Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
It didn’t always work out.
Imani remembered one particular wolf dog who had been rescued from a kill shelter. He had started out as a sweet puppy, the previous owner had claimed, but as he grew he became a menace. A huge, savage, untrainable animal that snapped at everyone and everything and growled menacingly whenever anyone approached him. Yet somehow Kara’s father had managed to quiet him in just a few minutes.
Imani had been watching from a safe distance when he did it and afterwards she’d asked how in the world he had managed to get the savage wolfdog to calm down.
“It’s all in your energy,” Kara’s father had replied obliquely. “Animals don’t react well to unstable energy. You have to be calm and have faith in yourself—absolute confidence. And the animal has to feel that you want what’s good for him—that you’re not just another asshole out to hurt him. He had to feel that you’re a good guy.”
That’s me, Imari thought. I’m the good guy in this situation. I’m here to help. I just have to trust that I can make him understand that.
Still, she would be taking an awful risk. Even though J’are hadn’t killed his Mistress, he had killed five other inmates in the Yonnite jail—so he was no stranger to violence. He might rip out her throat the minute she got near him. Then they would both be dead.
But it was a chance she would have to take
“Well, Councilor?” Judge Thoughtgood said, frowning. “I’m waiting. Can you demonstrate this savage beast is fit to take into public or not?”
Imani stilled the panicky little voice in the back of her head shouting that she needed to run away as fast as possible and never come back.
I just have to show no fear and have confidence in myself, she told herself firmly.
Taking a deep breath, she began to walk towards the snarling Nightwalker, who was still crouched low on the floor, looking at her distrustfully. Remembering that the best way to introduce yourself to a new dog was to let them smell you, she put out a hand.
“All right now,” she said softly but firmly. “All right now, boy—come on. It’s okay. It’s o—”
But the words died in her throat when he suddenly shot up to his full height of almost seven feet. Looming over her, he bared his teeth and snarled—a low, menacing sound whose meaning couldn’t be clearer:
Back off or you die!
Imani caught her breath and put the hand she’d offered him to her pounding heart. He had fangs, she saw—but not like a Blood Kindred, who only had fangs in the upper jaw. No, J’are had fangs in both his upper and lower jaws.
Teeth like a wolf, she thought. Or maybe like a panther.
No wonder the Yonnites had assumed he had ripped his Mistress’s head off—he was certainly equipped to do it.
Standing there in her bra and panties with an angry killer Kindred looming over her, Imani wanted desperately to run away.
He was wearing a harness, she saw—thick leather straps which held his arms close to his body and manacled his hands in front of him. That and the pain collar around his neck with the chains linked to it were keeping him in place. He couldn’t get to her if she just took a few steps back.
But I can’t do that—can’t back off, she thought desperately. If I do, they’ll kill him! I can’t let that happen. Oh please—I need to get through to him somehow!
Suddenly she felt a warm presence all around her and a powerful feminine voice whispered in her ear, “Courage, daughter.”
Imani took a deep breath. Could that be the Kindred Goddess? Her mentor had told her before she left the Mother Ship that the female deity was real and sometimes stepped in to help her children in times of need or danger. Was she with Imani now, watching over this situation?
If you are watching, Goddess, I need you now! Imani thought as she looked up at the snarling, feral Kindred. With that shiny black stuff—whatever it was—all over his skin and those pale green eyes gleaming at her, he looked like something out of a nightmare. She had to find a way to tame him! Or at least calm him down and bring him back to himself.
I’ve been treating him like a cornered dog, Imani thought. But he’s not a dog or a wolf—somewhere inside, he’s still a man. Well, a Kindred anyway. I have to find that part of him and bring it forward.
So she took another step towards him and did what she knew you’re not supposed to do when confronted by a snarling dog. She looked the big Kindred directly in his pale green eyes—the same eyes she’d seen in her dreams.
“J’are,” she said softly but firmly. “J’are, come back to me—come back to yourself. I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to help.”