Hot Blooded (Wolf Springs Chronicles) - By Nancy Holder Page 0,17
twisted her ankle on a loose rock but managed to keep her footing. Then a strong smell filled her nose, almost like rot; and she felt something hot and moist against her shoulder, as if someone was breathing on her.
Oh, God. It’s a werewolf. Justin couldn’t change at will yet, so it couldn’t be him. She ran faster, bobbling hard on her ankle, her breath coming in bursts. She came to a thicket of pines interlaced with each other. Wildly, she looked left and right. No way to pass. Her lungs on fire, she heaved in air as she dashed along the tree line. Then she spotted a low-hanging branch and jumped up to grab it. Tipping herself upside down, she thrust her legs up and over the limb and whipped herself right side up in a sort of modified gymnastics move like on the uneven bars. There was another branch above her head; she stretched and gripped it, and repeated the movement. Then she set her feet on the branch, wincing at the pain in her ankle, and grabbed onto an overhanging bough. She pulled herself up toward it, and looked down to the ground below.
She heard the moan again, and her heart stuttered. That was not a werewolf howl.
Shadows seemed to crawl along the ground.
Katelyn.
She couldn’t tell if it was spoken aloud or in her head. But it was the same voice that had been coming after her when she had fallen into the trap.
The Hellhound?
The shadows darkened as she stared at them. Impulsively, she tried to swing herself onto the next higher branch but it cracked, broke.
She screamed as she fell. If something was down there, it would get her. Acting on pure instinct, she tucked and did a flip, then managed to stick a landing as she planted herself in the center of cold, menacing darkness.
Katelyn, the voice said again.
“Help!” she bellowed.
Something exploded through the wall of branches and grabbed her.
4
Katelyn began to swing wildly at whatever held her.
“Kat! It’s me!”
Justin. He was there and he was shaking her by the shoulders. She batted crazily at him.
“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded, dodging her hands.
“The Hellhound!” she cried, pushing away from him. “Oh, my God, Justin, run!”
“No way. Not that again.” A flash of irritation crossed his face. “You just got turned around and freaked yourself out.” He grabbed her hands in both of his, jerking on them when she wouldn’t stay still. “Damn it, Kat.”
Panting, she looked back over her shoulder. The shadows were gone. “It was coming this way,” she insisted. “I know you heard the groans.” She looked down at her hands in his, and he let go. She almost grabbed onto him but he turned away and started walking. “Justin, there was something.”
As she kept close behind him, she could practically feel that something was watching her.
Letting her go.
For now.
Seconds later they were back in the clearing. And there stood Lee Fenner with a stopwatch in his hand. Back from wherever he had gone, he was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved chambray shirt. He was very tall, with a shock of white hair, and his tanned face was lined like a worn leather satchel. In human form, he had nearly torn the hair from her head in a fury when she’d failed to act properly obedient. Swallowing hard, she tried to stay calm, but it was very difficult to pretend that she wasn’t scared to death.
He looked from the stopwatch to her, lids narrowing until his amber eyes were two golden slits. He clicked the timer and frowned at her. “Well, your leg’s not broken,” he said. “You’re not covered in blood. So what the hell took you so long?”
“She got lost,” Justin said before she could say anything. He squeezed her shoulder hard, a warning to stay quiet. “She’ll get the hang of it.”
Mr. Fenner grunted and trained his steely gaze on Justin. “That’s up to you, isn’t it, boy?”
“Yessir,” Justin said. “But you should have seen her, Uncle Lee. She’s a gymnast and she’s got moves we can use when we hunt. She was up in the trees like a monkey. She can climb up, look for prey. I’m thinking when she starts keeping her memory, she could do great moves when she’s changed, too.”
Mr. Fenner cocked a brow. “Oh?”
Katelyn quavered under his gaze. Could he have been the thing trailing after her? He wasn’t winded, and he was fully dressed. “I’ve been studying gymnastics for years.”