Hot Blooded Read Free Page A

bay, keep from being overwhelmed with fear and the rush of
wind in her face as they raced through the chamber of horrors. She needed all of
her senses working if she was going to escape. She had to be alert for that one
moment, that one chance when he would momentarily be distracted. She tried to
gather her strength.
    It seemed a monumental task in the face of being upside, her stomach rammed
hard against his shoulder. He held her with one arm tightly across her buttocks,
easily, casually, as if he barely remembered she was there. Her stomach rebelled
and she was weak and light-headed.
But his touch seemed familiar, intimate
even
. His fingers were splayed across her bottom, absently caressing the
roundness of her muscles even as he was striding quickly through the building.
Almost as if his touch remembered her body, knew her intimately in some way.
Juliette couldn't focus properly no matter how hard she tried, aware of his
fingers more than she would have liked.
    The very foundation of the building shook; wrenching apart, the earth beneath
them buckled and rippled violently. Sparks began to snap and crackle around them
as the wiring popped from the beams, cracking and splintering overhead. Light
fixtures swayed precariously. Fissures appeared in the floor, along the wall,
great, ominous cracks.
    There was a roaring in her ears, loud and insistent. The man locking her to
him moved smoothly, fluidly, a certain poetry to his motion, not jarring her
badly knotted stomach.
Breathe
. She heard the word as a soft whisper in
her mind. Almost a caress, intimate.
Breathe
. As if warm air from his
mouth was breathed into her ear. As if his lungs moved for her lungs. Her body
still felt leaden, her arms hanging heavily down his back. She tried to
concentrate, tried to gather her strength to wait for her moment, but that
single word had disturbed her. Changed her.
Breathe
. It whispered
through her body, swam in her bloodstream, spread insidiously throughout her
body so that her very heart beat the rhythm of his heart. And the word was in
her mind, not spoken aloud.
    As the building vibrated, he took stairs three and four at a time. He leapt
from the crumbling cement wall, a good twenty feet in the air, landing easily on
the balls of his feet, still careful not to jar her. Flames were licking at the
blocks of concrete, trying to find fuel, greedily looking for something to
devour as he took her into the shelter of the jungle.
    At once the dark green leaves enfolded them, swallowed them, a haven of rich,
lush vegetation. The darkness was nearly inpenetrable beneath the heavy canopy
of foliage overhead. The fallen trees and thick shrubbery didn't slow him down.
He moved as one born and bred in the jungle, silent and deadly, protecting her
with his body as he raced through the darkened interior, putting distance
between them and the crumbling laboratory. He seemed to know exactly where he
was going, when most were disoriented deep within the forest. Before he had run
with speed and power, now he began to falter, his legs shaking as if he were
suddenly weak. Blood still ran from his wounds and trickled down his body from
the many lacerations.
    Juliette flexed her fingers, grasping his tattered shirt. She didn't have the
energy to cry out a protest, limp and lifeless, hanging like a sack over his
shoulder, but she was certain he was half-mad with pain. All at once they were
back on the edge of the trees where civilization had hacked the jungle back to
build small townships and villages. The jungle, as always, was creeping forward
to reclaim what had been taken, providing cover all the way to the very edge of
the village.
    He stopped near a thick tree trunk, a shadow in the darkness. She felt his
stillness, his gathering of information, scenting the wind. Her heart began to
pound in anticipation, a loud, terrifying beat. He was hunting prey. Deep within
her very soul, she knew he was hunting