Bite This! by Tasha Black Read Free Book Online Page A

well.
    “Anything else, guys?” Lisa asked, staring in open admiration at Finn.
    Darcy had known Lisa since fourth grade. It was a small town and Lisa had always been super popular with her blonde hair and blue eyes. Not that Darcy was jealous.
    “We’re good,” she said, a little more curtly than she’d intended.
    “All-righty then,” Lisa smiled and patted Finn’s shoulder on her way off to her next table.
    Finn smiled down at his burger.
    “Friend of yours?” he asked.
    “Why?”
    “No reason,” he shrugged, and bit into his burger with so much gusto it almost seemed like it had done him some injury in a past life.
    Darcy looked around.
    The diner was a good choice. The boy had been hungry and this was very public. Though of course she would feel better if Cressida were here waiting tables tonight. Cressida was a wolf too, and pretty tough in spite of her scrawniness. She’d proven herself so loyal and capable that she was pretty much seated at the right hand of the alpha.
    But Darcy hadn’t been quite that lucky.
    At least if Miss Sharp and her lapdog, Draven, managed to track them here, surely they wouldn’t try anything funny in front of all these people.
    She thought of the shadow thing from the parking garage.
    What would happen if that had managed to track them here?
    Being in a public place might not be such a good choice after all. Darcy had a feeling that that thing wouldn’t mind being witnessed.
    She slid her phone out of her purse and looked up the number for child welfare. Not daring to leave the table, but well aware that the kid was right there and that it was rude to talk in the restaurant, she kept the call as quick as possible.
    “This is Darcy Harkness, I’m at the Barry White Diner in Tarker’s Hollow. There’s a little boy here who badly needs help,” she explained as quietly as she could.
    The woman on the other end took her phone number, and the address of the diner and said they would send someone immediately.
    She fired off a quick text before replacing the phone in her clutch.
    Well, there it was. She had done everything she could. Now there was nothing to do but keep the boy safe until help arrived and try not to think about how far from home she’d have to go to find another job.
    Darcy pushed the bacon and eggs around on her plate. She wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, but she had an idea that it might be a long night, so she’d better eat.
    At least her senses were back to normal.
    She pulled the sounds and smells of the place around her like a blanket. The orange naugahyde booths were still hung with a light scent of cigarettes from back before the anti-smoking laws. The sounds of silverware clinking china plates and the familiar cadence of the suburban Philadelphia accent in the voices all around made her feel safe.
    Although she’d feel a hell of a lot safer with a few of her brothers around.
    But Derek wasn’t flying into town from the west coast for another week.
    Chance had a big fight coming up, so he’d be out of the picture during the final stage of training.
    And Johnny… was he still on tour? Darcy hadn’t heard from him in a while.
    As if in answer to her question, the flat screen TV behind the counter popped up a picture of Johnny.
    It was the local news. The sound was down, but she could still make out the captions.
    The news anchor cut to a video of Johnny performing. But something was wrong. Darcy could tell right away.
    On the screen, Johnny faltered then stumbled into a blast from the pyrotechnics.
    Oh no.
    She wasn’t worried about the fire. Fire wasn’t a problem for Johnny.
    But she was worried about what would throw him off his game like that. Johnny was usually in total control.
    Her hand went to her belly, and the mark asserting itself there. She thought she had a pretty good idea of what was messing with Johnny. Were her other brothers having the same issues?
    The report came back on the screen, the captions informing her that Johnny