Page 75 of Hounded: Ashes to Ashes

“Lore?” I nudged him with my elbow, but only his eyes moved, angling toward a nearby alley where a privacy fence obscured our view.

His nose crinkled in a sniff, the kind of inhale that was meant to savor the air. He smelled something. Heard something, too, that caused his chin to tip toward that same dark alleyway.

The crossing sign had all but timed out when Loren jerked on my arm, hauling me abruptly forward.

“Lore!” I protested, but he didn’t stop.

Cars honked as we raced across their path. I was moving at hellhound speed, or trying to, which involved a lot of stumbling and staggering and eventually being lifted so my feet merely skimmed the ground.

Over the rumbling of traffic and Loren’s boots scuffing the pavement, I finally tuned in to what must have lured him: a woman, screaming.

But the noise was behind us, coming from the alley we were rapidly moving away from.

We weren’t superheroes or anything. Not vigilantes committed to justice, but we also weren’t the kind of douchebags to abandon a stranger who clearly needed help. At least,Iwasn’t.

“Loren, what the hell? I know you can hear that,” I said and set my heels so hard it was a wonder my rubber soles didn’t start to smoke.

It drew him to a halt, and his head whipped to pin me with eyes so wide I could see the whites all around them.

“Baby, what is it?” I asked.

“Hounds,” he said. A harsh whisper.

Evander said this would happen. Now that the hellhounds were loose, they would roam Earth and wreak havoc. Cause chaos, do harm.

Another panicked cry rang out.

“They’re hurting someone,” I said.

“Someone,” Loren agreed with a nod. “Not you.”

He pulled on me again, but my stance was set. He could drag or pick me up and carry me, and I got the feeling he would do exactly that if I didn’t get words out fast.

“Lore, we have to help her,” I said.

“No.”

I swung my head toward the source of the commotion, then faced Loren again and found him unmoved. “Seriously?” I pressed. When he didn’t reply, I jerked free of his grasp and blurted, “If you won’t, I will.”

Another scream pierced the air, and I took off. I must have caught Loren on his heels, because it should have been no problem to catch up with me. Then again, I was much faster in trainers than my usual platforms, so maybe I was quicker than I realized.

Traffic flowed through the intersection, and I sprinted into it, ducking and dodging like Frogger. Horns blared, but it seemed as risky to stop as to keep going, so I rushed ahead.

Before I made it to the alley, I questioned myself. I’d barged in on another hound attack recently, saved Loren by reducing an entire pack to ash. But that happened out of instinct, and I hadn’t been able to tap into that wild energy since.

Even when Evander cornered me on a street not far from here. I’d threatened to scream. Blow my rape whistle. Raise a ruckus. But that wasn’t enough to save anyone.

Skidding into the alley, I spotted the fence that obscured the conflict from view. If my wings would work, I could fly over it, then descend like an airstrike from Heaven and raze the bad guys to the ground.

I didn’t have wings, though. Or tears. Or any idea of what to do as a chorus of canine yelps echoed off the brick walls on either side of me, and a body crested the top of the fence.

A petite woman with long brown hair and a dagger in her hand was trying to claw her way over the weathered pickets. Black blood flecked her face and streaked her bare arms as they stretched across.

I raced forward and grabbed her hands, starting to pull at the same time Loren called out from behind me.

“Indy, don’t!”

The woman’s eyes went from me to him, panicked and pleading.

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