LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Since I first heard your voice on the line, I’ve been trying to figure out how to clue you in on some of the current events around here without sending you right back in Allie’s direction, but there’s something you might need to be made aware of.” Thomas cleared his throat. A bustling in the room behind him and a barrage of women’s voices interrupted us. “I’ll talk to you later. I appreciate your help. No. I don’t think I’ll need any more lumber. We’ll call if we need further supplies. Thank you.”

      The phone went silent. Just like that. And I had to sit fifty miles away, in a remote torture chamber the owners hoped to pass for a top quality overnight stay and wonder why the hell Allie would need lumber. Was she building her own house away from me? Was she changing some part of the property?

      I almost called Thomas back, but then if Allie was anywhere near him…

      I could hear her voice.

      I could talk to her for just a second.

      No, the hell I could.

      I had to stop this.

      She wouldn’t change anything on the property for the worse.

      And she wouldn’t build her own home with thoughts of leaving me after only one day in my absence.

      Feeling nauseated, I put my head between my knees. The indoor-outdoor carpet was so dirty I couldn’t tell what color it had been.

      My cell beeped and vibrated.

      I stood on the chair. Disregarding the screws, I tore the vent cover from the ceiling.

      Covered in dust, my phone vibrated.

      “Be home before June twenty-sixth,” Thomas had texted.

      I lost my balance on the rickety chair and almost fell on the floor. I never lost my balance. I could pounce on a wild deer from twenty feet away, for God's sake. My heart slammed against my chest.

      The text told me no more than I’d known before other than now I had a time limit to my impending coronary attack. Of course she was leaving. I had killed her and without the amazing CPR abilities of Kaitlyn and Shelby—telepathic twins Ava had hired in the guise of being housekeepers—she would still be dead. What good, respectable girl would stick around for a dangerous guy with a psychotic ghost stalker to get his shit together?

      A night’s sleep had brought her to her senses. That had to be it.

      I dropped the phone on the bed. The veins in my wrist pulsated and the bones began to ache.

      I couldn’t lose her again.

      I called Kaitlyn.

      I could depend on her to get a message to Allie better than I could Shelby. Shelby had been so angry with me for leaving, she wouldn’t talk to me before I left and now wouldn’t answer my phone calls or texts.

      Kaitlyn had hugged me. She acted less on impulse than her sister.

      “Hello, John.” Kaitlyn’s voice was tense.

      “Why are you calling me John? Is Allie nearby?” My hands shook harder. Holding the phone was difficult.

      “I’m glad you got back to me so soon. I need you to do something for me. Make sure what we talked about happens before June twenty-sixth. You’ll need to be here.”

      “Why is everyone talking in code? I knew I shouldn’t have left. What the hell is going on over there?” I wanted to slam the phone against the wall. Composure. Get it under control. “Will you let your boss know that if she tries to leave, I have great tracking skills?”

      “Yes. And I do realize it’s short notice, but if you want to keep your position, you’d better see to it that you’re here. With the supplies I ordered, of course.” Kaitlyn hung up.

      I texted her. “What supplies? Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on? Is she going to leave if I’m not there by that time? You of all people should know I might not be able to be back that soon.”

      “You’ll do what it takes to get the job done. I have faith in you.” And that was the end of her communication.

      I texted various times, but she wouldn’t answer.

      I couldn’t deny the shaking, nausea, grating and stretching any longer.

      The motel had been the only one near a forest within a fifty-mile radius, which is why I’d chosen it. Giving in to the sting of the bones stretching and popping, I staggered to the woods behind my room before the full change took place.

      Searing knives sliced through my muscles. Torturous reformation of my bones took me to the ground. Needles of black hair stabbed through my skin and sprouted into a full thick coat.

      A few minutes later when consciousness found me again, I used my feline legs to lift myself. Animal life in the forest beckoned me. With power and strength veteran only to a panther, I pounded through the forest toward my prey.

      * * * *

      My clothes were just where I’d left them. In a heap at the edge of the woods.

      I slipped my jeans on and slung my T-shirt over my shoulder.

      As I rounded the corner of the building, I stopped in front of my room. The door was ajar and the room was dark.

      In my haste to get to the woods, I must have left it open.

      I held the door facing as some leftover dizziness from the shift muddled my senses. Once in, I shut and double-checked the locks behind me.

      The motel room had reeked of smoke, hints of moldy food, and bodily fluids I tried not to identify. I tensed as a distinctly feminine fragrance replaced the foul mixture. Pheromones.

      “You’re probably the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen.”

      I shot around.

      In a dizzy gaze, I tried to make out who’d spoken to me. Had I heard the voice before or had the haze between shifts made it hard to place a voice I knew well? As the dark room came into better focus, I stepped closer to the bed. The form of a woman lay on my bed.

      Allie?

      Sweat beaded on my forehead and chest. I rushed toward the love of my life, stripping as I went. I knew if I was alone with her this would happen. Drunk from the blood and flesh I’d consumed, I fell into her arms. Scooping her close, I forgot that I should have chastised her for showing up here and lying on my bed without a stitch of clothing to protect her.

      Her kisses were different, more demanding.

      Trying to focus, I pulled back from her hungry mouth and tight grip.

      “My, you do have an appetite. I should have served you what you really wanted this afternoon in the storeroom instead of waiting till now.” The voice was all wrong.

      I jerked the blankets between us and dipped closer to her as the cloud around her whisked away.

      Holy shit.

      It was the waitress.

      Pulling blankets with me, I jumped from the bed, leaving her naked and uncovered.

      “What’s wrong?” The seductive humor in her voice changed to confusion.

      “What the hell are you doing in my room?” I turned my back to her.

      “You didn’t seem to mind a minute ago.” Her attempt at manipulation was weak.

      That did not just happen. How could I have let it?

      “Out. Out of my room.” I turned back to her with my gaze safely diverted. I pointed at the door.

      “Really. You can’t say you don’t want this. I could see it in your eyes at the restaurant.” She slinked up from the bed and neared me. Her nakedness didn’t seem to bother her, but it bothered the hell out of me. And not in the way she hoped.

      “Get

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