Lost Read Free Page A

She felt as if she was sinking, like she was immersed in a tub of warm water.
    Behind her, Cameron stiffened. Somewhere in her brain, she knew his response should worry her, but luxuriating in the safety that came with his touch, she couldn't latch on to why.
    Besides, he had done that a lot, stopped and studied things, as if he could hear or see something she couldn't. And nothing bad had happened.
    She was growing used to his cautious behavior. She'd decided it was just his way.
    Her fingers wandered to her cheek where earlier he had brushed away some bit of debris. His touch had been so gentle and reassuring she couldn't remember why she had doubted that he would help her.
    Nancy would laugh when Rachel told her about him, chortle that “Miss This-Can't-Be-Safe” had fallen into trusting a stranger so easily.
    Nancy . Rachel tensed. She had forgotten why she was wandering through the dark, forgotten her friends, pale and lifeless in the torn metal mess that had been a car.
    A tremor took control of her frame. The need to retch doubled her over. She wrapped her arms around her body and took a step back.
    Cameron had moved. He was standing two feet away.
    Trembling with cold and the returned memories of the wreck, she straightened her body to a stand. The feeling of peace fled. Her hands shaking, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and slid open the cover. With the light glowing from her hand, she studied the man she had begun to trust.
    He was tall and looked... strong. Not big and broad, although his shoulders were wide, just strong. It was how he stood, his feet braced as if prepared for attack, and how he walked. He moved a few steps to the side and then back. No, not moved, prowled, like a tiger in the night, aware and confident, capable and willing— eager even— to face any adversary.
    Another shiver shook her body, this one so violent she almost dropped her phone.
    He stared at her as if surprised. Then he sighed.
    “So, you came out of it.”
    Not a question, a statement. One she wasn't sure was really meant for her. She didn't reply, and she didn't put her phone away. She wanted to see him, needed to make sure the memory she had from her brief glance earlier was real.
    He crossed the few feet between them, his hand outstretched. He was going to touch her. Something basic and primal told her to run, but her feet stayed firmly planted on the ground. She realized, despite whatever instinct or intuition warned, she wanted him to touch her.
    His eyes were hard, like the tiger's, or how she imagined the tiger's would be right before it pounced. She licked her lips and waited for whatever was to come.
    Cameron's hand stopped short, hung in mid-air in front of her before slowly drifting back down to his side. With a curse, he turned away.
    Confused, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Something had happened, but she had no idea what. She raised her phone again and directed its glow toward his turned back. Cameron shoved his fingers through his hair, then, in a flash of his white shirt, he spun.
    Her phone flew from her fingers.
    The unending black of the canyon engulfed her.

 
     
     
    Chapter Three
    Damn the little human for making him think of her as someone to care for.
    Cameron pulled back his lips and hissed. Rachel didn't move.
    He flicked his tongue over his canines and felt the caps he had slipped over them earlier.
    “It isn't true, is it? Everything isn't going to be okay.” Her words caused him to shrink, to think about what he was doing, what he was thinking of doing— attacking her.
    He pushed his thumb against one cap. It would be so simple to pull them off. She wouldn't see him in the dark, wouldn't suspect, and even if she did, he could mesmerize her again. She would walk into his arms, stand there mindlessly as he fed... devoured.
    Hunger surged inside him.
    Devour. He would devour her. He should. She was a human, nothing more. He was a vampire, a predator... the predator. None