Destiny Unchained by Leia Shaw Read Free Book Online Page B

he found
beauty in. In the backwoods, farther than roads and trails dared to
go, beyond the polluted air and noise, was where the night came
alive with a wildness that both calmed and excited him. That was
where the magic took place. And damn him for wanting to share it
with a certain headstrong vampire.

Chapter 7
    Natalia shot up in the bed with a gasp. After she did
a quick scan of the room and realized she was alone, and safe, she
exhaled the breath she’d been holding. Cristian was gone. Or had
last night been a dream? Maybe she hadn’t almost passed out in his
jeep then been carried inside and tucked into bed like a child.
Yes, a nightmare. Perfectly logical. Hello denial, thy name is Natalia.
    She sighed and rose from the bed to find her clothes.
A lone piece of paper on top of the dresser caught her attention.
She picked it up.
    We have much to discuss. Meet me outside the tackle
shop two blocks to the west at sundown.
    It was signed by none other than her personal
werewolf stalker from hell. She sighed. Nope, last night hadn’t
been a dream. But if he thought she would show up just because a
note bid her to, he was out of his damn mind.
    Half an hour later she was showered and dressed in
black leather pants, a long sleeved black shirt, and biker jacket.
She kept her wardrobe sparse when she travelled. Extra clothing and
weapons she usually stored in the pack on her bike. Thankfully,
she’d left her clothes at the motel before taking off that evening.
Too bad she hadn’t stashed her weapons there too.
    So she hit the streets of Rider’s Landing to search
for new ones to replace her stolen ones.
    Located so close to a National Park, she expected at
least one store to carry weapons and have late hours. As she
scanned the lit-up signs, some busted from a dwindling tourist
economy, her mind wandered to the werewolf who’d offered her
weapons from his pack.
    She shook her head. A werewolf offering a vampire a
favor? Ridiculous. Didn’t he hear her when she said she killed his
kind? Come to think of it, why hadn’t he traded her for the bounty
while she was weak last night? A hundred grand was a large sum of
money. She sighed. If he had some kind of puppy-dog crush on her,
she would stab herself with a stake.
    As if her thoughts conjured him, his scent hit the
air and she whirled around to face him.
    “Tackle shop is the other way, Talia. Did you get
lost?”
    She turned and walked away. “Sure. Let’s go with
that.” He strode to her side, keeping pace with her easily. “What
do I have to do to get the message into that thick head of yours?” A head covered in
beautiful, golden hair . Damn her traitorous mind. “Engrave
it on a plaque? Hire a plane to write it in sky letters? I don’t
work with werewolves!”
    “I got the message. I’m just choosing to ignore
it.”
    She walked faster.
    “We need to trade information.”
    “I told you everything I know.”
    “But I didn’t tell you everything I know.”
    She studied his face. What could he possibly know
that she didn’t? “Go on.”
    He shook his head. “That’s not how it works. I want
something from you and you want something from me. We
negotiate.”
    “Negotiate?” That word wasn’t in her vocabulary. She
took what she wanted, when she wanted it.
    He arched a brow. “Do you even know what that
means?”
    Desperation. “What I want from you doesn’t come at a
high price. What do you want from me?”
    “A partnership.”
    “Forget it.” She stopped at the corner and turned in
a circle. The werewolf could’ve made himself useful by pointing her
toward a weapons shop. But he’d probably want to barter for that
too.
    She turned down Sycamore and kept walking.
    “So you hunt rogue werewolves?” her stalker
asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Who do you work for?”
    She gave him a disbelieving look. “Please don’t force
me to say something cliché like, ‘if I tell you, I’ll have to kill
you.’”
    He accepted her non-answer with a nod, but