Elfmoon by Leila Bryce Sin Read Free Book Online Page B

through me. I heard Daniel yell incoherently behind me and his body suddenly spasmed and he was coming inside of me. The magic swelled inside of me, drinking from our combined pleasure, pulling from where our bodies were wedded together. My body arched against him, pressing into his fingers, savoring every last euphoric wave until the magic found a home inside of me, filling me as well as Daniel had.
    When I opened my eyes, the darkened street seemed as bright as day; the buildings were thrown into crystal clear relief. The sounds that were so far off before seemed like they were only feet away from us now. I could even hear the thudding beat of Daniel’s heart. My head was clear again and I felt as strong as ever. Daniel pulled out of me with a moan of regret that brought a smile to my face. I knew exactly how he felt; I would’ve much preferred that this little interlude could’ve been the start of a long, sweaty evening culminating in our exhausted bodies collapsing in a tangled heap on my bed. But no, I had to find Roxy, make sure she was safe and unharmed. The coiling fingers of guilt were already beginning to creep back into my mind, so I couldn’t tarry any longer.
    “Feeling better, luv?” Daniel asked as we were putting our clothing back in order.
    “Yes, much,” I said, tugging my skirt down over my hips and tossing my hair back over my shoulder. “But now I really do have to look for Roxy.”
    “Yeah,” he chuckled, “so you said.”
    We started on our way again, following the direction of the loudest sirens and howls. I wasn’t entirely wrong about the noises sounding closer than they had a little while ago; the commotion of police and beasts seemed to be circling back towards the direction of the park. When Daniel and I came around a corner about three blocks away from the bus stop, we saw a barricade of police cars blocking the road. The pendant around my neck began to pulse again, and I could see it giving off a bright light just under my face. Numerous officers knelt behind their cars, weapons drawn and aimed down the road. It might’ve been hard for a human to see past the swirling blue and red lights and the smoke from the gas cans, but, with my renewed power, I could see clearly.
    Bodies lay in growing puddles of blood on the pavement, but not a one of them was a beast. Each body was mangled in some way, so I assumed they were victims of the beasts. The police were firing on the beasts, but their bullets were doing no damage whatsoever. Daniel and I stood back, not wanting to sneak up on any of the officers and startle them. Eventually one glanced our way and I waved a hand at him to get his attention.
    “You really need to go home and stay out of the way,” the officer said, walking towards us with his hands braced on his tool belt.
    “No, officer,” I said, picking my hands up to show him we were a couple of harmless, unarmed people. “I know how to stop the moon-stricken.”
    “And how could you know that?” he asked, one eyebrow arching under the brim of his cap.
    “Pure luck,” I said with a shrug.
    “How’s that?”
    “We were still in the park when everyone fled,” I began explaining. “A pack of beasts came back and tried to tear apart the bonfire.”
    “And?”
    “Well, it seemed strange to me,” I said. “So I figured they didn’t want it lit. So,” I shrugged, “I lit it.” I explained what happened to the moon-stricken once the smoke washed over them. His face paled visibly when I told him they turned back into humans and didn’t survive the cleansing. He stood there and questioned us for a while, another officer joined him eventually and when I thought my head was going to explode, they started questioning us all over again. It wasn’t until they all agreed that bullets weren’t working on the beasts that they would even consider trying to herd the beasts back to the park. The officers ran back to the barricade, shouting to the other police. There was a