Series: Shifter Ops Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Fecking delicious.
“They won’t take us alive,” she growls. With her shoulder-length black hair and dramatic eye-makeup, she looks like a warrior princess. A warrior princess with access to a Mac makeup counter.
“Hang on now, it’s not come to that–” Parker says. He guns the bus, increasing the speed and gliding into the far left lane. The SUVs follow. “Let’s just think this through.”
“Who the hell would know about this mission?” I ask.
“Fucking vampires,” Fiona snarls.
“That doesn’t make sense.” Parker cranes his head, checking the sun. “It’s still light out. They can’t come out in the sun…”
“Those windows are tinted, though,” Fiona says. “And if they chase us long enough, it’ll be dark.”
“Feck,” I mutter. She’s right. If they’re vampires, we’re in a race against time.
“Look out!” Laurie shouts. The closest SUV has sped up, flying towards us to butt our bumper.
“Hang on.” Parker grits his teeth and wrenches the wheel to the right to take the exit we just passed. The front wheels hit the strip of gravel between the highway and the ramp, and for a moment we’re all airborne. We come down with a hard thud. There’s a clunking sound, and I wince. Hope that wasn’t something essential.
Parker guns it up the off ramp. Beside me, Allison has bounced right into Laurie’s lap. She clings to him, and he to her.
“My hero,” she tells him, and he freezes, his eyes as big as dinner plates behind his Coke bottle lenses.
I grin and give him a surreptitious thumbs up.
“Ahem.” Fiona is glaring at me. Probably doesn’t like the sight of Laurie getting cozy with her friend.
I lean back and pat my lap. “There’s room enough for ya here, if you need savin.”
Her eyes take on a red tinge, like a demon from hell. I’ve never seen a shifter like that before.
“Fascinatin’,” I breathe, leaning forward.
She blinks, startled by my interest, and the evil light disappears. “You’re suicidal.”
“When it comes to you, I’ll throw myself on your claws, just to feel your touch. It’d be worth it.” We blink at each other. I’ve never said something so honest so early in the seduction process before, but when you’re being chased by vampires and facing the end, ya gotta give it everything ya got.
“Will you stop flirting and help me shake these yahoos?” Parker shouts. One of the SUVs has backed up on the highway to follow us up the exit. Its buddies are probably circling around to trap us.
“Take a left,” Fiona barks and guides us on a series of turns that I can barely follow. We end up on a single lane road, empty of cars.
“We’ll head into the mountains.”
I peer up at the peak. “Ya sure this bus can make it?”
“If not, we’ll have to go on foot,” Parker says.
“At least until I hot wire another bus,” I add without thinking.
“I knew it.” Parker slaps the steering wheel. I knew you stole it.”
“Borrowed without permission.”
“Same thing!”
“Take this right,” Fiona orders, and we’re off road again.
Another giant bump, and the radio comes on, blasting us with fuzz. We all scream and clutch our sensitive shifter ears. Like a foghorn two inches away. “Turn it off! Turn it off!” I yell.
“I’m trying,” Fiona’s fingers dance over the dials. It catches a country music station, and the guitars twang high enough to make my wolf whine.
“Not that!” I yelp. “Anything but that!”
Allison buries her face in Laurie’s shirt, her hands over her ears. Laurie covers her hands with his.
Another twist, and Nat King Cole’s smooth tones fill the van. “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”
“Sweet relief.”
Allison and Laurie are still looking quite cozy on the seat beside me.
“Do ya celebrate Christmas?” I ask Allison. She nods.
“We celebrate watch-Elf-and-get-presents day,” Fiona says.
“Aye, lass, same ting. Christmas.”
She shakes her head and sends another wave of that delicious diner fry up scent my way. My fangs have sharpened enough to cut my tongue. I’d like to take a big bite outta her. I turn my head away to gulp some fresh air.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Ah, my lovely Fiona. Too many tings to tell ya.”
“Figures.”
In the hills, the radio station crackles and falls silent. Fiona messes with the dial halfheartedly but can’t find anything, so we listen to the rickety rattling of our van as it wheezes up the road.
“What happens if the vampires catch us?” Allison whispers.
“They won’t,” I say because it’s unthinkable.
“D-d-don’t worry. I’ll protect y-you,” Laurie whispers back. Allison seems to accept this, but Laurie gives me a desperate look.
The cars may or may not have vampires inside them, but if they do, once darkness falls, they’ll be a whole lot more powerful. And the sun is dropping lower and lower in the sky with every passing mile.
We need a plan, and we need it fast.
Allison
The little bus huffs and puffs up the mountain. We all lean forward, as if our weight will give it more momentum.