Altered by Shelly Crane Read Free Book Online Page A

could think to do.
              She was softer than any woman had a reason to be. I thought back to that night in the alley. She was softer than that woman, too. I closed my eyes against the onslaught of memories. Maybe I was going about this all wrong. Maybe being an ass to this woman wasn’t the best way. She’d been through a lot and she had tried to help me. And just now when I explained what I was and how I lived…how I fed…there was no judgment in her eyes. No fear.
    I smoothed her hair behind her ear and pulled the covers up to her chin. Then I pulled the blanket off the other bed and placed it on top of her, too. She moaned and squir med around to get cozy, sighing happily as if the warmth helped things. I felt that sigh all the way to my gut, though I would never admit it to anyone.
    I settled back into the chair and found myself staring at her face all night until morning. She opened her eyes when the light through the curtains made its way across the room, reaching her and saying its hello. I decided to spend this new day in a different way. I was Enoch, the ass everybody hated and thought was a bastard, but who I chose to be now that I had a fresh start, a clean slate? That was just that—my choice. She didn’t know me from Adam. For whatever reason, I was given a clean slate in that alley that night. I was a different devourer now and it was my choice what I did from now on.
    She looked at me and then at the bedspread. She studied those ugly, tacky fabric triangles. “Did you sit there all night?” she asked softly.
    I smiled slightly. “Why don’t y ou go get your hot bath now. Then I’ll buy you some breakfast before we hit the road.”
     

 
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    I took my time drying my hair, wanting it not to just be dry, but be straight. Enoch seemed different today, less angry at me for existing, and I wasn’t ready to face him. He was going to ask questions about Clara and I didn’t know if I wanted to tell him or not.
    I used the blow dryer to air out the shirt I had been wearing a little. It was pointless, but it made me feel better on some unconscious level. Really, I was just stalling.
    I sighed loudly and got dressed, stalling no more. Cracking open the bathroom door, I didn’t see him in the room. I fully opened the door so fast and so hard that it banged on the wall, leaving a hole in the cheap sheetrock. The hotel door was yanked open then and Enoch stormed in. “What? What happened?”
    “Where did you go?”
    He squinted. “I was checking the motel’s perimeter before we left. Making sure we hadn’t been followed.” He said the last part slowly and looked at my throat and then my chest. He was taking note of my breathing, I realized, which was erratic. I tried to calm down. “Where did you think I had gone?”
    “Nowhere.” I moved to put my shoes on, but he grabbed my arm by the elbow and stopped me. “Will you stop manhandling me like some—”
    “Where did you think I went?” he asked again, so close his breath swept across my eyelashes. His eyes were lidded, grimacing, like he was working something out in his mind.
    “Let me go. Don’t worry about it. You’re here. It doesn’t matter.”
    “Answer me,” he bit out.              
    I huffed. “I thought you left, okay! Everybody leaves,” I breathed the words vehemently and hated being so open and vulnerable to him of all people. He didn’t care about me. Yes, he saved me. Why? I didn’t know, but it wasn’t because he cared. There was a reason and he was going to tell me soon enough. He was a calculating person. He didn’t do things without having a plan and purpose.
    He didn’t let go; in fact, I could have sworn he moved a half an inch closer. “You thought I left for good. You thought I abandoned you last night, too.” I looked away, down at his neck, but the cords of skin and muscle did nothing to help with calming my breathing. “Why would I save you, twice,