This chase had brought him nearly to the lake, over a mile away from the breach and the rest of the pack. No one was here. He howled, one piercing cry to draw a huntsman to sever the thing’s neck to be sure it was truly dead and dispose of the body.
Hoofbeats sounded behind him and then Beth’s voice, “Got this one, Fen. You’re clear to go.”
He yipped an acknowledgment and turned, already feeling the pack closing the distance between them. It wasn’t a true psychic connection. He couldn’t read their minds but was always aware of location, and all of the hounds had a keen instinct for interpreting body posture. Brian had turned his rear foot and was limping. Fen could feel an echo of that pain through the pack bond. He swore under his breath. In this form, it came out as more of a growl.
Ben, the youngest member of the pack, was chasing a higher-level demon who’d headed directly for the nearest ?sir homestead.
Julia’s house.
Fen flew, covering the distance as fast as he could, ignoring the burn in his lungs and the ache in his limbs. His pack needed him. The knowledge was like a whip at his back. Launching himself over a boulder, he half skidded down the leaf-matted slope on the other side. Hagan fell into pace with him on his right flank. After another quarter mile, Garret covered his left.
Garret snarled at the same time Fen felt Ben attack the demon. His mind was partitioned, one part aware of the fight taking place in Julia’s backyard. Only forty fucking feet from the house. Another part was entirely focused on pushing his body to the limit, his paws hitting the earth, the obstacles in his path and the clearest route to Julia’s house.
It took less than five minutes but seemed like a lifetime. Two lifetimes when he tasted blood. Brian had joined the fight and was injured. Idiot. He should have known better than to run on a wrenched leg in the first place. Fen understood though. He understood all too well why Brian wasn’t sitting this one out.
Brian still considered Julia his mate. It didn’t matter that she’d broken up with Brian ten years ago after graduating from the community college. It didn’t matter that she’d met another man and married him. That she’d given that man three children and was evidently extremely happy. It didn’t matter that Julia probably didn’t spare Brian more than a few seconds of thought—hopefully regretful thought—every other month or so. Brian had slept with her when he was sixteen and stupid. He’d thought they’d spend the rest of their lives together.
For a hound, that was all it took. One fuck and you were screwed for the rest of your life, bonded to that woman. Over the years, Brian had come to hate Julia. Oh, he knew she hadn’t done it on purpose. She’d been young and stupid too. It wasn’t fair to make her pay for it for the rest of her life, right? Brian hated her anyway. Fen could feel that bitterness through the bond, even as Brian killed himself trying to save Julia’s husband and the three children that were not his.
When Fen and the others got there, the demon was tangled in the chains of the swing set and Brian was bleeding in the sandbox. Ben—young, scrawny Ben—crouched between the demon and the house, catching his breath and waiting for the rest of the pack to arrive. Kid was smart. He’d be the next pack leader if he survived long enough...and if Fen didn’t.
The demon ripped the chains from his chest and stepped toward the house. Fen signaled Ben to fall back and then launched himself at the demon, clawing a deep gash in the creature’s flank even as he was swatted aside. Hagan surged forward immediately after, baiting the creature to the left while Garret darted in low from the right. Garret’s jaws clamped just above the demon’s knee and ripped away, tearing muscle and shredding the tendon. Blood splattered across the grass, lighting it up like a miniature lava flow. The blood glowed molten but wasn’t actually hot to touch. Instead it crackled faintly as it touched the frost-covered grass and dulled within seconds.
When the demon’s leg gave out, he howled. An eerily high-pitched scream filled with rage and pain but no sign of surrender. The creature knew he was surrounded in an alien world. He knew he couldn’t make it back to the fault, that there would be no mercy from the ?sir.
Someone inside the house flicked on a light and, like a beacon, it drew every eye. The silhouette of a girl peeking through the curtains. Tara. She was eight and should surely know better. The demon’s head swiveled around, and Fen rushed to intercept him.
The light flicked off, but the demon was already moving. So fast. Even after all these years, it still surprised him just how quickly the higher-level demons could move when they wanted to. The thing plowed right through Hagan and hooked his claws into the aluminum siding. Fen landed on the demon’s back, sinking his teeth into the shoulder joint and using his weight to drive them both to the ground. The sound of rending metal split the night as the demon’s claws ripped free. Hagen made the killing blow, tearing out the jugular and dragging the corpse away from the house.
Ben howled to alert the huntsmen to their location. Fen padded over to check on Brian. He was alive, panting and still trying to get back to his feet to fight. He had a long but shallow gash in his side, and his leg hung limp and useless beneath him. That leg was more of a concern than the cut. Joint injuries could be tricky to mend even for Alan, the clan’s healer. Fen lay beside Brian, using his weight to keep him down. Still, Brian didn’t go limp until Fen growled a warning and wedged him against the wooden wall of the sandbox.
They settled in to wait for the rest of the hunt to catch up. Aiden could carry Brian back to the house. Hell, maybe Julia could ride him over in the Jeep. Fen looked toward the house when he heard the front door open. It was Dan, calling to see if anyone needed help. His five-year-old son had his little hand fisted in his father’s sweatpants and Tara was a step behind.
Brian lifted his head and started trying to get up all over again. Fen thought about changing so he could yell at Dan to get back in the house, but all of the kids were up now. They’d been traumatized enough without having to witness Fen’s change too...or the fact that he’d be nude after he did it. Instead, he gave a warning growl when Dan tried to step off the porch and nipped Brian in the shoulder to warn him to stay the fuck down.
Brian and Dan didn’t get along well during the best of times. With Brian hurt and anxious, well...enough blood had been spilled for one night.
Dan squinted into the dark and then turned to usher the kids back inside. Julia would be here soon. The hunt should be aware of their location by now. Fen could hear the horses moving through the woods, felt the tremor in the earth beneath his belly.
Julia was the first in, taking in the scene with one look and choking back a sob as she slid from her horse. She ran across the yard, ignoring the twitching mound of demon flesh, the hounds, everything. Tara saw her first from the door and shouted, “Mom.”
Julia leaped onto the porch and immediately dropped to her knees to gather up the little ones. The five- year-old boy was crying but the youngest, barely two, was wide-eyed and silent as his mother clutched him to her chest. Tara pointed toward the demon and began to excitedly relate the story to her shaken mother. A born huntswoman, that one.
Fen felt Brian’s body stiffen as Dan bent to kiss the top of Julia’s head. He wrapped his arms around his wife’s trembling shoulders and drew her up with him, ordering the kids back inside. Tara paused as if she might argue, but one look from her dad and she turned around, taking the youngest by the hand and dragging him along behind her.
Christian and Aiden had both arrived by then. Christian had already dismounted and was walking toward the demon, sword drawn. Aiden rode up to the porch and spoke briefly with Julia. A moment later, she and Dan entered the house and closed the door behind them.
Brian whimpered and lowered his head to his paws. With a sigh, Fen dropped his chin to his friend’s back. Not worth it. Whatever Brian had gained in those few months of pleasure, it sure as hell wasn’t worth this.
Raquel was standing outside Lois’s shop, trying to make up her mind on whether to go inside, when Fen turned the corner. He stopped in his tracks when he saw her, and for a second she thought he might turn and run. He actually glanced down the alley before shoving his hands in his pockets and starting toward her again. The
