Soul Guard (Elemental Book 5) by Rain Oxford Read Free Book Online

direction.”
     
    *          *          *
     
    After a few hours, I tried to get a little sleep, but
every time I was just about there, I would sense something close by. Because it
wasn’t something watching me and Henry didn’t seem to notice, I wasn’t terribly
worried. It was, however, a very uncomfortable feeling.
    When sunrise came and there was still no sign of
humans, I managed to fall asleep, only to start dreaming of zombies. Soon, the
same presence that had prevented me from napping became so strong and sinister
that it woke me. I finally just gave up trying to sleep.
     
    *          *          *
     
    At eight in the morning, Henry sat up straighter. “I
heard something,” he said.
    “Alright. Let’s do this.”
    Henry opened the door, got out, crouched between the
truck and another car, and began stripping. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use his
camouflage abilities in his person form, so he had to change into a jaguar
before he could become invisible, and he couldn’t do that dressed.
    Once he was invisible, I opened a link between us. I
could see through his eyes due to my mind control magic. It was still odd,
though; until I did finally call my familiar, I had a very strong suspicion
that Henry was my familiar. Several times, when I needed help, he sensed it.
Also, I saw through his mind once while he was imprisoned by the wizard council
and again when he was imprisoned by Gale, where I saw into his mind without
conscious effort. Darwin’s theory was that it was because I communicated with
them so much using my mind magic.
    I watched through his eyes, trying to be as
unobtrusive as possible. His jaguar seemed to appreciate that I convinced Henry
that he hadn’t killed his wife, yet the cat was still very reticent. I could
feel the cats mind pushing aside both mine and Henry’s. While I spent so much
time trying to control my magic, I never really considered that Henry was
trying just as hard to keep the jaguar under control. I knew it was always a
struggle for him, I just didn’t know how much. Fortunately for both my friend
and me, the cat was perfectly happy hunting down prey. Of course, he usually
hunted at night, but he was pleased enough to be out that he was willing
anyway.
    He tracked the slight sounds to three camo Jeeps. I
knew they must have gotten in through a break in the fencing around the coven
somewhere, but the jaguar didn’t care; he wanted to kill them. He didn’t care
who they were or why they were here, and he wasn’t hungry. He just wanted to do
it because he could.
    Henry’s mind tried to take some of the control back,
but the jaguar had too much pent-up energy. Each Jeep had two people in them
and the people were conversing using small communication devices on their ears.
    The jaguar wasn’t concerned with what they were
saying; he was more interested in finding the best angle for attack. He had
enough of a connection to Henry’s mind that he knew he didn’t want to go
through the glass and that the people would eventually open the door and get
out of the car.
    “ Find the one in charge ,” I said to the
jaguar. He growled, not liking that he could feel and hear me like he could
Henry.
    I was about to try to reach out for one of the
people’s minds when my awareness returned forcefully to myself. At first, I
thought it was because the jaguar had forced me out of his head, but then I saw
movement. A young woman was sneaking around the corner of the mansion. She was
athletically built, wearing black shorts and a matching tank-top, with her
chocolate-brown hair in a ponytail. She pulled a cell phone from her pocket,
ducked down behind a hedge, and checked it before cramming it back into her
pocket and standing.
    Because she was out in daylight, she couldn’t be a
vampire. That phone was high-end; not the disposable kind that a wizard or fae
might have. She’s probably a wolf shifter . Fortunately, she didn’t
change, or she would have