A Shock to Your System (Dangerous Creatures #2) by Mandy Rosko Read Free Book Online Page B

deserves to be
tortured like that. That chick was crazy."
    Ethan had to agree. "I guess she escaped
from one of the labs. There are probably already hunters and
collectors out there tracking her down."
    He suddenly thought of all the extra
footprints in the area he and Jamie had left behind. Not to mention
he'd called it in that he was chasing down a paranormal.
    Jamie's license plate number would be taken
for sure. Even though it would likely be assumed that Ethan had
captured and had boxed him for shipment, when he didn't get back to
Head Office, or put in a call to the collectors to pick Jamie up,
they would start looking for him. They might already be looking
just to make sure Ethan was all right. Head Office did check in
with hunters when paths crossed like that, after all.
    He couldn't let them find Jamie.
    "What did you do with my truck?" he
asked.
    "It's parked outside. Why?"
    "That's not a safe place for it," Ethan
said. "When it gets out that I'm missing, other hunters will start
looking for it. They could scan the license plate and know it
belongs to me. They'll wonder why I'm out of the city and parked in
a motel lot."
    "Okay, I'll go and park it in the back,"
Jamie said. "I'm pretty sure I saw a bunch of trees and shrubs
where I can hide it."
    That was enough to make Ethan relax, though
not too much.
    Jamie didn't move, however. He stared at
Ethan with those intense blue eyes, the color of shimmering snow in
the night. “Would you have...?" Jamie didn't finish.
    Ethan was curious. "Would I what? Have gone
to save you?" Or turned him in?
    He hoped the question was the former one,
because Ethan didn't want to be honest about what he would've done
if Jamie asked the latter.
    Jamie was doing that thing he did when he
tried not to look at Ethan, but then couldn't help it so there were
a lot of sideways glances. "Just forget it."
    Ethan sighed. He couldn’t forget it. "I
would've gone after you," he said. "I wouldn't let anyone hurt you,
Jamie. Not even a chick with scary, crazy, flesh-ripping
powers."
    He was fairly lucky that the only thing
wrong with him at this point was that he'd lost some blood and got
queasy. He'd never hunted down someone who could control flesh like
that. It was a strange and rare power, also incredibly painful. It
took a lot for someone with flesh manipulation abilities to be able
to kill another person, but that was the horrifying thing about it.
It was supposed to be like experiencing the death by a thousand
cuts.
    Ethan would recover soon enough. His limbs
already didn't feel so stiff.
    "If she hadn't been caught and taken in, in
the first place, she might not have been so out of her mind."
    What the hell? “You’re actually defending her?”
    Jamie didn’t look at him. Or maybe he
couldn’t. “It’s true,” he muttered.
    "You don't know that," Ethan said. "She
could've been killing people long before she went to the labs.
Paranormals aren't usually picked up unless they draw attention to
themselves. That's how we find them."
    Jamie said nothing.
    "I'm serious. I can't just look at a person
and tell they have powers. I can't look at you and see that you'll
electrocute me if I shake your hand. You have to do something
before someone can report it. That's when we do the pick-ups."
    "I wouldn't electrocute you," Jamie said
sullenly.
    "You wouldn't?" Ethan asked.
    Jamie glared at him. "No!"
    "I didn't mean on purpose. You did suck the
power out of a couple city blocks."
    "That's different," Jamie said. "When I get
nervous and antsy, sometimes it can be harder to control, but for
the most part I'm all right. I end up sucking up energy without
meaning to instead of just letting it loose. I can hold it back for
a long time."
    Jamie looked to the nightstand. There was an
electric clock on it, and it was still on. The big red letters
stated it was one in the afternoon.
    "I guess you're not nervous or scared
now."
    Jamie shook his head. "You should've seen me
when I brought you in here. The