Fire Bound Read Free

slowed her breathing to listen, but everything was quiet. Silent, in fact.
    No chirping or croaking.
    Should she say something to the others? No way. Not until she determined what she’d seen was more than just a turkey.
    Bending her arms at the elbows, she slid them close to her body and pushed back on her knees, staying low, but prepared to move the minute anything tried to attack one of the cows.
    She scanned the tree line filled with pine trees and old hardwoods. Wouldn’t something in search of a meal come out and maybe even circle one time to scope out his attack point?
    If that was the case, the team should be able to intervene before—
    All at once a huge black shape with wings burst from the top of a massive oak tree thirty yards beyond the men hunkered down between her and the tree.
    Fifteen feet of wingspan flapped in a mad rush toward the cows.
    It’s coming! she yelled telepathically and shot up first, rushing to reach the cow closest to her in time to shield it.
    Based on the angle the creature was heading down at a fast clip, it was going to overshoot most of the others and land near the edge of the herd.
    On the cow closest to Evalle.
    Just peachy. How lucky was she?
    When moonlight brushed across the creature’s body, she could make out human arms and legs with fingers and toes sporting claws Satan would envy. Mangy-looking skin covered its body, a thin sheath over bone and muscle.
    Everything happened in a matter of seconds.
    The men had gone into motion at the same time as her, but none were going to reach the cow that creature wanted before Evalle.
    Claws extended and curved into attack mode as the creature’s wings folded to land on top of its prey.
    Evalle realized she wasn’t going to make it in time to cover the cow with a protective kinetic field of energy either. She took two long strides and lunged into the air at the creature. Just before they collided, she tossed a kinetic blast forward, hoping to knock the beast away.
    Which sort of worked.
    The creature was blown sideways, hitting the ground face down and sliding away from the cow that started mooing and kicking, scrambling to get up.
    Evalle’s momentum took her over the cow and down in an angle that had her going straight for the creature. At least the blast of energy seemed to have stunned it . . . until Evalle landed on its back.
    The thing heaved up off the ground, screeching and crying out, sounding almost like a human that had been hurt.
    She reached around its neck with both arms to get a chokehold and gagged on the nasty odor she inhaled. The mottled skin smelled as if it was decaying, plus this thing had plowed through fresh cow patties.
    When she felt the body lift up and the wings unfold, Evalle kicked her legs out to each side to stop it from flapping.
    Tzader yelled in her head, Get off before it kills you! We can’t throw any power at it without risking you.
    She could feel the fury raging through the halfhuman thing. Her own budding empathic abilities were a new discovery these past few weeks—one she hadn’t had a chance to explore—and they picked a fine time to manifest. If she let go, the creature would probably turn on her or one of the others. Tzader would be forced to kill it, defeating the whole point of this operation.
    He’d never risk an agent’s life to capture this thing.
    But allowing it to escape could have deadly consequences if the national security guys were right.
    She was in the best position to stop it from flying and protect the team.
    She told Tzader, I’ve got a good hold on it and I don’t think it can bite me. Give me a minute to see if it settles down and we might just catch it.
    Sprigs of hair stuck off the deformed head that spun sideways trying to get at her. Yellow eyes glared at her—so human in shape they stole her ability to think, until the lipless mouth opened and a double row of pointed teeth snapped at her.
    What the heck was this thing?
    Tzader was foregoing telepathy for