Read Online Black Dog by Caitlin Kittredge - Free Book Online

on a power line.
    I dropped to the ground, limbs twitching. My tongue contorted itself toward the back of my throat, but I scrabbled for purchase on the floor. If I was human, I’d already be dead, so that was something.
    There was a lot of yelling, a lot of hounds snarling, but I’d stopped paying attention. I ran, shoving Wilson onto his bad leg so that he toppled and crashed into the motel desk. Marty got out of my way with a yelp, his eyes the size of quarters. Covered in blood and beat to shit, I probably looked a lot more dangerous than Gary, on the surface.
    Temperatures had soared while I’d been inside, desert sun beating into the asphalt and sending waves of thick heat floating over my skin.
    I skidded toward the black car across the lot. Getting the fuck out of there was my only priority.
    For a second, I thought I’d actually made it. Then I slammed into a body solid as a concrete wall, and death stench filled up my nose.
    I hit the pavement and saw a deadhead looking down at me like I was a five-­dollar buffet at the Golden Nugget.
    Not just one. Shadows crowded around me. It was like a deadhead convention out here. Behind me, Wilson and the other hounds snarled, forming a protective circle around the door of the motel office.
    I could have told them they didn’t need to worry—­I was two feet away from the nearest zombie, covered in my own blood. I might as well have poured steak sauce over my head.
    â€œAva!” A hand yanked me backward as the deadhead lunged. Leo pulled me up and shoved me behind him. He had a gun in his other hand. I could have told him that this only works in movies, but I wasn’t real invested in keeping him alive.
    â€œYou shithead!” I screamed, pushing him hard. He stumbled, almost going down.
    â€œWhat did I do!” he shouted. “I’m trying to help!”
    I pushed my claws out, which hurts like fuck when you’re on two legs but can be handy when you’re outnumbered and don’t have a weapon. “I know you tipped off Gary!” I snarled. “Get the hell away from me before I give those deadheads sushi to munch on.”
    â€œAre you brain damaged?” Leo demanded. “Why the fuck would I let a reaper know what I was planning?”
    â€œShould I care?” I shot back. “I see you even brought some company to clean up the evidence once I was dead!”
    â€œAva.” Leo shoved the gun into his waistband and came toward me, grabbing my arms with a grip that surprised me, coming from a human. I growled, the growl that wasn’t fucking around, from the lowest, meanest part of my hound side. He didn’t let go, and he was squeezing my cut arm, but after a few seconds of pain his touch got me to relax.
    â€œYou’re an asshole,” I mumbled.
    â€œI also didn’t turn on you,” he said. “Look. Are any of these deadheads interested in you?”
    I looked, blinking sweat and old mascara out of my eyes, and saw that the deadheads were only interested in one thing—­my fellow hounds. Two of the deadheads lay on the pavement ripped apart, and a hound had his arm nearly separated at the shoulder.
    â€œIt doesn’t make any sense,” Leo said. “You and I had a deal. Why would I convince you to help me only to turn around and get you shredded by a reaper?” He pointed behind me, and I saw some more guys in black suits and heavy ink standing by a ­couple of black SUVs. They all had small machine guns dangling from their hands the way rich women carry designer purses.
    â€œI called my father,” Leo said. “I knew things were fucked when the reaper was already here, so I called him and told him to bring the boys out for a snack, all right? That’s all that’s happening here. I swear.”
    Now that I wasn’t being slammed repeatedly into hard surfaces, that did make a lot more sense. “You guys put your blood feud on hold to