metamorphosis. It was dusk, and the convoy had stopped for the night.
    â€œMaybe it’s the change, doc,” Rathbone said. “I’m sure your smeller will come back.”
    â€œI’m sure you’re right,” Jack replied. “I’m just so tired.”
    â€œWe all are, doc, but maybe this will help you rest,” Rathbone said as he stabbed Jack with a tranquilizer dart. The doctor’s mouth fell open, and the guard who had been turned into a nocturnal came to his defense. Rathbone stuck the man with a second tranquilizer dart.
    â€œWas that necessary?” Rebecka asked.
    â€œYes,” Rathbone replied. “I was going to ask you to do it, but I knew you’d let personal feelings get in the way. If you’re going to be a leader, you can’t let that happen.”
    Rebecka nodded, and she and Aiden and Piper got the doctor back on the flatbed and covered him in salve.
    The convoy continued on under a starless sky, their headlights extinguished, werecats at the wheel of every vehicle. Their destination was only hours away, but the recent rainstorms had washed out many of the roads, making the ascent into the mountains more difficult than they had anticipated. Two hours in, they stopped on the approach to a bridge. The span was washed out, and Rathbone knew it would take four or five hours to detour around the ravine.
    â€œI don’t like it,” Rathbone muttered to Rebecka. “This will cost us too much time. And our werecats can’t even sniff if we’re being surrounded by ferals.”
    â€œI’ll head back to speak with all the drivers,” Rebecka said. “I’ll let them know we’re working on a new route.”
    Rathbone heard a noise and spun around to stare at the woods. Eyes were shining there. “Ferals,” Rathbone shouted.
    Pippa, Abby, and Piper leaped from the flatbed, leaving Aiden and a handful of soldiers to guard Jack and the newly turned nocturnal. The three women morphed, and Rathbone heard growling as several hundred other werecats morphed. As he drew his sidearm, he saw hundreds of hyenas—not ferals—emerge from the woods. They swarmed into the temporary mountainside camp, and another battle was on.
    Release me, release me, the doctor whispered to himself softly, sensing the attack. Release me, release me. The words became louder, cutting through the veil of fog that held him captive. “Release me!” he finally screamed aloud, the words ringing out in the covered flatbed, startling his guards.
    He opened his eyes, and the last shreds of gray dissolved. He sat up and slowly got to his feet. He looked at Aiden and the guards, who were watching him. The doctor nodded ever so slightly at Aiden and morphed. He ran to the back of the flatbed and leaped out, then spread his wings and took to the sky.
    Jack Tanner glided on the air like a hawk riding thermal currents. He wheeled about and attacked a hyena and then continued to attack them one by one. But the hyenas kept coming.
    On the ground, two hyenas attacked Rathbone at the same time. He was on his way down, when Piper, in her werecat form, slashed both hyenas at the same time and ripped out their throats. Rathbone reloaded and returned to the fight.
    â€œSalvatore’s pack must have joined with another pack,” he yelled to Rebecka, who stood back to back with him.
    â€œWe need to get the doctor and the girls out of here!” she yelled back.
    â€œWe have to kill the alpha leader, and we’ve got to kill him fast,” Rathbone shouted back.
    They scanned the grounds for the hyena leader and saw him fifty yards away, leading a group of hyenas on an assault against Pippa and Abby. Piper was trying to reach her