Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,69

they’d have if they could. They can’t, believe me.”

I became aware that my mouth was gaping open at him. I snapped it shut. “He can’t compel me though. And even you knew I was human straight away, Alex. ”

“Well, yeah, and you still seem human. But you can’t be. Even without the compulsion side of things, there is no alpha, no matter how strong, who could use the Voice on an out and out human.”

I wasn’t quite sure how to handle this new piece of information on top of everything else. I’d spent so long wishing desperately that I wasn’t human, but I’d come to accept that I couldn’t change who I was no matter how much I wanted to. And now that I was resigned to being human, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be anything else. I’d heard John’s Voice for so long that I hadn’t ever thought to really question why I could. I struggled to find a reason why. “Can you hear an alpha’s Voice?”

“No, only shifters can, I told you.” Alex’s voice was emphatic.

I felt more doubt creeping in. “And I’m definitely not a shifter.”

He sank back down. “No, you’re not. There’s nothing shifter-like about you. But I’m still telling you that it doesn’t make sense that you’re human either.”

Great. I was just a freak. Now I wasn’t a shifter or a human. Could my week possibly get any worse?

I noticed that Lucy was looking concerned but trying very hard to keep her gaze focused on the portal. At least the distance between us and the hum of the gate, meant that she wouldn’t have heard any of my conversation with Alex. I tried to look nonchalant and unconcerned by crossing my legs and leaning back. Unfortunately I was feeling anything but that. Alex stood up and walked towards the water’s edge. I had to admit that part of me wondered if he was trying to stay away from me now that I was clearly something very strange indeed. Perhaps I was contagious. The pit of my stomach felt warm with hurt and confusion. And then I wondered if the fire I felt in my blood when I got worked up, wasn’t just a side-effect of a red-head’s fiery temper. Maybe it was something else. Maybe I was a monster. Maybe that’s why it was my fault that John was dead.

I lost myself in my thoughts. At some point Alex came and sat back down next to me but I barely registered him. At least he left me in peace to sort through what I was thinking. After a while I roused myself slightly, however, and looked at him. I thought I’d ask him what he thought about my bloodfire, and whether it might be connected somehow to everything else. In fact, I’d even drawn a breath to speak when, all of a sudden, the ripples in the portal began to fluctuate wildly and the humming increased dramatically in volume. Something was coming through.

I immediately leapt to my feet and pulled out my left dagger, poised for action. Across the sand, I could see both Lucy and the racist prick tensing. Being shifters, they didn’t need to particularly carry weapons – their shift did more damage more quickly than virtually anything else even remotely legal would. Alex was backing away slowly from the portal itself. I gripped the dagger’s hilt tightly.

“Come on Iabartu, you bitch,” I whispered. “Let’s finish this.”

There was a terrible rumbling and a figure started to emerge slowly. Initially it was difficult to make out what it was. Unfortunately, however, it was also immediately very clear that whatever it was, it wasn’t Iabartu. She’d been about five feet tall in Alex’s scrying and this figure looked to be about twice that. It was definitely humanoid, however. I squinted, trying to make it out. One muscled leg that looked the size of a tree trunk came into sharp focus. Its foot was bare but very hairy with long sharp looking toenails. Ick. I shifted my stance deciding to aim for its Achilles’ heel. I wasn’t sure exactly what would happen if I attacked it in mid transport - it would usually be considered extraordinarily rude to do so – but circumstances dictated that this was not someone here to pay a friendly visit. I could end this in a second if I managed to hit the right spot though.

I snapped back my wrist and let the dagger fly, when, at the same moment,