Jayden stood in the clearing, twenty-five pairs of beastly eyes glimmering with hatred around him. The dead Tremor Gator still sat slumped at his feet like a stage prop, its body stiff, its blood long dried.
For a moment, Jayden didn't move. He inhaled deeply, the cold night air sliding down his throat, the moon's pale glow making his breath fog up like smoke from a furnace.
He was about to make his first move when he suddenly paused, a thought forming. His claws, hung at his side… then slowly retracted back into his knuckles with a soft click. His chest rose and fell as if bracing for something greater.
"Alright," he muttered under his breath, his voice almost swallowed by the night. "Let's try something new."
His golden eyes flickered. His lips curved in a grin. With a shrug, he reached up, gripped his shirt and jacket, and peeled them off, tossing the fabric aside, his bare chest gleaming under the moonlight.
Then the words left him, low and dangerous:
