The Mystic Wolves (#1, The Mystic Wolves)

The shot thundered and time seemed to stop. All I could hear was my shallow breathing and the sound of a body thudding to the ground.

  “Nooooo!” An agonizing scream erupted from my throat as I pushed the shell shocked Gary off me and scrambled over to where Jasmine now lay—still in wolf form.

  A pool of blood was steadily forming underneath her, and my fingers frantically tried to find where the bullet entered so I could stop the bleeding. All I could see was fur and gore as tears blurred my vision.

  I lowered my head down to the wolf’s body and could hear Jasmine’s heart slowly giving out. She seemed to shudder a little as if her body was trying to rally one more time before she was finally still. Even with supernatural abilities to heal, there was only so much her body could do.

  “Don’t you dare die, Jasmine. Fight!” I started to shake her, but had to stop as the change reversed itself. In the event of death, anyone who passed away in wolf form would revert back to their human selves. As I rolled Jasmine to her back, I administered C.P.R.

  Was it thirty compressions and two breaths, or two breaths and fifteen compressions? I couldn’t remember. My brain wasn’t able to calm itself long enough to remember.

  A memory pierced the moment. “It’s better to do something than nothing, Darcy. Do what you can.” It was the voice of an old instructor advising me after I’d asked what to do if I forgot.

  I began pushing down in the middle of her sternum, not stopping when I heard one of her ribs pop. I kept repeating the numbers over and over in my mind like a mantra.

  Nothing was happening. Jasmine continued to lie still on the ground, as each moment passed becoming colder and colder, her body’s heat leaving. Hysteria threatened to explode from me.

  I would’ve kept working on her if I hadn’t heard a noise behind me. I was so focused on saving the life of my beloved friend and future sister, I’d forgotten about Gary.