Instinct by Sherrilyn Kenyon Read Free Book Online

hold you down till you can’t breathe.”
    â€œAmen, little brother. Amen.”
    Kody grinned at them. “Your mama still in town?” she asked Bubba.
    â€œNah. She left last night. Thank God. I wouldn’t want her trying to travel in this mess. I’d be the basket case if she was at the airport today.”
    â€œYou two,” Kody said with a laugh. “I don’t know why you pick on your mothers when you’re both worse about their safety than they are with yours. Nick, your mom’s younger than Bubba and I’ve seen you hold on to her arm when she’s going up and down stairs.”
    â€œHey now, you don’t know.… I’ve seen her trip on straight ground. Many times. She could fall. Hurt her arm. Then I’d have to actually wash a dish for myself. God forbid that humanity! I’m not even sure how to work a sink. Could fall in and drown myself on accident or something.”
    Laughing even harder at something she knew wasn’t true since Nick washed dishes most nights while his mom worked, Kody shook her head. “Like I said. Neither of you has room to complain about them being overprotective.”
    Nick paused as he reached the doors and saw the storm outside. The sky was pitch black. The rain and hail hit the building so hard, it sounded like gunfire. He scowled at the sight of the rain’s red spatter patterns. “Is that…”
    â€œBlood,” Kody finished for him. “It’s raining blood.”
    Nick met Bubba’s horrified gaze. “Zombies?”
    Grimacing, Bubba shoved at him. “Don’t sass me, boy. You’re not that cute in high heels.”
    A chill went down Nick’s spine as he turned to see the zeitj ä ger behind him, watching them with great curiosity. They had stopped the Apocalypse. He and Caleb had sealed the portal before the u Å¡ umgallu could gather and summon their armies to attack.
    Why was this still happening?
    It made no logical sense. What else could possibly cause something like this to happen?
    He looked at Kody. Are you sure this isn’t from the Arelim civil war?
    No, Nick. I have a bad feeling it’s from something a whole lot worse.
    His stomach shrank with dread as stark cold terror filled him. “What could be worse?” Nick asked without thinking.
    No sooner had those words come out of his mouth than a swarm of bat-sized mosquitos swarmed, driving parents, students, Squires, and faculty back into the building. They screamed and ran, fleeing the pests and seeking shelter.
    Nekoda glared furiously at him. “What did I tell you about saying things like that, Nick?”
    Not to be stupid. But that was like asking him not to breathe. It seemed to come a little too naturally to him most days. “At least they’re not loc—”
    She covered his lips before he could say finish saying “locusts.” Which was probably a good thing given what kept happening to them. But …
    Nick stumbled back as a weird feeling came over him. One second everything was weird.
    The next, it went dark. He struggled to breathe against a frigid cold calm that invaded him. It paralyzed every part of his being until he couldn’t see or hear.
    His eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled.
    â€œNick!” Kody panicked at the way he hit the ground. It was as unnatural as the sudden pallor of his skin. Terrified and shaking, she met Bubba’s gaping stare as he knelt beside them.
    Bubba gasped in his own alarm. “Nick? C’mon. Talk to me! Say something stupid, boy!”
    Yet it was too late. Tears filled Kody’s eyes as grief choked her. She couldn’t find Nick’s pulse in his wrist or neck. He wasn’t moving.
    Not breathing. No. It couldn’t be.
    Yet it was.
    Nick was dead.

 
    CHAPTER 4
    Nick choked and wheezed as someone gave him mouth-to-mouth. “That better be you, Kody. I swear to God if it’s Bubba,