Queen of the Fae (Dragon's Gift The Dark Fae #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,36

shape of them.

“From behind,” I murmured. “Not sure what it is.”

“And ahead.” Tarron pointed to the left wall in front of us.

I peered at it, spotting the slightest glow of eyes—as if the creature were squinting so they could still see us but not be spotted as easily.

“I think they are little animals,” Tarron said.

“Or sprites of some kind.”

I debated drawing a blade or shield, and decided against it. They didn’t feel threatening. Not yet at least. No need to change that.

“Burn?” I asked to the air. “Could you come here? Don’t act like a badass, okay? Try to look nice.”

Tarron shot me a curious look.

I shrugged. “The Thorn Wolf can often sense threats. And animals are better at reading other animals.”

A few moments later, Burn appeared. His spiked, thorny fur lay against his back in a non-threatening way, and he made a point to wag his tail.

I patted his head. “Good guy. What do you think of the creatures in here?”

He sniffed, then whined with interest. Bacon.

“They’re fine,” I translated, peering into the dark.

Finally, I spotted a little creature with enormous eyes and soft beige fur. The little animal crept forward on little hands with long fingers. It was about the size of a house cat, and looked a bit like a cross between a monkey and a fat-faced rodent. But cute.

Really cute.

One after the other, the creatures climbed from crevices in the rock, moving toward us.

“That’s a lot of them,” Tarron murmured.

I swallowed hard, my heart picking up speed. They crowded around us, making a weird purring noise. Soon, there were so many that we could hardly walk.

“This could be a problem.” Tarron shifted his legs, disrupting twenty little fluffy balls that piled up.

More were coming out of the walls, a tidal wave of them. Little fangs glinted in their mouths, and unease tightened my muscles. I spotted tiny claws on their toes as well. Little, but sharp.

We were surrounded by a couple hundred now, more and more piling on top of each other in their desire to inspect us.

“There are so many that if they turn against us, we’re in trouble,” Tarron said.

“Totally screwed.” I eyed the fangs on a cute one that hung from the ceiling. In half a second flat, these things could turn nasty. There were enough that they could tear us apart.

Worse, we couldn’t move forward anymore. There were so many that we were totally stuck.

Tarron created a small gust of wind, trying to blow them back gently. Their little claws dug into the ground and each other, and they didn’t budge an inch.

“They’re completely impervious,” I said.

He tried a stronger gust, and they held firm. Magic glittered around their feet.

Shit.

“They’re used to strong wind,” Tarron murmured. “They’ve got some defense against it.”

The creatures moved more quickly, jostling against each other. The energy in the tunnel was increasing as the excitement of the little monsters rose.

My heart began to thunder louder. I shifted nervously.

“They’re changing,” I whispered.

Burn growled, clearly nervous.

Crap, that was bad.

The Thorn Wolf was buried up to his belly in little furry pincushions of fangs and claws. Huge, glowing eyes stared at us from all around.

Four of them were playing with the shiny zippers on my boots, and another two had climbed onto my shoulders to fiddle with the sparkling comms charm around my neck. It clanged against the charm that Aethelred had given me, giving them two things to play with. They seemed delighted, but in a creepy way. Two had climbed onto Tarron to fiddle with the buttons on his shirt, and one clung to my waist, poking at my belt buckle.

“They like shiny things.” I could empathize. I was quite the fan myself.

Except they were totally invading my personal space. And there were so many of them now that I thought we might drown in fluffy bodies.

They started to pull at things that interested them, getting more aggressive. They clicked their fangs and hissed.

“I can work with that.” Tarron’s magic swelled on the air.

“Hurry,” I said, twitching as the creatures piled up to my waist. I could feel the pricks of their claws and fangs as they moved more quickly, excited. The energy in the air felt the same as it did before a big storm. Like something bad was going to happen on the turn of a dime.

“I’ve got it.” Tarron's magic prickled from behind.

I turned to look back, spotting a pile of shiny rocks on the ground.

“Look, guys.” I pointed, praying it worked. There were so