Page 112 of Hunted By Her Demon Wolves

“I don’t know. I’m hungry.” I grasped my stomach right as it growled like a ravenous bear. “I can’t heal him without nourishment.”

He snorted.Eat your rodent.

“He’s not a rodent.” Scowling, I placed a protective hand across my satchel, petting the little lump inside. “He’s my familiar and my family.” I gave him what I hoped was an intimidating look. “Nobody’s eating him.”

As if he understood what we were discussing, Demon stomped in response, the angry sound muted inside the fabric of my sack.

Fine.He clutched the stag in his paws, ripping off his leg with a tug of his teeth.Here.

“No!” I jumped up, too late as he threw the leg at my feet. I clutched my stomach, wanting to gag as I gaped at that burned piece of flesh. I mouthed an apology to the soft white light hovering at the edge of the forest, the stag spirit as he looked at me with sad eyes. “I’m not eating that.” As a green witch, I could see spirits of animals when they left their bodies, making it hard for me to eat any sort of meat, save for fish, the only spirts I couldn’t see, whether it was because they were too primitive or else their spirits sunk to the watery abyss.

Why not?The dragon’s heavy jowls turned a frown.It’s fresh kill.

I wasn’t about to go into detail with the dragon about my visions. Though I didn’t know him well, I suspected he was the type to kill a dozen more creatures just to torment me. “I’m a pescatarian.”

He flashed what was either a fanged grin or a scowl.You can’t be serious.

“What else do you expect from a green witch?” I threw up my hands, frustrated with this judgmental drake and with my life in general. “You’re lucky I eatanysort of meat.”

He arched a scaled brow.Oh, I’m lucky?

“Do you want me to heal your rider or not?”

His growl reverberated the earth beneath me, rattling my bones.Do you see any oceans near here?

I jutted a finger toward the forest. “I can hear running water.” How the hell had I ended up here with this cranky dragon when just yesterday I had a warm bed by the fire and a full belly, thinking I was safe and loved in my father’s care?

He let out another rumble, smoke pouring from his nostrils.You have tested my last thread of patience, witch.

I wanted to answer back with something equally acerbic, but I thought better of it. I’d pissed off this dragon enough in one day. Even I knew better than to keep goading him.

I will hunt for your fish, but when I return, you will heal him.

I glared at the beast. “I already said I would.” I might have been without family or a coin to my name, but one thing I did have was my word.

When he leapt into the sky with a roar, flying toward the direction of the running water, I smiled at my small victory.

I winced when my patient let out a moan of pain, the strong rattle in his chest reminding me that I still had a lot of work to do, a task I knew I couldn’t fail, lest I end up with the same fate as that stag.

* * *

IJUMPED BACK, TAKINGmy thumping satchel with me when the dragon dumped a mouthful of water and one flopping fish on the ground in front of me. I swore when I couldn’t dodge the water fast enough and it soaked my thin soles and muddied the dirt beneath me.

Eat. Then heal him.

I frowned at the fish as its sides heaved while it gasped for air. “I’m not eating raw fish.”

The dragon’s top lip pulled back in a snarl before he tossed back his head, fire racing up the long column of his throat. With a roar, he lit the dwindling fire beside me, its dying embers sparking back to life. The heat from his breath warmed my feet and dried the wet ground. I went to work preparing my meal, first by selecting two large rocks and placing them on either side of the pit, then by finding a sturdy enough stick to suspend over the fire. By the time I cleaned the stick, the fish was dead, its lifeless eyes staring up at the awakening sky above painted in swaths of pink and yellow. I gutted it and jammed the stick through the fish’s gaping mouth and the end of its spine. Then I hung the stick between the two rocks, the fire having died down enough that it wouldn’t scorch the scales.

I cringed when my patient moaned again. The dragon bent down, sniffing his burned rider like a mother hen checking her eggs.

I pulled my satchel into my lap, reaching deep inside to stroke Demon’s head while warily eyeing the dragon. The beast sat back on his haunches, frowning down at his rider. I recalled that flaming ball of fire from last night that had looked like a comet arching across the sky. The dragon looked unharmed, no doubt because of his thick scales and the fact that he breathed fire. His body was meant to withstand the flames, but his rider...

“You still never told me who did this,” I said to him.

None of your concern. Eat, so you can heal my rider.

I waved to the fish hanging over the fire. “It’s still raw.”

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