Bloodfire (Blood Destiny) Read Online Free Page B

Bloodfire (Blood Destiny)
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to my right, brushing
past it as he ran.   And judging by
the distance between his steps, he’d been running fast, as if something had
been after him.   I frowned and arced
the torch over the area, first close by then further
along the path.   There was something
up ahead.   Stepping forward, I tried
separately to sense what it might be, but I was no shifter and came up short.   Fuck.   Where had he gone?
    I pushed on the hydrogen peroxide nozzle
again and began to spray liberally on the ground in front of me, hoping it
wouldn’t work. All I could smell was the damp, musk night air, with the deep
smell of the earth rising up.   I
peered down squinting and holding my breath.   The peroxide foamed in a few spots.   More blood.   It didn’t mean it was John’s though, it could belong to any kind of wild animal.   It might even be days old.   Despite these thoughts, the
ever–present fire inside of me began to heat up even more and I could
feel the flames licking up the sides of my stomach.
    Mackenzie?
    I almost jumped for joy before realising
that something was different.
    Was that…?   Julia?
    Yes.
It’s me.   Defeat laced her words.
    I felt my legs buckle under me.   Only alphas could use the Voice to
communicate and if Julia had found hers that meant that John’s was gone.   That John was gone.   I gulped in air and felt the pain
blossom through me.   From the other
side of the forest, a keening howl and followed by caterwauling began.   They were swiftly
joined by others as the pack hunters came together in sudden horrifying grief.   I couldn’t breathe and fell forward onto
my hands, barely registering the damp moss beneath my palms.   One huge sucking sob sprang from my
mouth.   It couldn’t be true, it just
couldn’t.
    No.
    I forced myself up.   The bloodfire wouldn’t allow this.   He might still be okay.
    I pushed forward with the torch in front
of me like a ward, spraying as I went, moving faster and trying to ignore the
hard knot of tears forming inside my chest.   The foaming was getting heavier and the
tracks were becoming clearer.   It
was definitely John’s trail; I was beginning to recognize the heavy gait that
slightly favoured his left knee.   But if he was bleeding and in danger, why hadn’t he shifted?   Then he could have
fought , he could have regenerated …
    Until I saw it for my own eyes, I wasn’t
going to believe he was dead.  
    A cobweb brushed my cheek but I didn’t
even bother to lift my hand to shake it off.   The trail was leading down towards the
beach and away from the keep.   Whatever had been chasing him, if anything had been chasing him, this
creature that left no trail, he’d made sure that we were not going to be
targeted by it too.   He was a
weretiger though.   He was powerful
enough to beat off almost any of the otherworld creatures that ever made it
through to Cornwall.   It didn’t make
sense.   I gritted my teeth and kept
going, up over the final rise that led to the dunes.  
    And that was when I finally smelled the
iron rich stain of blood myself.   It
had to be in a large enough quantity for my weak human nose to pick it up.    I took another step and saw
him.   Or rather what was left of
him.
    His hat lay in a pool of blood that
glistened darkly and wetly in the gloom.   What I first thought were creepers reaching out from his belly I
sickeningly realized were his intestines trailing away from him for what seemed
an impossible distance.   John’s
usually bright eyes were open, glassy and staring.   A milky caul had already begun to form
over his pupils.   His mouth was open
wide, and for one horrible moment I thought that he was laughing at me.   It wasn’t a laugh though.   It was a scream.
    I collapsed then and there, unable to
move.   The torch, and hydrogen peroxide   canister dropped from my hands.   I felt
rather than heard something come up behind me and shove me roughly out of the
way.   I barely

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