Page 79 of The Hunt
“Your dramatics aren’t entertaining. Handing you a cure will only delay the inevitable, which is your need for a proper—”
Adira’s lecture was cut short by an unholy scream. The sound filled the room and echoed off the walls, growing in volume and making my ears ache worse than my arm. A second voice joined the first. Then a third.
I clapped my hands over my ears. My watering gaze bounced around the room, looking for the source and finding the table we’d surrendered to the waif-like trio. Heads tipped back, they sat straight and stiff with their mouths open and their eyes completely white.
Banshees.
Chaos exploded around us. People started running in fear. Some stumbled, blood running from their ears. It felt like my eardrums were two seconds from doing the same.
Fenris picked me up and ran for the exit. The rest of the girls were right beside us. He cleared the door and kept going down the sidewalk to my car where he finally stopped.
People milled all around us. Their mouths moved but, with my hands over my ears, I heard nothing. Hesitantly, I removed them. I couldn’t hear the screaming anymore or anything else for that matter. All I heard was a persistent high-pitched ringing, and my ears ached fiercely—almost as much as my arm.
Fenris opened his mouth and shouted something.
Transfixed, I stared at the vein pulsing in his temple and the hard muscles twitching in his jaw. Angry Fenris was something extraordinary to behold. My gaze dropped to his lips as he opened his mouth again.
“Heal her now!”
I blinked at the faint echo of his voice as he shouted. Turning my head, I saw Adira standing a few feet away, her gaze flicking from him to me then back.
“It’s not her, Fenris.” Her words sounded like she was underwater.
Still, Adira quickly applied her hand to my arm. A stinging cold pierced my skin and made me hiss. The sound was less muffled, and other noises, like the rumble of engines, began to register before the pain went numb.
“Peel away the green,” Adira said, her words clearer. “She should be fine. She needs to feed, Fenris. If you have any influence with her at all, get her to feed. I need to get back inside. Go home.”
He looked down at me then. Something shifted in his expression when he caught me looking at him.
“Fenris, it’s not just them,” Willow said. “Listen.”
He lifted his gaze from mine. Each of the werewolves cocked their heads, their gazes becoming unfocused.
“She’s right,” Jenna said.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Fenris’s grim gaze locked with mine.
“It sounds like every banshee in Uttira is singing death’s song.”
Turning my head, I searched for Adira, but she was already gone. A sick feeling settled into my stomach that had nothing to do with the mermaid’s scratch.
“What does it mean when they all sing at the same time?”
“It means it’s time to take you home.”
The phones around us started going off. I felt mine buzz in my pocket and asked Fenris to put me down. He shook his head and looked at Jenna and the other girls.
“Head straight home. No stops. I’ll drive Eliana to the Quills’ and catch a ride home with my dad. I have a feeling he’ll be there.”
Jenna nodded, looking a little pale, and hurried away with the other girls. Fenris turned toward my car. As soon as he had me in the seat, he surprised the heck out of me by grabbing the top of my sleeve and ripping it away with one quick tug.
“What are you doing?” I said with a scowl.
“Sorry. I want to peel this away before it thaws.”
I felt a tug at the back of my arm, and a moment later, he held up what looked like a green worm.
