Demon Day by Penelope Fletcher (best novels in english .TXT) 📕

under her neck bright white,the fur stretching down onto her underbelly. She jumped on me and Ilurched out of the way, spinning round to meet her next attack.Growling, she crouched, ready to pounce, but the panther skidded toa stop between us and spun to face the lynx.

He roared at her, a series ofdeafening and commanding bleats. Pacing forward, he bit her on theneck, pushing her down onto the floor. She did not resist him andthe change in her posture was instant. She lowered her head andwhimpered. Her ears pressed against her skull in submission and hertail pointed down.

The panther shook her roughly and hisjaw flexed around her neck. For a moment, I feared he would killher.

He let go and I breathedout.

He plodded over to me and head buttedme in the leg, hard. I got a distinct feeling of anger radiatingfrom him.

Pressing a hand to my side, I broughtit away to see a small smear of blood, but my side heated painfullyand I knew I healed.

“Sorry,” I said and kneltdown to look him in the face. “It wasn’t her fault, and I’msorry.”

“Good,” Conall said. I hadnot heard him arrive. It was then I noticed he had Breandan pinnedto the floor. He let my scowling life-mate up. “I know you wish toprotect her, but you were not needed.”

Anger flashed across Breandan’s face,before he composed himself. “You were right. It would have gonebadly if I had interfered.”

My face was flushed, a rush of colourthat swept up my neck and spilled into my cheeks. What I had donewas plain stupid. Of course, the shifters would have many sentriesposted across their borders. Lost in the joy of running I hadforgotten we were drawing nearer to the heart of the Pride. Thelynx would have smelt me coming and instantly reacted to what couldbe a hostile invader.

A bad thought came to me and had mesaying in alarm, “The Pack isn’t going to be happy about the deadshifter are they?” I asked quietly. I gripped Breandan’s arm,holding him to me like someone was trying to take him away. “Can’twe hide the body? Like, throw it in a ditch somewhere and erase hisscent from this place somehow?”

Nobody said anything for a long whileand I knew my words had upset the fairy boy’s. The were-cats juststared at me like I was the most fascinating thing they had everseen. Conall and Breandan honorable – to a fault – and though Iknew they saw my idea as a cowardly one, I still thought it was thebest one. We had to be honest, it didn’t matter who we were in thefairy world the Pack we were visiting were not going to react well.They probably would have had an issue with us just being there inthe first place but throw a dead one of their kind into the mix andthings might get complicated. I did not want to have to persuadethem we were not the enemy. The idea of going at it againstpowerful demons made my head hurt. My throat ached, so shouting wasnot an option for me. My body felt beaten up and Iscowled.

The whole healing thing would be muchmore useful if I could turn it on and off. Conall himself had nocontrol over that area of magic. He could heal others but nothimself.

Our assemblage stood still for amoment, before the panther got bored, and with a low catlike mewingsound signaled us to move. He took the lead again. The lynx slinkedto his side, head still bowed in submission.

One look at Breandan’s face had me allbut pouting. “I guess you want to keep a hold on me now,” I saidgruffly and yanked on the end of my hair in irritation. I let myabused throat roughen my voice to remind him to be gentle withme.

A small smile played on his lips. “Fora little while.”

Grumbling to myself, I did nothesitate to entwine my fingers with his. His skin glowed brighterand he smiled. I felt my muscles unclench and a troublesome anxietythat had gathered between my shoulder blades release. I relaxed andsighed. Breandan seemed to be experiencing similar sensations,since he closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders.

“That is better,” he said,satisfied, and tugged me along after him.

The were-cats traveled in front of us,and the lynx pulled ahead, but the panther stayed close. Soon, Isaw small house like shapes up ahead, smoke, and I caught a faintwaft of cooking meat, sweat, and warm animal.

The moment we had come into sight ofthe Pack Conall had moved in front of me and became somewhattense.

We drew closer to the heart of theshifter Pride and I sensed may more beings around us. Their auraswere disquieted, violent, and unstable, as if they saw us as athreat. I found it upsetting. The shifters caught our scent, amixture of fairy, shifter, fear, and blood. They paced in an eerilycatlike manner waiting for us to arrive.

We passed through unhindered, and Iwondered what would have happened if we had tried to come hereun-chaperoned.

The panther came to a stop before aman and dipped his head low, made a rumbling sound at the back ofhis throat and his tail hit the floor a few times.

Breandan shifted so he stood in frontof me, shielding my body. I craned my head to peek aroundhim.

I had thought Lochlann, Breandan’sbrother was big. This guy was massive, and there was nothingdelicate or soft about him. He towered over me and looked as solidas a tree. Muscles were packed upon muscle, and he wore two things,a strip of cloth around his waist that stopped mid thigh, and aleather braid necklace around his thick neck. He was missing oneeye and a scar ran down from the top of his forehead to the tip ofhis cheek over the closed lid. His brown hair was cut close to hishead, and his chin was strong, covered in a bushy beard.

The power and dominance radiating fromhim named him as the Pride Alpha.

And he looked pissed.

“Alec, shift,” hecommanded.

The were-panther lay down on its sideand writhed in the dirt and patchy grass. I watched, morbidlyfascinated by the Change. Soon, I wished