Page 61 of The Mating Frenzy
“I don’t see it,” he toldDrust.
“Use your jaguar senses. Close your eyes and open them again. He’s well-disguised, thisone.”
Kieran did. What he saw punched him in the stomach withworry.
Instead of a blonde woman in a blue floral print dress and bare feet, he saw a creature about seven feet tall, with gnarled hands ending in pointed fingernails. The creature had wisps of yellow hair sprouting from its scaled head, a snout with two large nostrils, and a mouth filled with teeth. Drool dripped between its teeth, splashing on the sand and making a littlehiss.
Acid mouth. In the Skin world, the acid would look like small man-of-war jellyfish. Touch it and you would get stung. But he knew this creature would spit acid, and use it as aweapon.
In the stroller was something far more worrisome. It looked like a bare-skinned dog, until you saw the elongated snout and the teeth exposed as the creature bared itsjaws.
“Hellfire Hound,” Drust muttered. “Spits fire, so it comes under my jurisdiction. I can aid you this time, but after, you are on your own. Stay here. I cannot eliminate them until they pose a real threat.” He gave Kieran a cynical glance. “You think your balls are sweaty now? Try getting near a Hellfire Hound. They will turn into coals. Its heat is too intense forcats.”
“You’re going to confront them? As dragon? A littleobvious.”
“I have the power ofinvisibility.”
Nice. He wished he could have that power. Would be useful as a warrior, and fun as well in bed whenseducing…
“I will uncloak myself only to you, so you may watch and learn for thefuture.”
“What future? I can’t breathe flames and fry them like you,” he protested. But Drust hadvanished.
The water around him frothed andboiled.
Drust rose out of the water as dragon, and flew over to the sand. Instinct urged Kieran over to Ella to standguard.
Fighting the violent urge to turn, rush up to the creatures who dared to walk near his Ella, he pretended to be an ordinary Skin. Just a guy, stretching his arms, smiling at his lady love as he waded out of theGulf.
The Coldfire Wizard landed on the sand in back of the deadly pair. They did not seem to noticehim.
Heart racing he sloshed out of the surf. Ella remained in her red beach chair, reading intensely.Keep reading. Keepreading.
But suddenly she glanced up and saw the woman and the stroller. Her eyes widened. She bolted to her feet, the book spilling to thesand.
He groaned. Hell of a time for her Other sight to kickin.
Ella did not react as most Others would—fleeing in fear. Good. That would trigger an enemy’s instinct to chase. But what she did next was farworse.
She went toward them, her hands fisted and trembling. Not with fear, but pure rage. He could feel the emotions pouring out of her, as if they were intimatelylinked.
Stretching out a hand, she stopped a bare ten feet from the creatures. He started toward her, inwardly cursing. Even from here—thirty feet away—he could feel the intense heat pouring off thepair.
“Get off this beach, you bastards,” Ella snarled. “Go back to hell where youbelong.”
Kieran groaned. Brave, but foolhardy. She had no powers to fight the creatures. He ran up to her, scooped her up by the waist, grinning at the startled Skins walkingby.
“She’s practicing. Actress in an upcoming RenaissanceFair.”
The words made the Skins smile, but the dark creatures did not. They looked at him and suddenly he knew they knew. The Hellfire Hound climbed out of thestroller.
He turned, feeling the heat gather on his bare back to take the brunt of the flames the Hellfire Hound was ready to release at Ella and walked quickly away, but did not run. He knew their abilities, knew they could run faster than he could in this Skinsuit.
It would hurt like a bastard, but he wouldheal.
“Let me down, Kieran. I have to fightthem!”
“Not now,” hemuttered.
