A Tale Of The Nine Tailed Novels & Stories

"Your father was particularly impressive. For a human, anyway." Rage flooded through Yuna, hot and blinding. "You're lying." "Am I? Your mother had nine tails, just like you. White as snow. She took down twelve hunters before they finally brought her down with silver nets. And your father, brave fool that he was, threw himself between her and the killing blow. Didn't save her, of course. Just got himself killed too." Yuna's legs went weak. Noah caught her, his arm around her waist.

My wolf curled her lip and snarled, the sound low and threatening. Talim's hand tightened in my fur. "Easy. They can't touch us now." But the effort of the shift caught up with me all at once. The power drained away and the change reversed almost as quickly as it had come. I collapsed forward, human again, exhausted and trembling. Darkness rushed in before I hit the floor. When I opened my eyes later the room was quiet. A fire crackled in the small hearth and Talim sat on the edge of the bed watching me. He had pulled on nothing but his trousers, and the scratches down his back had already started to scab over.

They pinned me down, one on each side, and continued pouring water over me. But this time, it wasn't just ice water. It was a foul-smelling, muddy mixture of "mineral mud". Bucket after bucket was poured on me, and I gradually struggled to breathe. My lungs felt like they were being sliced by dull blades, causing waves of nausea to wash over me. After ten buckets, I was close to suffocating. That was when the bodyguards threw me to the ground like a rag doll. I forced myself to crawl back to the villa, then collapsed by the toilet in the bathroom and retched violently. But because I hadn't eaten much, I could only bring up bile and blood in the end.