AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They were so fast that many of them managed to dodge the remote attacks, but not for long. Injured animals fell from the sky, plummeting to the ground or landing in the water of the man-made beach. Whenever their numbers dropped massively, Sam would lower her shield to let more birds inside and then slam it back up to trap them and—
Pain exploded in my head as a hornbill lunged at me hard, its massive beak hitting my skull with such force it was a wonder it didn’t burst. There was a nauseating crack, and my eyesight blurred. Alora cursed beneath her breath and leapt onto the bird. I helped her neutralise it, but pain still racked my head, and I was dizzy as fuck. Then … it was like I was deflating or something, because the energy seemed to be seeping out of my body—I just felt so damn light and weak all of a sudden.
“Paige!” Alora hollered.
Mere moments later, there was a blur of movement, and then Paige knelt at my side. “Watch out for Imani,” she told Alora, splaying her hand on my flank.
There was the strangest sensation inside me as the pain faded, my eyesight returned to normal, the dizziness eased away, and I no longer felt like I’d lose consciousness any second.
I gave Paige a nod of thanks, and then she was gone again. I flinched as the weird-ass sound in the air seemed to intensify. I still couldn’t describe it. But it was like some sort of frequency. A calling, even. Yes, there was a note of compulsion in it.
As Alora and I wrestled with yet another toucan, I used pictures to ask if she could hear an odd sound that didn’t belong.
She shook her head. Maybe I only heard it because I was in my jaguar form; maybe it could only be heard by animals. I looked around, noticing that many of the birds outside the shield occasionally circled one of the Residence Halls before again and again trying to pierce the shield so that they could reach the people within it, their bloodlust too strong to be ignored.
It was pretty easy for me to resist the call, but the animals who’d been infected? They seemed helpless against it. So who or what the fuck was calling them? There was only one way to find out. And now that their numbers had massively dwindled, this seemed as good a time as any to investigate. So when Sam again lowered her shield, I telepathically informed Alora that I’d be back soon and sent her an image of the Residence Hall so that she’d know where I’d be. Then, remaining in my jaguar form, I rushed to the building.
I managed to get there before Sam’s shield again slammed up, but I had to shift shape in order to open the front door—that easily, the weird sound was gone. Inside, I returned to my jaguar form and, sure enough, I could hear it again.
I followed it up several flights of stairs and then along a hallway, passing door after door until I finally reached the place where I was sure the call was originating from. And I tensed as I realised that I knew exactly who lived at this apartment.
I shifted shape in an instant and knocked on the door. I could pretend I was there to check on them, I didn’t have to let them know I’d heard the ‘call,’ I could bluff—
The door swung open, and I frowned. What in the fuck?
CHAPTER TEN
(Maya)
Why couldn’t I move?
Like, seriously, why couldn’t I move? It felt as if I had ropes curled super tight around my body. I couldn’t turn, couldn’t squirm, couldn’t lean forward or backward. And, as I tried to cry out for help, I discovered I also couldn’t open my mouth. My heart began to pound in my chest, and a hardness formed in my gut. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I glared daggers at the vampire in front of me, who surely had to be responsible for immobilising me.
“You’re not supposed to be here. You’re supposed to be Arlo. Dammit.” Beatrix lifted me, tossed me over her shoulder with that good ole Pagori strength, kicked the door shut, and carried me through the apartment and into the bedroom. She set me down … and I then noticed Coop standing a few feet away, unnaturally still, his eyes wide. Oh, hell.
She smiled at me, all teeth, and there was something very wrong about that smile. Something that made my scalp prickle. Something that told me I wasn’t facing an emotionally stable person right then. Well wasn’t that special.
“There. Stay.” She snorted a laugh. “Like you could do anything else. Being able to immobilize people is quite a handy ability at times.”
Someone so needed to drop kick this bitch.
