Unleashed by the Defender (Brides of the Kindred #25) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,18

a pet or a tired child, but it just seemed natural to do that when his more animalistic side came out. Back in the courtroom, he had almost seemed lucid for a moment. But now that they were out in the busy street with the Yonnite vehicles whizzing by and the stink of alien exhaust rising in the night, he seemed to have reverted to his feral state.

Imani just hoped he didn’t start growling again. She didn’t know how well she could calm him down now that the light was gone from the sky. Did Nightwalkers get even more feral at night? She wished desperately that she had more information on his kind of Kindred, but the sources that talked about Nightwalkers had been few and far between.

Basically once the Kindred High Council had determined that the offspring of the Kindred males with the Nightwalker females resulted in such terribly dangerous and unstable children, they had shut off any further cross-breeding and quarantined the planet. Imani wished they had sent some scientists to do further study on the small, remote world. If she ever got back home to the Mother Ship, she would certainly recommend it.

“Come on, J’are. Come on,” she coaxed, tugging gently on the leash. She led the big Kindred back the way she had come, down the sidewalk and over to the base of the cross walk. J’are came willingly enough and they climbed the long, winding stairs that led to up to the raised bridge together.

Imani was beginning to think everything was going to be okay because the big Nightwalker was following her lead beautifully. They walked together over the whizzing traffic which looked like blurred lines of light below in the darkness. But when they got to the middle of the bridge, J’are balked.

There was no warning. One minute they were walking along and the next minute Imani was pulled up short because the big Kindred had stopped moving.

She tugged at the leash but it was like pulling on a steel beam.

“J’are?” she turned around to see that he was standing stock still in the middle of the bridge. His pale green eyes were glowing as he looked intently into the darkness at the other end of the bridge. A low growl was rising from deep in his chest. He looked for all the world like a dog or wolf who senses danger ahead.

“J’are?” Imani said again. Her heart was suddenly pounding. “J’are, what is it? What do you see?”

She didn’t expect an answer—not a verbal one anyway—but the big Nightwalker surprised her. Without looking away from whatever he was watching at the other end of the bridge he growled out,

“Free…me.”

“What?” Imani put a hand to her rapidly beating heart as she saw that he was holding out his manacled wrists. He wanted to be let loose from his harness—which was something Judge Thoughtgood had specifically forbidden. Then again, she had also wanted to put the big Nightwalker to death. But still, doing what J’are asked would be violating a court order and Imani had never done that—never even dreamed of doing it—for her entire legal career.

Still, the low growl rising from the big Kindred’s throat was raising the short hairs at the back of her neck. Clearly J’are was seeing something she couldn’t—sensing danger that was still invisible to her. She remembered her best friend’s dad—the one who rescued wolfdogs—saying you should always trust your dog’s instincts. He often said most of his animals had better common sense than any of the people he knew.

Of course, J’are wasn’t really an animal but he certainly seemed to have the instincts of one. Abruptly, Imani made a decision.

“All right,” she said, getting out the key to the manacles, which still hung around her neck on the thin chain. “All right, I’ll set you free but you have to promise not to get into trouble.”

J’are made no answer as she unlocked his harness. He simply shrugged his broad shoulders, letting the loops of leather fall to the walkway.

“Okay, we can’t just leave this here. The judge will expect to see you wearing it again in court tomorrow.”

Imani was just stooping to pick up the harness when something whooshed over her head and J’are’s growl turned into an angry roar.

“Oh!” she gasped and overbalanced, falling back onto the rough walkway on her behind.

J’are was grappling with someone or something in the darkness. It was difficult to see what it was but Imani thought the dim lights from the