Elemental Reverse Harem Quartet (part 1: Earth)

Chapter 1

Nothing like a hound dog in London

Malka Selby

Globules of saliva dripped from menacing canine teeth. The enormous black dogs looked hungry, violent, and much too close for comfort. Heaven knows how I didn't see them approaching before they came within five feet.

When I noticed them, it was too late. The dog duo rushed forward, tugging at the ends of their very long leashes, and their warm breaths smelled of raw meat, death, and decay.

I only had an instant to register my distaste before a sudden gust of wind knocked me off balance. It forced me to step back, to steady myself. The same blast of air brought the dogs to a temporary halt as if a solid but invisible wall forced its way between us. As a bonus, it blew the stench of their poor oral hygiene in another direction.

The reprieve lasted only a moment before the dogs lunged. It all happened so fast that I didn't see the dogs' owner.

My life flashed in front of my eyes, but I never discovered how it ended.

A man stepped between the slathering hounds and me, and not a moment too soon. His rapid hand movements blurred in front of him while I froze, helpless with terror.

The creatures slowly slinked backward. They appeared as stunned as I was, and that was when I saw each of them had their massive, powerful jaws wrapped around what you might call a stick. It appeared more like two giant dogs the size of horses chewing on baby tree trunks.

The man whose intervention had cut short my terrifying ordeal altered the course of my first twenty-four hours in London.

"Are you all right?" When he turned to face me, he looked about my age, early twenties. I expected heroes to be older. Like his clothes and his tightly curled hair, his eyes were almost completely black, a mostly dilated pupil surrounded by a slither of the darkest brown I'd ever seen.

"I'm fine," I lied; I was shaken. "No harm done to me, but what about you? What were you thinking? Did you see the size of those teeth? They might have eaten you whole." I talk a lot when I'm shaken. "They weren't normal. Do you usually step into danger like that? And why were you carrying those logs?"

As if I was a wild animal in need of soothing, he raised his hand, palm towards me. "I saw the dogs from some distance away and noticed that you hadn't seen them. I simply picked up the first things I saw lying on the street to use for defense." His hands swept the space in front of him as he answered calmly. He didn't appear shaken at all. Anyone would think battling rabid dogs was all part of an ordinary night out in London.

"Thank you." Glancing over his shoulder, I expected to see the dogs and their owners, but they'd vanished, possibly taking a turn down a side street.

A second figure appeared alongside my savior, but I paid him no attention until he asked, "Do you need any help?"

Still trembling with fear and shock, I shook my head. "No, thanks. I'm fine." Not fine at all.

"We can escort you to the station or stay with you if you're waiting for a lift, if you want." Apparently, these two men were together. "Don't worry; we'll make sure you don't see those hell hounds again."

Hell hounds? Is that the official name of the breed?

A fitting name. I'd never seen anything like them.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," I repeated like the part of my brain that controlled speech was stuck in one groove. There were no dogs within sight, so I readjusted my eyes to focus on the gallant men.