Instinct by Sherrilyn Kenyon Read Free Book Online Page A

I’m about to need a truckload of Listerine.”
    Bubba snorted as he rolled Nick over toward her. “For the record, it was. Again, you ain’t that cute in high heels, boy. Though I guess I’d have done it for you if I had to. But only ’cause your mama is, and she’d have stabbed me someplace real uncomfortable with hers if I let something happen to your rotten little hide.”
    Laughing, Kody brushed the hair back from Nick’s face. “You okay?”
    â€œYeah. What happened?”
    Her brow lined with worry, she kept her hand on his cheek. “You stopped breathing and turned a shade of blue I only want to see in your eyes. Not on your skin or lips.”
    Grateful he’d remembered to shave extra close that morning, Nick rolled to his back and scowled up at his friends, especially as he realized there was a crowd gathered around them. Great. An audience for this embarrassing display. Just what he craved …
    â€™Cause puberty just wasn’t humiliating enough on its own.
    Kill me now.
    Bubba held him down as he started to rise. “I’ve already called an ambulance. You ain’t going nowhere till you get checked out. Not with that heart condition you have. My mama and yours would slaughter me.”
    â€œHe’s right,” Mr. Head said as he pushed through the nosy onlookers. “Don’t move, Nick. Just lie still till they get here. Last thing we need’s a lawsuit.”
    Double awesome. More hospital bills. At this rate, he was going to be indentured to the insurance company for the rest of his natural life.
    Grinding his teeth, he met Kody’s worried gaze. He didn’t really have a heart condition, and they both knew it. His early childhood health problems had stemmed from his human body rejecting the demonic parts of his DNA. He was a freak of nature who should have never survived his father’s biological gifts.
    â€œGuys, I really do feel fine.” He met Bubba’s gaze. “C’mon, Triple Threat. Let my Nicky go.”
    â€œI’m not chancing it. Nor am I facing your mama without a thorough screening from a licensed doc. I happen to value and appreciate all my body parts being in their current locations.”
    Nick groaned in agony as he regretted ever allowing Bubba to take his mom out on a date. They’d only gone out once, but since then, Bubba had assumed the role of Nick guardianship with a terrifying iron grip. “Then please don’t call her. Go get her and take her to the hospital to meet me. She’ll be too tore up to drive and I don’t want her out in this mess alone. She drives bad enough as it is.”
    â€œMark’s with her. I’ll have him drive her over while I follow the ambulance.”
    Nick gaped at the mere suggestion. “Are you nuts? Have you seen the way that man drives? He’s worse than she is. I don’t know what loon approved his license, but dang! I swear he found it in the bottom of a cereal box. And he took lessons from Mario and Luigi.”
    Snorting, Bubba pulled out his cell phone to call Mark and tell him what had happened.
    Before Nick could continue his protests, the EMTs arrived. Kody stepped back so that they could check his vitals. With the exception of a fever, they confirmed that there was nothing wrong with him. But because of his heart condition, they insisted that he go in for more testing.
    It was so frustrating.
    And scary since there was always a chance that they might actually uncover something “abnormal” about him. Something that could land him locked in a lab somewhere for testing since he was about as abnormal as any X-Men could be.
    Of course, it didn’t help any that he had a new hell-monkey best friend in that one of the zeitj ä gers decided to hitch a ride with them as they took Nick to the ambulance and closed the doors.
    Why did that have to be his new psycho stalker? Couldn’t there by a supermodel