Midnight Whispers - Paranormal Romance by Catherine Bullard Read Free Book Online

can’t imagine how it would feel to lose my entire
family in the course of a single night.”
    Tears filled
her eyes suddenly, and she blinked them back. Forcing a smile, she picked up
her half-eaten tart. “Let’s talk about something else, shall we? It’s a
beautiful day, and I don’t want to dwell on things I cannot change.”
    “Of course,”
Jake said, but Kyra caught the flash of disappointment in her eyes—he
wanted her to confide in him, she realized. It would be nice if she could lean
her head against his chest like she’d done before, and unload her emotional
baggage onto his sturdy shoulders.
    But something
in her heart held her back, something she didn’t fully understand since she
knew Jake wouldn’t begrudge her for it. And it infuriated her more than
anything else that she couldn’t seem to take her heart in her hands and give It
to someone of her own choosing.
     
    ****
    His senses
on high alert, the man crept silently through the darkness, crouching through
the trees. His body stiffened as he heard a branch crack behind him, but when
he turned it was only one of his hunters. Biting back a curse at the man’s
clumsiness, he motioned with his fingers for silence, then continued to inch
forward, sweeping his surroundings with a keen gaze, searching for prey.
    Years of
practice had honed his eyes so that he could see in the dark as well as any
night animal, and his other senses were heightened as well—he could hear
each breath his men took, smell every scent the wind brought to him on her
wings. He’d worked hard to hone his skills, and the number of kills under his
belt signified just how much that had paid off.
    Finally
they reached their destination, and crouched behind the bushes some distance
away to wait. The sliver of moonlight illuminated the man slumped under a tree,
seemingly asleep. A trickle of blood burned brightly in the night, like a
beacon, and the man tensed as he readied his weapon, banking that it would draw
the right kind of predator forward—the one that they were looking for.
    Just when
his legs were beginning to go stiff from crouching motionless for so long, a
figure stepped out of the shadows. He appeared a normal man, dressed in a
jerkin and leggings, but his extraordinary pale face and red eyes gleaming out
of the darkness gave him away—he was a monster, and exactly the kind of
creature he and his men fought to eradicate from this world. Because of his
group, the country people lived in relative peace, undisturbed by the horrors
lurking in the shadows.
    The man
crouched down on his haunches, tucking two pale fingers beneath the other man’s
chin and pushing it up to expose his throat. He opened his mouth to reveal the
long fangs that marked his kind—vampire. Filthy, foul, bloodsucking
vermin. Spawn of the devil.
    As the
vampire leaned down to feast, the man hidden in the shadows released the bolt
from his crossbow. It pierced the vampire’s chest, who let out a keening howl
and toppled backward. As he did so, the ‘unconscious’ man leaped forward,
pulling a stake from his sleeve, and drove it into the vampire’s heart.
    Smiling
with grim satisfaction, the man motioned for his group to stand, then crossed
over to the one who had made the kill. “That’s very good work.” He clapped him
on the back. “You’ve done your ancestors proud.”
    The man
smiled, wiping away the blood at his temple. “Thank you, sir.”
    “You’re
welcome. Now let’s get that bonfire built so we can burn this bastard. I don’t
want to leave any chance open for him to come back.”
     
    ****
    Kyra dragged
herself out of bed as the sun came up, gritting her teeth as a headache pounded
relentlessly at her temples. She was getting tired of being tired, and her
resolve not to heed the wolf call was growing perilously thin. Keeping her
teeth clenched so as not to give into the yawns trying to work their way up,
she pulled on her clothes, then stumbled outside to the lean-to so she