Brush With Death by E.J. Stevens Read Free Book Online Page A

wolf spirit wanted to run and I was too upset to wrestle him
back into submission.
    No, my wolf wasn’t who I wanted to fight.  I grinned, the
air cool on my exposed teeth.  I wouldn’t attack Calvin, of course, but I was
in no shape for my dinner date with Emma.  She already drove me crazy—her wry
smile, her hair, her smell—there was no way that I could meet her like this.  I
was going to have to blow off some steam.
    I needed to hunt.
    I caught the scent of a white-tailed deer and pushed myself
to run faster.  I grinned so widely that all now all of my teeth were exposed
to the wind.  All the better to eat you with my deer .
    Emma would kill me if she found out about my pre-dinner
snack.  She didn’t approve of killing animals for food and wouldn’t appreciate the
thrill of the hunt that already pushed adrenaline through my veins.
    I slowed, grin faltering, but shook my head.  Sod it.  A man
has needs, right?
    I licked my lips and nose and continued my pursuit.
     

Chapter 17
Calvin
     
    S imon’s angry
words continued to ring in my ears. She’s better off without you, mate.
    I needed to go to Yuki and confront her about Emma’s fears. 
I had to know if she was okay.  But did I really have the right to dredge up
that nightmare moment from her past?  Was I the best person for the job?  Or
was I, as Simon stated, holding her back?
    I thought that I was good for Yuki, and her for me, but had
I been the only one to reap the benefits? 
    I tried to look at my relationship with Yuki objectively.  She’d
been placed in the face of danger more than once because of me.  When I
couldn’t control my wolf, I came close to tearing Yuki and Emma apart.  Later,
when a deranged werewolf began hunting his own kind, Yuki again got caught in
the cross-fire.  And when she was in a horrible accident, I did nothing to
help. 
    Sure, I lent her my support and love, but that wasn’t
enough.  Maybe, it never would be. 
    I sighed and shook my head.  Sulking and worrying over
Simon’s words wasn’t helping Yuki.  I pulled out my phone and hit speed dial,
needing to hear her voice.  But the call went to voicemail.
    That was strange.  Yuki almost always had her cell on, even
in class.  With her parents working late, it would be foolish not to keep her
phone with her.  She was alone in that old house.  What if she fell down the
stairs or slipped on the bathroom floor?
    Worry stabbed my chest and made my blood run cold.  I
grabbed my keys and ran to my truck. 
     

Chapter 18
Yuki
     
    M y teeth clacked
together as I rode my bike over a large tree root.  It was dumb luck that I
didn’t go flying over the handlebars.  I slowed, letting my boots drag across
the gravel path overgrown with weeds and grass. 
    The shimmering form of Rose, the fragrant ghost I was
following, continued to flit over the trail at breakneck speed.  Good for the
impatient ghost, but not so good for those of us who still had physical bodies
that could be injured.
    “Wait up!” I yelled.
    The ghost came to a halt, but bounced up and down in what I
imagined was big time agitation.  Jeesh, ghosts are all the same.  They
discover that I can sense them and then they’re all, me, me, me.
    I brushed an arm across my forehead, wiping away beads of
sweat that were starting to run into my eyes.  Great, now I was all sweaty and gross. 
I looked down at my sleeve.  The once black fabric was now covered in a pasty
mixture of white face powder and perspiration. 
    “I could so go for a bubble bath right now,” I muttered.
    Instead I puffed out a sigh, blowing black bangs out of my
face, and started pedaling again up the trail.  I had to struggle to keep up
with my ghost trail guide who took off as soon as I started moving.  Its golden
glow disappeared around a corner and I had to stand on the pedals to pick up
more speed. 
    “So much for waiting for me,” I grumbled.
    I had no idea how far these trails went on for.  We had
already