Read Online Changing Fate [Fate series] by Elisabeth Waters - Free Book Online

one of the humans who had an irrational fear of wolves.
    He was certainly afraid of something; his eyes were wide with terror. But they were looking beyond her, and there was an incredibly loud flapping of wings. Akila pulled her head back as a set of impossibly large talons dropped almost between her ears, landed at full extension on the man's face, and pulled in to gripping position. Blood from what was no longer a face splashed her as she rolled clear. She had a quick look at an ‘bird’ stranger than anything she had ever been—almost all wing, with an incredibly small body and large talons, obviously designed for maximum speed and striking power. She had no need to wonder who flew in that form. He must have his brain in his wings , the thought flashed through her mind; there's no room for it in the body.
    But the form was shifting, and the smell of the new form raised her hackles. It was a cat, a very large cat, with claws even sharper than the bird's talons—and now, of course, it had teeth as well. And it was much bigger than she was. She had no hope of beating this in wolf-form; she wasn't even sure she could outrun it. And she wasn't going to run, not with her brother still struggling with the second soldier.
    She moved between the cat and the struggle, and growled through bared teeth. Come now! said the rational part of her brain, you can't possibly think this will frighten Lord Ranulf! But she couldn't think of anything constructive to do, and this was what her wolf instincts were providing in the way of behavior.
    The cat, however, was still dealing with the man he had landed on. Its claws laid open the soldier's upper leg—including the major blood vessels, judging by the great spurt of blood and the speed with which the body went limp.
    Behind her, Briam killed the other man, rolled free of the body, and launched himself at the cat. He was promptly knocked flying by a great paw, but the claws were carefully retracted.
    Akila scrambled to stand guard, snarling menacingly, over Briam, but the cat made no threatening moves. He stretched out spine and paws, fastidiously licked the blood off his front claws, and then turned his back on them and scrambled up the largest of the surrounding trees. The branches near the top thrashed violently, and Akila saw a bird shape take wing—and this shape was nearly all wing, without the large talons of the earlier version. It headed back in the direction of the castle, and Akila heard herself start howling.
    It was all too much. She'd lost her home, den, pack, family (except from Briam, who was more a cub to be protected than an equal to be depended upon); she was so alone, and so tired, and so miserable ... and here she sat in the middle of a bunch of dead animals that weren't even any good to eat!
    "Akila!” Briam grabbed her and shook her hard. “Change back! Be human!” He sounded scared, and no doubt he was.
    Akila changed to human form, her howls changing to sobbing hysterical tears. It was not an improvement. She was making just as much noise, and she was cold and bloody and there was an awful taste in her mouth where she'd bitten the soldier's hand. She went on crying, sure that she would never stop. Briam wrapped his cloak around her and held her close, but she was still crying when she fell asleep.
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CHAPTER FIVE
    Naturally, she had nightmares. After a day like that, anyone would have nightmares. The Earth Mother was calling to her to return home to the temple, to take her place at the altar, and the Lady of Fire was shooting lightning bolts all around her. She was slipping from one strange shape to another, becoming strange mixtures of all the animals she had even seen, as well as a good many she had never seen and never wanted to see. And instead of the usual mental blurring as she shifted from one shape to the next, her mind was staying in focus as her body melted from one shape to another. She shuddered at the sight of her limbs