Hunter's Need Read Free

smell himself, smell the need on him. Knowing how fucking bad he wanted her didn’t make it any easier to look at her, though. He looked at her and saw how fucking foolish he’d been, how damn gullible. How pathetic.
    Not again. He could want her until hell froze over, but that didn’t mean he’d give in.
    Across the pool table, he met Dominic’s level stare. Then, without saying anything, he hurled his cue stick down and stalked out of the room.
     
     
    S HE felt his passing like a hot, angry wind, blasting against her shields, snaking through the minute cracks and scalding her.
    People were watching her—she felt it as she left the library. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t just stay in the library forever, either, which meant she had to go back the way she’d come.
    Should have just dealt with the rain and gone to the main library. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
    Ana stood looking out into the rec room. Clutching the book to her chest, she licked her lips and then glanced from the door where Duke had just disappeared and then back at the pool table where he’d been playing only a few minutes ago.
    There was a vampire standing there—she might not have the sense of smell or the eyesight that most of these people had, but she could recognize a vamp easy enough. Instinctive fear curled inside her gut, and she fell back a step before she realized it.
    Vampires—she hated them. It had taken her weeks to work up the courage to leave her assigned rooms once the sun had gone down, even longer before she could be near one without fighting the urge to lock herself back in her room and just hide.
    Not all of them were evil. Not all of them were like Cat.
    She knew that.
    The one watching her now was a stranger, a man she’d never met and she watched as his gaze left hers to study the room around them, picking up on the censure and distrust and outright hatred.
    It was no secret how Ana had landed at Excelsior. Nor was it any secret that most of the students here quietly despised her, resented her presence. Unfortunately, she presented a hazard to them and she had to be trained.
    Well, trained or just killed.
    The vampire’s gaze came back to linger on her face and to her surprise, a slow, sympathetic smile curled his lips. Even through her shields, she sensed his intention before he moved and she jerked her gaze away. She didn’t need his sympathy.
    Pulling her shoulders back, she started forward, winding through the mass of people, sidestepping those who were lying on the floor, skirting around tables, keeping her distance. She wanted to run. It was a need that left her muscles in knots while her gut clenched and her hands went cold and slick, but she didn’t give in.
    Running around a bunch of predators that already disliked her seemed a very, very bad idea.
    She almost made it through.
    Almost.
    A familiar voice drawled, “Where you off to, Ana?”
    If seeing Duke made her sick with guilt, hearing that voice made her sick with fear. Neal Hollister, a vampire who’d arrived at Excelsior about the same time she had, and he was roughly her age. Like so many vamps, he’d been Changed against his will by a feral vampire, but his sire had an accomplice—a psychic. Neal’s distrust of psychics went as deep as Ana’s fear of vampires.
    He came up quietly, quickly, so quickly she didn’t have the time to avoid him as he placed himself in her path. He smiled, flashing his fangs at her, and reached up, toyed with the ends of her hair. “Where you off to in such a hurry, baby?”
    “To my room,” she said, hoping the ice in her voice would camouflage the fear—even as she knew it wouldn’t.
    Damn vamps, they could smell it with the same ease she could sense it. His grin widened and he tugged slightly. “Want some company?”
    Batting his hand aside, she said, “Not hardly.”
    “Oh . . . so cold.”
    Curling her lip at him, she went to go around him. He lifted an arm, blocking her exit and caging her between his