Renee Silvana - Hounds of Annwyn 01 - Waking the Dead.pdf

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Evernight Publishing
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2011 Renee Silvana
ISBN:
978-1-927368-12-1
Cover Artist: LF Designs
Editor: Kimberly Bowman
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
To all the family, friends and critique partners who helped
me find my voice. Without your encouragement, this would
still seem an unattainable dream.
WAKING THE DEAD
The Hounds of Annwyn, 1
Renee Silvana
Copyright © 2011
Chapter One
A hound bayed in the distance.
Adrian’s ears pricked toward the sound, listening
beyond the familiar chorus of the forest. Nearby, a door mouse
scampered in the underbrush. A few yards from where he
stood, he spied a horned owl perched on the bottom rung of a
maple tree. She rustled her feathers, prepared to swoop in as
soon as the rodent made the fatal error of slipping out into the
open.
A gentle breeze ruffled through Adrian’s fur. He
reveled in the sensation, feeling most at home in this
environment. The cool dampness of the early autumn twilight
aided the listening hunter. The dense night air amplified the
sounds of scurrying, scratching, breathing, lapping, crawling,
and slithering, all so subtle during the daylight hours.
The moon hung bright and low on the horizon, its full
face peeking through the trees, providing just enough light so
Adrian could adjust his eyes. It streamed through the trees in
gentle cylinders illuminating the forest floor, making him feel
warm and at home in his wild surroundings.
Adrian lifted his nose to the black velvet sky, willing
the wind to bring a scent in his direction. His efforts were
unrewarded, and he uttered a low growl in frustration.
The task of capturing necromancers who had crossed
the line, witches who summoned demons, wasn’t an easy one.
It was Adrian’s duty as Alpha to bring the witch to justice.
In his own hellhound shape, Adrian’s thoughts formed
mostly as images that, as a human, he might go so far as to
call emotion. The picture flashing behind his lupine eyes, the
lithe shape of a shadowed human just beyond his reach,
echoed frustration and discontent. His jaw clenched. The scent
he’d picked up earlier had been distinctly female and
dangerously familiar, the delicious combination of
sandalwood and cinnamon mixed in with the toxic sulfuric
stench of a demon conjuration in progress.
The image formed in his mind. Dark brown curls
framing a heart-shaped face, wide hazel eyes and full lips that
begged to be consumed. But the most devastating feature was
the way her waist pinched above her feminine, curvy hips,
perfectly fitted to his own hands. He recognized her.
Damn it, Miriam!
An hour earlier, Adrian had lost contact with Jacob
Drake, the young hellhound who had insisted he be a part of
this mission. Adrian knew his nephew was too inexperienced,
but the pup had his genetic stubbornness and didn’t take no for
an answer. Though Adrian preferred to work alone and keep
his pack out of danger, he knew there was a very real
possibility Jacob might someday take his place at the helm,
and the longer Jacob ran as a working hellhound, the better
leader he’d become.
As the alpha of his pack, Adrian shared a direct mental
connection to any hound in the group, but Jacob had been
unresponsive. Adrian had met with a psychic wall when he’d
reached out to Jacob’s mind, meaning that he was either asleep
or under a spell. And there was only one reason that a witch
would want to put a hellhound under a spell.
Adrian swallowed hard, as if he could numb the guilt
that roiled in his stomach. The last thing he wanted to do
tonight was to explain to Ashley how he had failed to protect
her twin brother.
Suddenly, Adrian became aware that a heavy silence
had settled over the forest. His sharp eyes picked out the wide,

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