Hoot and Howler by Lindsay Buroker

Author:Lindsay Buroker [Buroker, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub

The stars were out with the half-moon high in the sky by the time Amar finished hunting and returned to the house. He’d stalked and taken down a deer and felt much better after the exertion and a good meal. It was silly that he’d let a little owl get under his fur.

All of the lights in the house were out when Amar trotted out of the woods, and he started toward the barn, intending to return to his human form to sleep, but a sense of something being wrong plucked at his instincts. He paused in the shadows and sniffed, searching for foreign scents among the regular odors of damp grass, rodents and gophers in their burrows, and the barn and house and all the human belongings within. His nostrils twitched as he caught the whiff of an unfamiliar predator.

No. His eyes narrowed as he gazed around the property. That was a familiar predator, one he’d detected here and in other places around town before, but it was not one that belonged here.

It was the fox familiar of one of the witch sisters who’d helped torture Amar. Olivia.

He didn’t smell her, but it was perfectly typical for a witch to send a familiar miles away to spy. Amar couldn’t keep a rumble of irritation from sounding in his throat as he imagined the fox peering into Morgen’s window or prowling around the house, seeking information it could send back to its master.

It was his duty to protect Morgen, and if she was in danger…

An alarmed squawk came from the top of the house, and Amar spotted Zorro’s outline on the top of the chimney. With the house rising three stories, he should have been safe on such a lofty perch, but something else was up there with him. The fox.

It had found a way onto the porch roof and from there was advancing toward the chimney.

Amar debated if he could find a way onto the roof while in wolf form. He wouldn’t mind catching that fox and snapping its neck. In addition to being Olivia’s loyal servant—a crime in its own right—it had already tried to kill Zorro twice, once succeeding in breaking his wing and badly injuring him.

Zorro sensed the trouble and sprang from the chimney before the fox reached him. Surprisingly, he swooped low into the yard instead of up into the trees where he would have been safe.

The fox scurried down the side of the house after him. Zorro must have seen Amar’s approach, for he flew straight toward him. Hoping for help? Trying to lure the fox into a trap?

Usually, foxes were too cunning for that, but this one raced across the yard, intent on getting its prey. Maybe the witch had commanded him to kill Zorro, forcing the animal to act against its better judgment.

Amar crouched, ready to spring. Zorro swooped over his head, then flew up toward the barn’s rooftop.

The fox spotted Amar in the shadows and halted. He glanced toward the owl but gave up and raced toward the garden in front of the house.

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