The Flash of a Firefly Read Free

come instead of her.
    “Why are you looking for her?” Jessica asked.
    “I’m not,” I told her. “I think she’s looking for me.”
    She smirked. “Ex-lover, huh? You scorned her, and now she’s here for her revenge. Ah, sweet revenge.” She clasped her hands together and batted her eyelashes.
    I scowled. The last woman I would have ever taken as a lover was the one in that portrait. I pulled it back from Jessica and stuffed it into my pocket again. “Keep an eye out, and let me know if she shows up.”
    She picked at the stain on her dress. “Still not watching the news?”
    Of course I wasn’t. The news was depressing. It was always about the same things: someone was missing, or dead, a building had burned down, a politician was dirty, the economy was falling. I didn’t want to hear about women killing their own babies or another dogfighting ring.
    “I didn’t think so,” Jessica continued. “So you don’t know about the murder in Central Park? The man was completely drained of blood.”
    “No,” I said, sitting up straight. “When?”
    “Last night.”
    Now I was sure of it. The rule in the city was simple: don’t kill your dinner. I had never had a single problem before now. It was too coincidental. I needed to take a look at the crime scene first thing tomorrow night.
    “Kaden?” Jessica snapped her fingers. “What’s wrong with you tonight?”
    My head was spinning. Why now? I asked myself. Why did she have to come back now? I had just gotten comfortable here after so long.
    “I’ve got to go,” I blurted. I got up and stormed toward the door. Max came around the corner with a box of liquor and almost ran into me. He spun on his heel and disappeared around the corner with eyes the size of dinner plates. I looked over my shoulder at Jessica. She shrugged. It was going to get really annoying if he kept avoiding me like that.
    “Good night,” she called.
    I waved my hand over my shoulder at her. “Stop drinking that stuff, and go home already.”
    “Yes, boss.” She laughed.
    I was glad one of us could still find humor in anything tonight. Things had gone from bad to worse. There wasn’t anything more I could do now except go home. I was ready to crawl into my bed, safe and sound, to mull everything over.
    But when I got there, Reece was waiting on the porch steps for me. His head was resting on a pillar, and his eyes were shut. He was still in his T-shirt, but he wasn’t cold, though he had his arms folded across his chest. Werewolves ran at least twenty degrees warmer than the average human.
    “Hey,” I said, giving him a little kick. “What are you doing here?”
    He jumped and rubbed his face. He blinked his sleepy brown eyes until he could see straight again and looked up to the sky. “You’re cutting it close.”
    He was right. The sky was turning light, and if I was still on the porch in another few minutes, I would be nothing more than a pile of ash. I pushed the door open and waited for him to go inside before me.
    He got up stiffly and shook his head. “You’re telling me it was unlocked all this time?”
    I shrugged when he passed me, and I shut us both safely inside. “I guess I should rethink that.”
    He flopped down on the black leather couch in my living room and put his feet up. “I told Sid what happened, and he asked me to come find out exactly what’s going on.”
    “Is your phone broken?” I asked.
    “Is yours?” He yawned. “We tried to call like a hundred times.”
    I reached into my pocket and pulled the phone out. A little box popped up saying I had missed nine calls. Somehow I had set the ringer to silent. I turned it back up and threw the portrait at Reece. “Was this the girl in the bar tonight?”
    He caught it in midair and glanced at it. “It looks a lot like her, but I’m not sure, Kaden. It’s one of those faces that a lot of people have. Who is she, anyway, and what’s the big deal?”
    “Her name is Francesca, and it’s a big