The Promise of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book 3 (Complete - Editing)

Chapter Fourteen - Luis

When I came to, I coughed up the dirty water that I'd swallowed when I hit the ground. After gagging over the taste of oil, rainwater, and sewage mixed together, I flopped over on my back and waited for the world to stop spinning. To say that I was astonished would be an understatement.

My arm had been shattered, but it was mending painfully. The bone shards clicked together, and each piece felt like a cut that was being reopened then sewn together. The torn muscle knitted and pulled, feeling like someone was pinching me from the inside.  I groaned as I pulled myself up by using one of the trash bins as leverage.

I took the jacket he'd left and threw it against the wall.  Then I struggled to keep from passing out again as my head injury healed. The aftertaste of sewage didn't help to prevent further nausea.

When ten minutes had passed, I was finally in good enough shape to stumble forward, then I took off at a run, reaching the end of the alley in a few seconds. It was the middle of the day in San Francisco, so at least there was that.

Not far was an overweight dog running as fast as he could with the terrible limp he had. It looked like it might have been a russet colored German shepherd, but the dog was too massive to really be sure. It might have been a wolf.

I grew suspicious of the dog and tried to sense if it had a link. When I tried to perceive it, I began to sneeze. 

"Thyme..." I snapped.   That was what Dom had sprinkled me with. Then I sneezed again. Phoukas had an allergy to Thyme, and it kept them from being able to use the fae's ability to perceive their prey. I could not see my own link, let alone Dom's.

"Very smart, Dom." I wondered who had told him about Thyme? 

Thyme is a key ingredient in pizza sauce, but Matt had always ordered our pizzas without it because of my allergy. Dom must have figured out why and had been keeping a jar on him.

I shifted to my dog form, then sneezed three times. My nose was too stuffed up to pick up a good scent, but the overweight dog had piqued my curiosity, so I went after it.

I tore up the distance between us with my large bounds and leaps, until the other canine realized I was after it and put on speed.

Oh, that was definitely Dom. How did he switch?

I would soon unravel that mystery if I could catch him. I was grateful he hadn't bound me. It had been over a week since I had shared the story of how Matt and I first met, but he must not have remembered. 

No.

He likely knew that if I was bound up, there was no guarantee he could keep me that way. All I would need to have happen is for him to thank me once, and he'd be Phouka chow.

Humans had the bad habit of saying that phrase often.

Dom careened around a corner, and a short time after, I rounded it. 

The dog had disappeared.

I growled and let out a stream of frustrated staccato barking until a pot was thrown at me. Fortunately, it missed. I yelped in surprise and looked up at an angry face staring down at me in a window.

"Shaddup, you stupid mutt!"

I bared all my teeth, and my eyes flashed red as I snarled up at him. Saliva dripped from my jaws. I lept onto the fire-escape and started to climb it, which was a clumsy endeavor without my thumbs. It was enough to scare the face, however, because the window slammed shut.

I growled again, then continued down the street. 

A net flew at me from a darkened doorway and fell over my body. Every ounce of my strength fled, and I knew that I was trapped in my canine form. I tried to shift several times, but the net prevented me.