Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada) by Alicia Michaels Read Free Book Online

deep, throaty barks that escaped his throat. Freckles was going ballistic by now, mewling and hissing as she barred her tiny, pointed teeth at the wolf. Selena swallowed the vomit that rose up in her throat and tried to breathe. It was hard with Rose and Zoe screaming like banshees behind her.
    In an instant, the door was torn from its hinges, broken in half by Titus’ bulky body. He stood framed by the doorway, his fur standing on end in jagged, fury spikes. Selena squeezed her eyes shut as Zoe’s fingernails dug into her arm.
    “Oh shit, we’re going to die!” she screamed as she held on to Selena for dear life.
    Selena couldn’t have said it better herself.
    There was nowhere to run in the small living room exce p t the kitchen , and even there they’d be cornered. Selena gritted her teeth and braced herself for the inevitable. She was going to die and all before she ever learned anything about where she really came from. She braced herself for the pain, praying that Titus wou ld make it quick and leave her g randmother and friend alone.
    A splintering sound startled her and the house rumbled and shook forcibly. Selena fell to the floor, her grandmother and Zoe landing in a heap on top of her as chunks of roof fell in on them. Selena covered her head, unable to stop the screams that tore from her lips as the house seemed to fall down around them. She curled into a tight ball, sure that she was either going to be crushed by the roof or eaten alive by Titus.
    Another jumb le of sounds assaulted her ears and Selena snapped to attention at the sound of a thud and a canine yelp.
    Then, silence.
    Was this what death sounded like?
    “Uh , Selena,” Zoe’s shaking voice called , telling Selena that she wasn’t quite dead yet . She tapped Selena on the shoulder. “You need to see this.”
    Two old men stood in the middle of the living room, gazing about them curiously before their eyes landed on Selena. She looked down at the wolf’s motionless body, laid out across the carpet on its side. Other than the rapid heaving of its chest, it … he? ... was completely still. She glanced back up at the two men and her eyes widened at the gleaming silver gun still smoking in the hand of one of them.
    They were the strangest men she’d ever seen, dressed from head to toe in shades of brown and off-white: buttoned shirts, suspenders, vests, trousers , and boots. Each of them wore a pair of strange goggles , and one of them—the one not carrying a gun—wore a floppy brown hat. The one with the gun had scraggly white hair down to his shoulders. Both had bushy gray eyebrows and the hatless man had the rough stubble of a five o’clock shadow gleaming silver across his jaw.
    “What the heck did you just do?” Selena screeched.
    “Put a hole in our roof, for one,” Rose said with a scowl in the strangers’ direction as both men lifted their goggles from their eyes . Selena followed the direction of Rose ’s gaze and gasped, not at the hole in the roof, but at what hovered just above it. Several feet above their house was what appeared to be a floating ship. It cast a shadow over the little home and darkened the living room considerably. It appeared incredibly bulky, yet hovered over them as if it weighed no more than a cloud.
    “Hope you guys have ship insurance,” Zoe said, yet there was not an ounce of humor in her voice. She was eyeing the ship, Titus, the two old men, each one at a time and over and over again as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.
    “It’s her,” said the man holding the gun , pointing at Zoe with his free hand . “It must be.”
    He was walking toward Zoe while shoving his gun down into a brown leather holster at his right side. Zoe took a step back as he approached, inhaling swiftly.
    “Selena, what’s going on?” she whispered as the old man approached, eyeing her closely.
    “I don’t know,” Selena said, her eyes still on Titus’ lifeless form. Worry filled her and frustration gnawed on