Anubis (Wolves Incarnate #2) long excerpt (Patreon)

MinionS: OMG, this is so intense! The series is going to be called Wolves Incarnate. Nox is the first book, Anubis is the second, and right now there are going to be four books in the series.

Many times Adrienne has said "Poor Reese, poor, poor Reese." lol.

Adrienne already has about 95K written and thinks it will be 120K. This is the first draft. Revisions will take a while, but he is thinking the release will be in March. 

That's all I can think of right now... :)

EXCERPT: Enjoy! 

***names of things may change or be cut out since it’s unedited.

A large pickup truck roared up the gravel road. The tread on the tires kicked up rocks and dust in a storm of urgency.

“Shit.” Isaiah headed toward the vehicle in a run.

The grey behemoth slid to a stop. Four men got out. All of the tall, wide, built like Nox. Each one armed with a rifle.

“I told you to stay away, Tanner.”

“And clearly you are not acting in your right mind.”

Isaiah tried to block Tanner but he was pushed aside hard enough to make him stumble.

All men had their eyes on Nox.

The Anubis surged to the forefront. No slow threat this time, simply the promise of absolute destruction. Nox’s clothes shredded and black consumed his body, his bones snapping and joints rearranging in rapid fire.

“Nox—” Luca was shoved to the ground and trapped under Nox’s massive body, caged in by his legs, and head, lowered and ready to defend.

Another barrage of growls joined. Luca rolled over, through the gaps between Nox’s limbs, the four men held their ground, baring their teeth. Sharp like Nox’s. But it was the appearance of four silvery wolves wavering into focus that brought a gasp to Luca’s lips.

“For god’s sake Tanner, no!” Isaiah got between Nox and the group of wolves.

The need to protect struck Luca in the chest. A drive so strong it was a full second before he realized it belonged to the Anubis. Luca’s point of view tipped downward, and the world bled in colors of black and white where particles scattered and life force glowed.

The window of the Anubis’s mind was how he knew it was going to kill Isaiah. Then it would kill all these other men and women. It would destroy them so they wouldn’t even have a chance to hurt Luca.

Not hurt.

Take him.

“No!” Luca crawled from between Nox’s legs getting behind him. “I said no!”

The Anubis turned, eyes burning yellow with a halo of green.

“You will not hurt them.”

A tone played through Luca’s head, one he’d learned to associate with the Anubis and how it spoke to him. Its frequency, where sound, taste, and scent became as tactile as touch.

“Change back.”

The Anubis growled.

“Let Nox out. Change back.”

The Anubis rolled its lips.

Luca stepped closer and it drew up to its full height. On all fours, it could look him in the eye.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

Isaiah spoke but Luca didn’t dare let anything draw his attention from the creature staring him down.

“Now change.”

The Anubis lowered its head and pressed closer to Luca.

“Easy.” He ran his fingers through its thick mane and it huffed a searing breath against his stomach. “Change back, now.”

It bumped Luca forcing him a step back.

“C’mon, I don’t want them to be afraid of you.”

The Anubis lifted its head. For a moment there was nothing in how it watched Luca, but then it curled its lips, an almost grin, definitely a snarl.

I do.

The voice wasn’t Nox’s.

In a fluid arch, the Anubis turned, its body pulling taut. Movements that were only milliseconds, yet they played painfully slow, each one a slice to Luca’s soul, each one a failure to stop the Anubis.

Soft pops slammed back into place on the back of the Anubis’s scream. It hit the ground thrashing. Its massive paws slapped at the air. Luca knew he was too close, but he also knew he’d never get out of the way in time. Then he was jerked off his feet just as the Anubis slammed its razor claws into the ground, cutting through as if it were nothing.

Confusion, pain, rage, swirled through Luca fueled by the burn at the base of his skull, blinding him to everything else.

The Anubis lay motionless, the earth around it plowed to the rock, sheared apart and scattered.

The silence expanded, beyond just Luca’s ears.

“It’s okay, Luca.”

He blinked, knowing the man who held him but not.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to happen like this.”

What? What had happened?

The four men who’d arrived in the truck reloaded the weapons they held. Not with normal ammo, the cartridges were too large.

Nox still didn’t move, the yellow-green of his eyes bright, but where there’d been strength there was only silence. Not like when Nox had been shot and Luca felt him die, in some ways this was worse because Nox was right there, chest rising and falling, but a wall had been thrown up separating Luca from him.

The black of the Anubis’s fur retreated leaving Nox laying on his stomach. Bruises so dark they looked painted on, followed the line of his spine. The darkest clustered at the base of tranquilizer darts jutting from his body.

But nothing simple could immobilize the Anubis.

“What did you do?”

“He’s not dead.”

“That’s not what I asked…”

“The dart contains my blood.”

Luca looked at the man.

“It’s interrupted the bond between the ichor and Nash Kelly’s body.”

“I don’t call him Nash.” How could a man look so alive and yet feel as if he didn’t exist? As if he was nothing more than a shadow, like the creatures following the four men who’d gotten out of the truck? “Why did you—”

“I couldn’t let him kill my people.”

“He wouldn’t have, he…”

Isaiah shook his head. “He would have Luca, you know he would have.”

“What you did, it will wear off right, he’ll be okay.” Luca’s breath shuddered, and his chest tightened. The mottling of Nox’s skin spread.

“If I don’t redose, yes.”

Did that mean the man would? Luca tried to ask, but his lips were too numb to form words.

“Luca?” Isaiah patted him on the cheek. “Luca, breathe.”

He wanted to, but his body refused to obey.