17
For the briefest moment, Daemi thought she was back in her nightmare—the wolf’s howl cutting through the crowd in Redmondis, the enormous four-legged body leaping over the heads of the nearest faces in the chaos and crashing into another knot of people, sending bodies sprawling across the field as Daemi turned toward it and it dropped its head in some sort of salute.
The glisten of drool dripping from its jaws, already stained pink with conquest, the golden gleam of its eyes as it stared at her and readied itself to spring.
Wake up!
Daemi sat up with a gasp, as though she had forgotten to breathe in her sleep, and looked up to see the black cat sitting on her legs, staring up at her. Another howl echoed from the courtyard below, and she sprang into action.
Moments later, she was ru
