[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

 You want her -- take her then. Mandy gasped as her feet left the ground. Holding her
by her hair and upper arm, the pooka threw her toward the wall as if she were a rag doll.
Her head hit the wooden stable wall with a  thwack, and she collapsed onto the floor.
Pain radiated through her skull making her dizzy, but she was aware of movement around
her. The ghouls.
Mandy cringed back against the wall in horror. There was a loud growl, and one of the
ghouls flew backwards, followed by another, and then another. Mandy blinked in confusion.
Suddenly, Boone was there. He licked her cheek gently. The ghouls were gone.
You okay?
Mandy put a shaky hand to her head and nodded. The motion made her dizzy again.
Stay down.
The room was spinning, so she decided to obey for the moment.
Where s the pooka? Where s Jacob?
Mandy squinted past Boone expecting to see the five men, but instead saw five large
wolves. They had corralled the ghouls in a corner and were keeping guard.
Mandy, I d like you to meet the cavalry.
Mandy blinked. They re werewolves.
Yeah -- didn t I mention that before?
Mandy didn t answer as she looked around the barn. Where s Jacob?
Animal Dreams 121
She stood up awkwardly, holding the stable wall for balance. Her head pounded and
her legs stung where the ghouls had scratched her. She limped over to where her T-shirt lay
on the ground.
 The pooka shifted into horse form and ran. Jacob went after him. Mandy jumped at
the sound of the strange male voice and hastily raised the shirt to cover her body. A large
blond man stood where one of the wolves had been.
 I think he may have been wounded. The man pointed to the ground where Jacob had
been standing. Mandy sucked in a shocked breath. It was covered in blood.
 I m going after them. Without hesitation, Mandy reached for her body s potential
and focused. There was a moment of disorientation, a split second between shapes, and then
her body reformed. She couldn t help but marvel at the sensation. Her blood sang as she
looked down at the wolf-man from her horse eyes.
She nodded to him and turned toward the door. There was no awkwardness to her
horse body; it felt sleek and powerful, and Mandy thundered out of the barn in pursuit of the
other two.
Her sense of smell made it easy to follow them. Mandy rushed across the countryside.
She had no doubt about Jacob s strength, but the pooka had the advantage; Jacob was
wounded. Mandy hoped she could get there in time.
122 Jeanne Laws
Chapter Ten
Jacob took satisfaction in the knowledge that his surprise attack had done enough
damage to the pooka that the creature wouldn t be able to fly in bird form. The pooka s best
chance of escape was to remain as a horse.
The stallion Jacob chased was larger than he, but the difference wasn t so large that it
would matter in an equal fight. Jacob tried not to focus on the fact that this would not be an
equal fight. Although he had managed to wound the creature, the injuries he had sustained
were far greater. Not only had he had been tied with silver for the past hour, but the ghouls
had done quite a job on his legs. Even though he was now free of the metal, he felt the
residual weakening effects.
The pooka was moving fast and, as Jacob galloped across the hillside, sweat began to
prickle against his skin, slowly sliding through his blood-matted pelt and into the open
wounds. The salty perspiration burned, and his muscles ached with strain. The pain was
deeper in one of his back legs, and he knew without looking that the ghouls had damaged
the muscle.
Animal Dreams 123
With effort, he pushed aside the pain and forced his battered body to continue moving.
As with most shifters, he healed rapidly. What worried him was that he knew he didn t have
the time to fully recover. And he needed his strength now.
Jacob s mind had focused to tunneled precision. No matter what the odds against him,
the pooka was as good as dead. He was a threat to Amanda. He had touched Amanda.
Whether it was the animal or the man in Jacob that demanded blood, he couldn t tell. All the
parts of him now worked toward the same goal, and the one thing that he was sure of was
that the pooka would not live to see the next hour. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]