Scrutiny by W.J. May

Author:W.J. May
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fae, fantasy witches, fantasy new adult, paranormal shifter romance, shifter romance, coming of age, vampires, vampires and witches, shifters, shifter, dark fantasy, superhero fantasy ebooks, witches, superhero, paranormal fantasy, paranormal romance, New Adult & College Romance Paranormal, Fairy, new adult, new adult and college, New Adult & College Romance, w.j. may, chronicles of kerrigan, supernatural, romance, mystery, superpowers, paranormal, boarding school, series, magic, fairytale, fairy tale, sequel series, sequel, Arthurian, dragons
Publisher: Dark Shadow Publishing
Published: 2022-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Perhaps it was the night spent in the shelter of the barn, perhaps it was the quiet tension that had come along with it, but the friends made for the distant mountains with the greatest haste, eager to leave the flood plains behind. They were not the only creatures attempting to do so.

“What...are those?”

The men paused to see Keira standing behind them, staring in open-jawed astonishment at a herd of animals grazing on the distant plains. They were shaped generally like bulls, but much bigger, almost like buffalo. They were also disturbingly well-armed.

Jesse came up beside her, a look of boyish wonder on his face. “Are those horns?”

The immortals paused, then doubled back.

“They are Gringeen,” Eden answered quietly, taking great care not to alarm the animals with the sound of his voice. “It’s best to keep our distance, the horns are the least of their weapons.”

Kiera stifled a shudder, wondering what that meant. “They’re heading the same direction that we are—”

“Then we should give them space,” Evander interrupted, watching the animals with a rather grim expression. “They stampede. And it’s surprisingly inconvenient when they do.”

Words of caution from our resident vampire.

The friends gave the herd all the space it could want.

“They don’t look much different from the bison we had at home.” Jesse paced in front, wading through the tall grass that blanketed the base of the peaks. “A little more gruesome maybe, those horns were more like spears.” He threw a glance at Eden, having never before seen the fae retreat. “I’m surprised you didn’t go running straight through the middle, waving your hands.”

Even the vampire smiled a little at that, but Eden shook his head with a grin.

“I was a boy the first time I saw one,” he answered, “I crept closer to investigate. The herd spooked and one of them cut me.” He gestured with his finger, tracing a line from his hip straight up the side of his ribs. “We had a fourteen hour ride the next day. Worst fourteen hours of my life.”

They continued walking in silence, making their way off the sunbaked plain and into the cooler embrace of the forest, where the ground was soft and uneven beneath their boots, and the air smelled of damp pine-needles instead of windswept hay and mud.

Kiera walked a step behind the rest, lost in her contemplations. One hand continually drifted to the side for balance, and every so often, she would chew pensively upon her lip.

“You’ll notice I didn’t ask where you were riding,” she said suddenly. “You’ll notice I didn’t even ask where you were travelling at the time. You’ve given me this frightful reputation, but never once do you appreciate all the times...”

She trailed into silence, as the sound of rushing water filtered through the trees.

With the caution of a group of people who’d spent the last twenty-four hours living in secret fear of a flood, the friends picked their way slowly through the underbrush, coming to a stop on the bank of a large river winding through the mountains like a seam.

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