Read Under His Wings for Free Online Page B

most
pleasure in.”
    That was the only warning they received. Yet if he’d shot a
starter’s pistol in the air and given them a ten-second head start it wouldn’t
have prepared her for what happened next.
    One moment a man stood on the sidewalk and the next a
monster from her most horrifying nightmares crouched before them. And like in
those dreams, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t turn and run. The cement under her
feet seemed as if it had transformed to quicksand. It clutched her ankles,
sucking her down into its lethal depths. Beside her, Resa emitted a frightened
animal-like whimper.
    The beast tilted its eagle head to the side and tracked them
with a disturbing intelligence that glittered in its black eyes. All the gray
and obsidian shadows of the night had coalesced and formed the wings that
settled alongside the beast’s huge carriage. Feathers the color of dirty
dishwater covered its wide breast and thick legs that ended in wicked
dagger-sharp talons. It lowered into a deeper crouch like a deranged version of
a courtier’s bow and Tamar glimpsed the powerful muscled back, legs and tail in
the shape of a horse.
    “ Jesus ,” she breathed. What the hell was it?
    “Do me a favor,” the eagle-horse-man thing’s voice
rebounded inside her head and Tamar wanted to clap her hands to her ears at the
ugly gloating in the sonorous tone. “Run.”
    The quicksand disappeared and Tamar wheeled around,
complying with his instructions, dragging Resa with her. But her leg squawked
an objection at the sudden movement and Tamar went down—hard. Her palms slapped
the ground. Tiny loose pebbles bit into the heels of her palms. Yet her knee
smacking the unforgiving cement drowned out the small discomfort of her hands.
Pain screamed up her thigh and hip. Her teeth snapped together and a black
shroud of unconsciousness swooped over her. But with a force of will she hadn’t
known she possessed, Tamar shoved it back.
    “Resa,” she rasped and her lips grazed the sidewalk as she
turned her head to look for her friend. Maybe she’d been able to get away, run
for help…
    The other woman was sprawled on her stomach beside Tamar,
but she scrambled to her back, performing a crab crawl away from the monster
who stalked them. Her high-pitched shrieks ended on an abrupt note, replaced by
a jarring bone snapping and crunching.
    The beast had pounced, taken Resa down.
    Fear, a living, breathing entity, crawled alongside Tamar as
she sobbed and whimpered, trying to get away from this scene straight out of a
horror flick. The beast’s immense body hid the carnage from sight, but the wet,
meaty slurp and the metallic, blood-drenched scents were worse.
    Crying, Tamar hauled her body up, using the brick building
behind her for support. Her left leg throbbed, the angry pulses like a thousand
bee stings in her knee, thigh and hip. Still, gripping the wall, she tried to
escape the fate that had befallen her friend.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” The question
halted her progress as if it had reached out and snared her by the shoulder.
Slowly she pivoted, the brick strong and sturdy under her palm. A calm settled
over her. She couldn’t run—her leg wouldn’t permit it. Even if her limb would
allow it, she couldn’t outrace this monster. But she refused to be taken down
from behind.
    She’d rather see it coming.
    “Brave, are you?” It taunted and its cruel words and
laughter grated the walls of her mind like acid. “It won’t save you,” it
murmured, placing a claw closer to her sandal. The clack of the sharp tip
against the pavement scraped over her nerves, raw and terrifying. “And
unlike your friend, I’m going to take my time with you.”
    She believed the creature, the promise evident in the evil
glimmer that sparkled in its gaze. Sucking in a deep breath, Tamar pushed away
from the building and caught the flash of surprise in its too-human eyes.
Limping, she balanced most of her weight on her right leg and tilted