Page 48 of Unforeseen Mate

They had galloped halfway from the cliff to the house when Fallon could feel a kind of popping in the atmosphere around them. There was no sound, but it was as if she could feel the air reverberating all around them about six feet off the ground as small bursts of fire hit the frozen ground below.

She watched as small, dragon-like creatures popped into existence above the ground, beating their wings to keep them aloft.

“Shit,”snarled Hayden.

Fallon sidled up to him.“What the hell are those?”

“Flying fox-shifters. This is one of those times you need to do what I tell you without question. Get to the house and alert the others that we’re under attack.”

Without waiting for a response or to see if she followed orders, Hayden shoved her towards the house and then charged into the melee as the things began to fly barely above ground in a group formation, spitting fires in small bursts as they did so.

The things were horrible, terrifying creatures. Fallon remained frozen for a moment and then turned toward the house to get help. Seeing people and creatures pouring out ofthe house let her know the attack was not all that unexpected. Some of Colby’s people stayed in their human forms and were armed with automatic rifles, nets, and dart guns. Others came out in their shifted forms. Many were lynxes, but there was also a smattering of great horned owls, wolves, and a cave lion. All were charging past her across the lawn to join Hayden in the fight.

She didn’t see Nora in either her clouded leopard or human form. As she turned to join the others, a shot rang out. It sounded as if it had come from the top of the house. Fallon looked up and spotted Nora up on a high balcony with what looked to be a high-powered rifle. Another shot rang out, and another of the bat-like things fell to the ground.

“How do I switch back to my human form?”Fallon asked her hellhound.

“You are always in control. Just ask me to retreat and I will,”was the answer.

Fallon kept her hellhound form until she reached the house as Colby Reynolds was coming out. Asking her hellhound to retreat, Fallon found herself standing without any clothes on in front of the lynx-shifter.

“Hayden didn’t mention the naked thing, did he?” he laughed.

How could the man joke at a time like this?

“Why are they attacking us?” asked Fallon who chose to ignore the fact that she was naked and was every bit as confused as she was frightened.

“My best guess is this is Strode’s first probe of our defenses. If he’s going to go on the offense, he needs to know just how strong our defenses are.”

“Can’t we just find and kill him?”

Colby laughed. “Not unless we want to try and take him on Lundy Island. Trust me, Strode isn’t leaving his fortress until he is assured of victory.”

Fallon noticed that all of those in their creature form were larger and more powerful than the creatures they resembled that couldn’t shift. One of the attackers screamed as an owl sank its talons into its wings.

As they charged past, Fallon recognized how strange her body felt—not just from being in her human form but tight, expectant, wanting something, but unsure of what that was.

“You want to fight,”whispered her hellhound.

“I don’t know how,”she responded.

“Maybe not, but I do. Trust me.”

Fallon knew she was right and relinquished control to her hellhound once again to join with the others in defeating the creatures Strode had sent.

“Try to take at least one alive,” called Colby as he shifted on the run.

That didn’t seem like an unreasonable request. Besides which, her hellhound was right. She wanted a part of this fight. She could feel power and purpose surging through her system. Taking off at a gallop, she joined the battle.

HAYDEN

It didn’t take long to take down the small platoon of flying fox-shifters, which was a silly name for them as they weren’t foxes; they were bats—one of the largest of the bat species. They were also known as fruit bats, but the species as a whole preferred the term fox, and always referred to themselves as flying foxes.Hayden didn’t care. They needed one or two alive to question, but ensuring none of them returned to wherever they’d come from was far more important.

Like most shifters, they seemed larger than their purebred counterparts. More than that, as far as he knew, flying foxes could not shimmer or pop in and out of existence. He tried to keep a close eye on them. If one of them blipped out of the air, he planned to shimmer, go after it, and find out where it went.

But for now, keeping them engaged in the fight and not disappearing seemed far more important. He was deep into the fight—slashing and tearing with his teeth and claws. From the corner of his eye, he saw a beautiful hellhound join the fight. He stopped for a moment to observe her—she fought as if she’d been hellhound born. His mate was smart enough to let her hellhound take over.

He charged across the expanse of land to where she was holding her own. The forces of Windsong were winning. He could feel a shiver in the air as if one of the attackers was going to try and retreat from the Earth realm. Hayden tried to leap to catch it but was a bit short. It didn’t matter, as another shot rang out and the thing fell down on the ground in front of him.

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