“I will.” I had no intentions of becoming a chew toy for whatever hunted us.
Clearing the first row winded me, and I was already flagging, but adrenaline gave me a healthy boost when I heard the padded echo of my movements. Not daring to hold still long enough to find out if these creatures could retract their claws to hunt silently, I pumped my thighs harder.
An all-too-familiar baying noise ricocheted off the concrete pylons in response to my burst of speed.
I would never forget that sound for as long as I lived, or the needlelike teeth that went along with it.
“This can’t be good,” I panted. The watchmen were contracted to the Faraday. Why the heck were they hounding me? I was the guest of a resident, and the resident himself was busy drawing a barrier to keep us safe from our would-be protectors. After skidding around the corner, I started running flat out for the spot where Linus knelt. “Incoming.”
Hot breath fanned the back of my left thigh, and a cold nose brushed the bend of my knee as teeth closed over the hem of my coat. The beast behind me skidded to a halt, yanking me back with such force I hit the ground on my tailbone. Impact shot a burst of lightning zigzagging up my spine, and I cried out in pain.
Noticing my abraded palms, sliced open when I braced for the fall, I used my own blood as ink. Instinct guided me to finger-paint protective sigils down my exposed legs, and I kept repeating the pattern until my wounds clotted on me.
Magic, old and rich, snapped into place around me, locking me in a bubble I couldn’t see but sensed in the way air moved slower through the barrier.
A yelp resounded behind me, and I turned to find a massive dog-lizard thing pushing off the ruined fender of a nearby truck where the punch of energy had flung it away from me.
“Linus.” I twisted toward him. “Raise your circle. Now.”
Agony pinched his eyes as he obeyed. A shiver rode my skin in response to his magic, and I thanked the goddess we were both safe and sound. For now. The way the beast snarled his upper lip had me questioning how long our good fortune might last.
“What do you want?” I yelled at it. “What have we ever done to you?”
In response, it tipped its head back and howled a message I had no doubt went something like Soup’s on!
Before long, answering calls alerted me to the presence of two more of the things.
Just how many watchmen were there? I had only ever seen Hood. Had that been by design?
Unsure how much they understood in this form, I tried again. “What’s your deal? Why are you chasing us? Did we forget to get our parking validated or something?”
The other two closed in on the one in the middle, sniffing and licking until content it was mostly unharmed. With a huff, it liquefied into a reddish puddle before spraying several feet in the air like a geyser that poured into a humanlike form. The curtain of magic dripped away until a petite woman with sleek blue hair and sharp green eyes stood before me dressed in workout clothes like she had just left the gym. Or enjoyed a wicked sense of humor about how she got her cardio.
“Grier Woolworth.”
“That’s me.” No point in denying it when they’d tracked us this far. They had our scents in their noses.
“I’m Lethe Kinase.” She sighed when the larger of the two remaining beasts stalked toward me. “Hood you know.” The third creature padded over to her and leaned its head against her thigh. “This is my brother, Midas.”
“Nice to meet you.” I poured enough sugar into my voice to sweeten a family reunion’s worth of iced tea. “Thanks for the introduction. It’s always good to know your enemies by name.” When Hood nosed closer, I hissed at him. “Traitor.”
The soft whine in his throat made me feel like I was the one who had betrayed him. How, when he was the one chasing me around like an M&M rolling across a counter, I had no idea.
“We owe you a boon.” Her fingers curled in Midas’s ruff. “No one has successfully infiltrated the Faraday in the history of its operation until tonight. How it was accomplished is still under investigation, though I imagine we’ll discover a resident missing a keycard at best. A resident with malicious intent at worst. Neither scenario changes the fact we were remiss in our duties, and you almost died as a result.”
The sweet edge of relief threatened to swamp me, but my luck wasn’t this good. “It’s no problem. Really. You guys can go back to whatever you were doing, and we’ll get back to whatever we’re doing. No hard feelings.”
Red magic splashed against my barrier as Hood shifted forms. “You are what we’re doing.”
“Hard pass.” I pulled my coat tighter around me. “I’m not that adventurous.”
Lethe’s husky laughter brought my attention swinging back to her, but she was eyeing Hood like he was listed as a prime cut on a menu only she had been handed. “I’m glad you feel that way.” Her lips quirked as their eyes met. “He’s mine, and I don’t share.”
“Oh” seemed like the best answer, so I stuck with that.
The third dog-lizard thing dissolved and reformed into a gilded version of Lethe that made me wonder if his spun-gold hair had earned him his name. From a distance, he was heartbreakingly beautiful, his features hewn from granite, his skin kissed by the sun. But upon closer inspection, he was too gaunt, with scars crosshatching his forearms, and his eyes, a rich aquamarine, held an edge of sorrow that was as likely to slit his throat as yours.
“It’s an honor debt,” Midas informed me, his voice rasping like speech hurt. “You were attacked on our watch, and that means we’re in your service until the threat has passed.”
“What about the Faraday?” Please let there be a non-compete clause. “I don’t want to cost you your jobs.”
“Our pack will see that the Faraday is well protected,” Midas assured me. “This was our mistake, and we will see our honor restored.”
That sounded an awful lot like he wasn’t willing to take no for an answer.
“I’m going home. To Savannah.” I shrugged apologetically. “You’ll have to restore your honor another way.”
“We’ll come with you,” Hood decided after exchanging looks with the other two.
“That’s really not necessary.” I shot Linus a panicky glance. “Right?”
“The watchmen seldom offer their services to individuals and never for free.” Linus stood within his circle, arms crossed. “Hood has shown marked interest in Grier from the moment she arrived. There’s more to this than you claim.”
“Her scent reminds me of a young woman to whom I owe a blood debt.” Hood bowed his head. “I couldn’t save her, but perhaps this might help me balance the scales.”
There was more, I could tell the story didn’t end there, but I understood too well how much easier it was not to talk about the past. “How about you come with us then? Just you.”
The fewer, the merrier, I always say. When it comes to slavering dog-lizard things.
“We are kindred.” Midas shook blond hair into his eyes. “His debt is ours.”
“Our bond doesn’t allow for separation,” Lethe explained. Leaving her brother, she approached us, pausing in front of Hood. “I almost lost him once. I won’t risk him again.”
“I was a pup then.” Hood cradled her face in his palm. “I’m not so breakable now.”
“Still.” She leaned into the touch. “We go with you. Always.”
Hood smiled, all teeth, and brought her in for a bruising kiss. “Always.”
Turning away, I resisted the urge to fan myself. At least someone had their relationship all figured out.
“You own enough property to give them room to run,” Linus said thoughtfully. “They sleep outdoors, so Woolly’s wards won’t be an issue.” His smile was calculating, far too amused, when he said, “Boaz did suggest you hire full-time security.”
But he meant handpicking Elite loyal to him, not adopting dog-lizards who would answer only to me.
Hmm.