Fate’s Fools: Box Set by Bell Ophelia

Author:Bell, Ophelia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Animus Press
Published: 2019-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

13

Deva

I couldn’t breathe. A heavy weight pressed at my back, constricting my lungs. My breasts were crushed against something warm, something spasming and groaning. A large hand was tangled with mine, sandwiched between us. Bodhi’s scent filled my nostrils along with the unmistakable aroma of hot blood, slamming me back into the present.

My eyes snapped open and a wave of dizziness hit, my head throbbing and forcing me to close my lids again. But in that brief second, I’d seen the alarming purple glow of a hound, and not one I recognized.

With a groan I pushed back against the pressure behind me, struggling to gain enough freedom to breathe. I opened my eyes, forcing myself to ignore the pounding behind them.

“Get away from him,” I said, my words slurring. The hound was at Bodhi’s throat, teeth tearing at his flesh. It jerked its head around to glare at me, lips curled back in a resonant growl. Its maw was coated in an iridescent residue that must have come from Bodhi, but couldn’t be his blood.

A gurgling groan erupted from beneath me and my gaze shot to Bodhi’s face. His eyelids fluttered and his mouth opened and closed once before he whispered, “Run.”

“The hell I’m running,” I said. I smacked at the hound, but my hand passed right through it, and with the contact, my power tangibly faded. With a frustrated cry, I pushed back harder against the pressure behind me, wild panic surging. I had to get the hound off him, had to get us out of here before it killed him. How he was still alive, I didn’t know, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was that I intended to keep him that way.

I attempted a breath of fire, but all that came out was smoke. The hound bent again, its incorporeal teeth sounding just as deadly as real ones as it clamped down on Bodhi’s throat and growled. The sound was almost irritated, as though it were impatient for him to die, but my beautiful human held on.

“Don’t let go. Please hold on for me, Bodhi.”

Frantic, I glanced around us for some solution. The hound was phased halfway through the roof of the truck, which had caved in partway over us, its big paws resting on either of Bodhi’s shoulders. It was dim wherever we’d landed, and a cold, wet wind tore in gusts through a gap behind me, chilling my back. I craned my neck to look over my shoulder and saw the half-inflated bulk of the airbag, but what was beyond it chilled me.

We were surrounded by dozens upon dozens of other hounds, all watching and waiting. Somewhere past them were sounds of a struggle and a tumult of brilliant lavender light that must have been my four hounds desperately fighting to reach us, to protect us.

A row of hounds took a step toward us. If this one failed to carry out its duty to kill Bodhi, the others would step in. Perhaps all of them at once would tear him to pieces, and I couldn’t let that happen.

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