Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
"Man, fuck you." I laugh quietly, securing the gun over my shoulder. "By the way, Sheriff Armstrong is looking for the girl too. Her stepmother filed a missing person's report."
"Jesus. You think he's still out here?"
"Doubt it," I mutter. "But don't fucking shoot anyone unless you know for sure they're cartel."
"Noted."
I click on my flashlight, and we jog down along the path that skirts the side of The Falls before plunging into the woods. Fifty yards in, I quickly realize why Armstrong didn't find the girl if he was out here looking today. The path ends abruptly in a thick tangle of underbrush.
"I hate you," Constantine growls.
"No you don't. You hate nature."
"And you. I definitely fucking hate you too," he mutters, stepping over a fallen log. "If we don't get to shoot anyone, I may shoot you."
"Why do you always want to shoot people?"
"Uh, why do you?"
"I don't always want to shoot–"
A soft growl from the underbrush silences me.
"Jesus Christ," Constantine whispers. "It's a fucking mountain lion."
The animal growls again, a low, menacing sound. The brush rustles.
"It's not a mountain lion." I have no clue what a growling mountain lion sounds like, but I'm pretty sure it's not this. I hope it's not this.
Constantine shifts around, slowly aiming one of the rifles at the rustling brush.
"Bear!" a dulcet voice calls from deeper in the woods. "To me!"
The animal in the brush growls again, and then a dog barks in the distance.
"Dizzy! No, don't you go running off too!" the girl cries, her voice growing closer. Aneira. It has to be Aneira. "Oh, you wicked, adorable dog!"
The dog races through the underbrush in our direction, barking in excitement. It sounds like a whole stampede rushing at us.
"Dizzy! Bear! To me!" Aneira orders, her voice firm.
Bear crashes out of the underbrush a few yards ahead, snarling at me and Constantine.
"Jesus H. Christ," Constantine mumbles, lowering his rifle. A shocked snort of laughter escapes his lips. "I almost shot a damn…whatever that is."
Whatever, indeed. Bear may sound menacing, but he's all of fifteen pounds, and half of that is fluffy black fur. He's mad as hell, though.
"Easy, boy," I whisper, crouching to get on his level. "We're the good guys."
Constantine snorts again. Can't say I blame him. How the fuck did the two of us end up being the heroes here? Better question…why do I like the way it feels?
The stampede in the underbrush reaches a crescendo, and Bear starts snapping at the air as if warning us to stay back before he fucks us up. Half a second later, a dog five times his size literally tumbles out of the bushes, landing in a heap beside him.
The German Shepherd's tongue hangs out as he pants for breath, eyeing us placidly. One ear stands straight up. The other is flopped over.
"Dizzy, I presume," Constantine says.
"Woof."
"Dizzy! Bear!"
Constantine and I both glance up as Aneira rushes into view, a flashlight clutched in one hand. I can't see her well with the light shining in my face, but what I do see is enough to steal my breath.
She's stunning.
Tangled, raven black hair frames her heart-shaped face. She's maybe five-three, with the sweetest curves and palest complexion I've ever seen. Her wide hips make my hands ache to feel them gripped between my palms while I'm thrusting deep.
There's an aura about her, a light, that's impossible to miss. It's as if the air around her glows with it. She has no business in this world, mixed up with people like us or the Carmona Kings. She's innocent. The restless, unsettled feeling that drove me to the warehouse suddenly makes a whole lot more sense. It was her. Somehow, I felt her.
She stumbles to a stop, the flashlight crashing to the ground at her feet when she spots me crouching in front of her dog. A look of pure terror sweeps over her face, twisting my stomach into knots. She scurries backward a step, putting distance between us.
She's afraid of me.
No. No, sweet angel.
"Aneira," I whisper, stretching my hand out in her direction.
She turns and flees, taking a piece of my heart with her.
Chapter Two
Snow
I race through the dark, my heart thudding against my breastbone hard enough to jar me. Alarm bells ring in my head with all the force of a gong as the men behind me curse and Bear snarls and growls.
My stepmother sent them here. I know she did. She won't be satisfied until I'm dead.
"Aneira! Aneira, wait!"
I run faster, crashing through the brush. Limbs scrape my arms and vines tangle around my feet, threatening to trip me. I bite my tongue, trying not to sob in terror. I don't know who they are, but they didn't come out here with guns for a friendly chat. I may be young, but I wasn't born yesterday.
You should have talked to the sheriff instead of hiding, foolish girl, a little voice snaps at me. Maybe you wouldn't be fleeing for your life now if you had.