Bloodfire (Blood Destiny) Read Online Free Page A

that’s where I’d find John so south it was.   I kept my mental fingers crossed that I
was just over-reacting but made sure that I stayed fully alert and engaged
anyway, and that my daggers were easily accessible and wouldn’t snag on my
clothing when I needed them most.
    One of the inexplicable skills that I had,
and could boast about to, er, no-one , were a few
parlour mind tricks. I could hear and respond to the alpha’s Voice in the same
way that a real shifter could, which admittedly might just be a side-effect of
living with the pack for most of my life, much in the same way that women’s
periods aligned themselves if they lived together in close quarters for a long
period of time.   It was just too bad
the Voice didn’t work both ways, in my case or in the shifters’ cases.   Unfortunately only alphas could initiate mind to mind conversation and although I shouldn’t by
rights be able to hear him because I wasn’t a shifter, the rules for me were
the same.   I
couldn’t contact him , he could only contact me .
    But I also did have superior tracking
skills – for a human at least – and was often able to sense when I
wasn’t alone.   At this particular
point in time it was all I could use because, without the shifters’ superior
sense of smell, I had little else to rely upon to find John as quickly as I
could.   I was pretty sure at the
moment that there was nothing out there hiding in the darkness and shadows
though.
    Carefully checking the enveloping darkness
around me as I went, I jogged steadily down through the worn forest path.   I heard other shifters call out to each
other in their animal voices from some way behind me.   So far, nothing.   The overhanging branches of a nearby
tree caught my hair and pulled at it, catching some of the strands and yanking
my head back.   I cursed and stopped
briefly to untangle myself when my gaze caught something gleaming on the leaf-strewn
ground.   I bent down to take a
closer look before using the cuff of my jacket to scoop it up.   It fell into my palm and heat started to
rise in the pit of my belly.   A wichtlein stone.   Was this the one John had found earlier or was this one destined for
me?   I rolled it into my hand.   It felt the same as the one from earlier
but I had no way of knowing whether that was usual or whether it really was the
same.   I was about to bring it up to
my ear to test it for the chiming sound when I realised it felt unpleasantly
damp. I picked up it up gingerly between my thumb and forefinger and brought it
closer.   It looked like blood.   I sniffed cautiously, then reached into
my backpack without taking it off my shoulder and rummaged through its contents
blindly.   I kept my eyes trained on
the stone.  
    My hand finally found what I was looking
for when it curved round a cold metal canister.   It never to hurt to
come fully prepared.   I pulled
out the hydrogen peroxide, twisting it so the nozzle faced the stone, and sprayed
a tiny portion onto the black surface.   As soon as the chemical hit the shiny surface it began to foam.   It was definitely blood.   The curling heat inside me rose higher
and my insides felt as if they were starting to burn.   The feeling of panic matched the
bloodfire but I did my best to push them both back down.   Neither would help me right now.   I put the stone carefully into a side
pouch where it wouldn’t get lost.
    The moon continued to shine steadily down,
casting shadows amongst the heavy trees.   I could hear the distant hooting of a night owl out searching for prey
and the skitter of a small animal somewhere
nearby.   I ignored them all and
concentrated on the signs I could see at my feet.   There was something else there.   Reaching into my pack again, I found my
torch, and clicked it on to look closer.
    He had been this way.   John was light on his feet and left
little trace of his presence but I knew him well and knew this area.   He’d disturbed the bush