Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
The moment he catches her eye, she goes slack in my arms. I don’t release her. My heart pounds against her back.
Thomas catches her chin and lifts it. “Did you see a shifter, love?”
Lauren pants, her ribs widening against my chest with each inhale. Her body seems to be immobile, like she’s playing freeze tag and becoming a statue.
I try to soothe her by stroking my thumb in a slow circle over the bare skin at her waist. Before we came, I had this fantasy I would ask the vampire to plant happy thoughts in her, to help her feel better about her mom, but now I realize that was idiocy. I don’t trust this guy to do anything extra. The second he wipes the wolf memory, we’re out of here.
“I see… you were on a cliff. The wolf pup saved you.”
Goosebumps stand out on my arms listening to him root through her mind. This is so fucked up. I clear my throat. “Yeah. Tell her it was the human me who saved her, and then we went to the library to study. And then for a drive.”
The leech ignores me. “Lover boy has been watching you. Understandable.” He leans forward to sniff her neck. Now I’m panting from adrenaline, too. This guy fucking creeps me out.
“You have a unique scent for a human. There’s something…different about you.”
I catch the glint of his elongated fangs, and I yank her backward, out of striking distance.
Fuck! Was he going to bite her? I need to get the hell out of here as soon as this is taken care of.
“Give her to me,” he snaps, like he’s pissed I just took away his dinner.
I lift my upper lip in a snarl. My canines get long, too, asshole. “No.” I make the syllable as hard and forbidding as I know how, throwing every ounce of alpha command into it that I can muster.
Once again, he’s amused by my defiance. Like I’m some terrible two who just learned to say no.
Before I know what’s happening, he grabs my sunglasses from my face at lightning speed, tossing them into the Texas Ranger bush flanking the door.
I inadvertently let go of Lauren to defend myself, and then they’re both gone–vanished inside his house with the door slammed shut in my face.
A real wolf-snarl erupts from my throat. The only thing that keeps me from spontaneously shifting into wolf form is the reminder that I have silver bullets.
I draw the gun at the same time I smash the door down with a powerful kick of my foot.
They are nowhere. Damn, that fucker moves fast.
I hear a whimper down the hall, and I barrel down it and bash another door in.
I find Lauren bent backward in Thomas’ arms, the fucking leech feeding from her throat.
I step close, so I won’t miss and hit Lauren, then aim and pull the trigger. The bullet rips into his shoulder. Thomas howls and drops to the floor, clutching at the bloodless wound.
A silver bullet won’t kill a vampire, but it will sap his power and hurt like hell. I aimed for bone, wanting the bullet to remain lodged there long enough for us to get away.
Lauren’s already running out the door. I heard a vampire’s saliva drugs their victim, but she seems more than capable of fleeing.
I don’t wait to see if Thomas will recover–I turn to follow her down the hall and out the front door. My body seems to celebrate the second I cross the vampire’s threshold into fresh air. Lauren’s already in the passenger seat, slamming the door shut.
“Do you know what happens when you cross a wolf with a bear?”
Thomas’ voice chills me.
I whirl to point the gun at him again as I swiftly walk backward the rest of the way to the driver’s seat. He’s slouched to one side, propped against the doorframe like he can’t hold himself up.
“They say it can kill the mother, and that’s true. But that’s not why it’s forbidden.”
I have no fucking idea why this asshole is talking about bears right now. He must be cray-cray. I’ve heard it can happen to extremely old vampires. This guy didn’t seem all that old, but what do I know?
I slide into the seat and dig in my pocket for the keys. “Do you want to know the real reason?” he asks as I reach for the door handle.
I slam it closed but with my shifter hearing, I still hear the vampire’s parting words.
“It’s forbidden because the resulting animal is too powerful.”
I step on the gas and peel out on the brick driveway, smashing through the gate even though it was slowly swinging wide.
It drags along beside the car for a few moments before it falls away and tumbles down the street.
I think we’re safe until the cold end of the pistol pokes into my ribs.