Ghost Stalker Read Free Page A

her. She adjusted her work gloves, pulling them over the cuffs of her long-sleeved shirt, before lifting a pillow from the floor, clutching it with trembling hands.
    She had to. It was her duty to keep the humans from discovering about them and her purpose to protect humans from all threats, including shifters.
    Her fingers sank into the soft foam and she hesitated. Her shoulders sagged. Then she held the pillow to her own face to stifle the sob. No matter what kind of monster he was, she could not kill him as he lay helplessbefore her. But she could not let him go to a hospital. What to do?
    Something grabbed her wrist. The pillow dropped from her hand.
    His crystal blue eyes glistened.
    “Let go, shifter,” she ordered, knowing he was the stronger.
    His eyes narrowed as he yanked her forward, bringing her to her knees. She fell onto the area rug as he reeled her in, stopping only when their noses nearly touched.
    He stared into her eyes for a moment, then snorted and released her wrist as if she posed little threat. She fell sideways onto the pillow that she had meant to use to smother him with just a moment before.
    Bedtime stories of the cruel Inanoka rose in her mind. Why hadn’t she killed him when she had the chance? She read the menace in his narrowing eyes, knowing with certainty she would never have succeeded. He was not as helpless as she assumed. His injuries served only to make him more dangerous, as lethal as any wounded animal. Even now, spitting blood, he was a threat.
    The safest course was retreat. She scrambled out of his reach.
    But she did not take her eye off him. When he did not attack, some of her indignation returned.
    “What are you?” he snarled.
    She lifted her chin. “Your better.”
    His smile was cold. “Such arrogance could come only from a Niyanoka.”
    She nodded. “Why are you here?”
    “I don’t know.” He glanced about her room. “I asked the birds to take me to a healer.”
    “And they have done so. Is that all you asked?”
    “No. To lead them away from my friends.” His eyes fluttered and she saw them roll over white.
    She straightened, preparing to flee, but he roused himself, mastering the momentary weakness. His eyes snapped open, locking on her.
    Her heart hammered as she inched back.
    “Lead who away?” she whispered, suddenly afraid of the answer.
    “The ghosts. Nagi sent them to attack me so I would bring them to her.”
    The wolf must be deranged, because Nagi did not send ghosts to attack living creatures. He captured the evil ones after their death if they refused to walk the Way of Souls, forcing them to face judgment.
    “Her? The healer you seek is also female?”
    “Michaela. She’s Niyanoka, like you. The last Seer of Souls and Nagi wants her dead.”
    She fell back to her seat on the carpet as the possibility of this ricocheted in her brain. Could it be true?
    No—this was a Skinwalker. His currency was lies.
    “Why should I believe you?” But she knew why. His black aura, the part that said he had been touched by death. Only a ghost could do that. But it made no sense.
    Why would Nagi hunt one of her people and why would a Skinwalker want to protect her?
    His intent blue eyes pinned her. She felt her mouth godry as she considered the impossible. Could the trickster be speaking the truth? Great Mystery, what evil was this?
    She stared in astonishment and knew that to learn the answer, she would have to heal him herself.

 

    Chapter 3
     
    N ick glared up at the haughty face of the beautiful Niyanoka and wondered again why the Thunderbirds left him here.
    He stared at her honey-brown eyes, lovely eyes—if they did not glare daggers at him. His gaze dipped to the full mouth and perfectly shaped upper lip, now stretched in a grimace as if he smelled of filth.
    She had been trained from birth to hate Skinwalkers, to consider them a threat. He could hardly blame her, given their history—though there had been no attacks in nearly a century. But