Altered by Shelly Crane Read Free Book Online

crying still, but she had no idea that by doing so she was sending that putrid taste right to me.
    I gripped the fabric so hard in my fists that I heard it tear under my fingers. I opened my eyes to find she had rolled over and was staring at me in astonishment. Her eyes were even wetter than they’d been outside.
    I felt so guilty knowing that I was the reason that she’d been crying outside and I may even be the reason she was crying now.
    Guilt. Me .
    I knew I was being an ass—I was doing it on purpose. I didn’t want her to like me, not even a sliver, but it still hurt to think that I was causing this human more pain when she was obviously in so much already.
    “What does sadness taste like?” she whispered. “Or sorrow, grief, or…loss?”
    I let my death grip on the poor cheap polyester go and leaned my head back, closing my eyes so I didn’t have to look at her when I answered.
    “Rotten.” She gasped, but I kept my eyes closed. “It didn’t always taste that way. Back in the day, I reveled in the taste. It was what you could imagine your favorite drug would feel like. Sweet and heady, heavy, but light and creamy. I chased it and produced it. I would have done anything for it. I lived off it. It’s what devourers do. We survive off emotion and I never wanted anything else.” I peeked my eyes open, unable to stop myself. I needed to see the look of hate she had to be sending me so I could get her out of my mind and think of this as the mission it was, move on, and stop looking at this human as some…prize. Some…girl.
    My eyes met hers and she was studying me. It was clear she was waiting for more of the story, giving me the benefit of the doubt. There wasn’t a trace of hate, judgment, or disgust in her eyes as she watched me. She just waited, knowing with certainty, that there was more to tell.
    I had never had someone have faith in me before.
    I gritted my teeth. “What?” I barked. “You don’t believe that I’m the monster I say I am? You think that just because you’ve only seen the tame me that I’m not—”
    “I believe you,” she interrupted and shook her head. She sighed and shivered, pulling the blanket around herself tighter. “What I don’t understand is why you’re trying so hard to make me hate you.”
    I snorted. “ So you don’t get any girly notions that this trip is anything but what it is.” I crossed my ankle over my leg and glared at her to drive my point home. “Now—how do you know Clara?”
    She scoffed, barely. She gave me a sad look and then rolled back over. “Goodnight, Enoch.”
    I wanted to fight with her, but knew when her breathing was slow and steady not even two minutes later that I had made the right decision in letting her sleep. She was exhausted.
    I grumbled under my breath and rolled my eyes. I didn’t know how to take care of a human. They needed to sleep and eat and all sorts of things that I took for granted. I loved to sleep. It was one of my favorite pastimes, but I didn’t need to do it.
    Human bodies were useless. They gave out on them daily. Every day they had to recharge. What was that about? That sucked. Eating three times a day. Going to the bathroom constantly. And now here I was, dragging this human across the United States and she was pissed at me, which was what I had wanted, and I still needed to feed. The fight with the Horde earlier had helped a lot, but her little sorrow session had barely tipped the iceberg of what I needed to survive.
    Tomorrow, I was going to be right back where I started, dragging, needing to feed, and cranky as all get out.
    I scrubbed my face with my hands and looked over her. I got up and walked over to look down at her, checking her forehead to make sure her skin was warm and normal temperature. She felt normal enough temperature wise, but her skin… I moved my fingers to her cheek, remembering when I had touched her cheek in the water to reassure her. She had been about to freak and it was all I