Otherworldly Bad Boys: Three Complete Novels Read Free Page B

red.
    Margaret took a step back, her face registering fear. “Are you all right?”
    Dana squared her shoulders, forcing the wolf back down. “Peachy keen.” But her smile was fierce.
    The company car surged at them, heading right for Margaret. She hurried out of its path. Dana had to laugh as she opened the passenger side door to the blue Chevy. Sliding inside, she said, “Avery, you can’t run down reporters.”
    “More’s the pity,” he said.
    She buckled her seat belt, and they took off.
    Avery rolled down the window. “You still got the scent?”
    She rolled hers down as well. Actually, she didn’t. She’d shoved the wolf deep down inside to keep from ripping Margaret’s head off. It never used to be this tough to keep herself in control. That was before Cole had gotten into her head. He’d unbalanced her, somehow undone years of training. She took deep breaths of warm, spring air, calming herself, and letting just a little bit of the wolf out—just the ability to smell.
    Almost immediately, she picked up the distinctive scent of the rogue wolf. He’d run this way, after leaving the bar. “Yeah. It’s strong. He didn’t get in a car or drive. He ran this way.”
    Avery gestured with his head. “On your side of the road, right?”
    “Right.” She was going to be able to pick up the scent a bit more easily than him.
    He leaned closer to her, sniffing.
    “Watch the road.” She shoved him back on his side of the car.
    Avery laughed. “I gotta say, it’s good to have you back, Gray.”
    She looked at her hands, embarrassed. “You been working solo, haven’t you?”
    “Sometimes,” said Avery. “Sometimes, King throws me in with Jones and Davis. However it goes down, it isn’t the same.”
    She bit her lip, looking up at him. “I’m sorry, Brooks. I’m sorry for dropping out on you like that.”
    He was staring straight ahead now, watching the road, like she’d asked. “You don’t have to be sorry. It wasn’t your fault. It was that bastard Randall’s fault. You know, sometimes I wish we did execute wolves. If anyone deserves death, it’s that guy.”
    Dana swallowed hard. Much as she hated to admit it, she didn’t want Cole dead. She wanted Cole out of her head, out of her thoughts, but... She wanted him alive. The hell of all of it wasn’t so much what he’d done to her. The hell of it was that she missed him. She stuck her head out the window. “No one cares about Randall. He killed wolves. The human groups probably think he did everyone a favor.”
    “He would have killed humans too,” said Avery. “Isn’t that what your report said? The wolf killings were just the first phase.”
    “Right,” said Dana. How could she miss Cole Randall? He was a murderer. He loved violence. He was a twisted individual. That she felt anything for him at all was the sickest thing she’d ever experienced. “The trail’s turning.” She pointed, glad of the distraction.
    Avery sniffed the air. “Good nose, Gray.” He turned the wheel of the Chevy, and the car veered onto a dirt road.
    They bumped along the narrow road, trees rising on each side of them, dust rolling out beneath the tires. They rounded a bend and the road ended at a squat log cabin. A dirty jeep sat in the driveway. Two big dogs were tied to a large tree next to the house. They probably would have been barking if two regular people had shown up, but dogs didn’t tend to bark at werewolves. In fact, both of the dogs were lying down on the ground now, whimpering. A man was sitting on the porch, smoking a cigarette. This wasn’t a road, it was a driveway.
    And the man on the porch carried the scent they’d been following. He was the rogue.
    Avery turned off the car. “He sure didn’t run very far, did he?”
    “Maybe he doesn’t remember doing it,” said Dana. “Could think he blacked out at the bar.” Most rogue wolves only got one shot to shift before the SF found them. They didn’t know they were infected and