Desert Rising (31 page)

Authors: Kelley Grant

BOOK: Desert Rising

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T
HE GREAT
FELI
limped across the desert in the dark of the cooling night, the sand still hot against the pads of his feet. For months, he had lain in a great cavern, hurting, as wild
feli
dropped game at his side, driven by an instinct they didn't understand.

Now he was strong enough to limp slowly through the desert, from den to den. He stopped and rested in the heat of the day, and was fed by the wild
feli
. At night, he took his walk, step by step, guided by an instinct and a bond.

He reached the oasis two months after setting out, his long, lean sides heaving as he panted. She was there, somewhere among the long, low houses and tents and the many Âpeople who slept. It was confusing after having been away from humans so long.

He felt a tug, a pull from their bond, and padded down the hill, using instinct to guide him. Finally, he caught her scent and followed it, just as the sun started to break over the dunes.

He nosed through a curtain covering the doorway of a large
jetal
and paced through the kitchen, ignoring the human woman he startled in his hunt for his paired.

Her scent was stronger here, and he pushed aside another curtain. There she was, lying on a small cot.

She sat up sleepily at his movement. “Kadar?” she whispered. Then she saw him, and their bond lighted up with pleasure. “Djinn,” she said. He climbed onto the bed, stretching out beside a form as bony and thin as his own. There was barely enough room for both of them, but that did not matter as she scratched him under the chin and behind the ears, and he settled his head on her chest with a sigh of contentment. After so many months, he was where he was supposed to be. His purr filled the room, chasing out the last shadows of night into the bright dawn.

About the Author

KELLEY GRANT
grew up in the hills of Ohio's Amish country. Her best friends were the books she read, stories she created and the forest and fields that inspired her. She and her husband live on a wooded hilltop and are owned by five cats, a dog, and numerous uninvited critters. Besides writing, Kelley teaches yoga and meditation, sings kirtan with her husband, and designs brochures and media.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DESERT RISING
. Copyright Â© 2015 by Kelley Grant-ÂKelley. All rights reserved under International and Pan-ÂAmerican Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-Âbook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-Âengineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperÂCollins e-Âbooks.

EPub Edition APRIL 2015 ISBN: 9780062382511

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062382542

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