New Species 05 Brawn by Laurann Dohner Read Free Book Online

sound. “She’s dead. Her face was mush and there was blood. My cell
phone is in my purse downstairs. The phone line is down in my bedroom. I don’t
want the guy to get away.” She edged around him toward the stairs.
    A pair of hands suddenly gripped her upper arms. “The phone
line is down?”
    “Yes.”
    He growled.
    “Let me go. I have to get my cell phone and be careful, I have
my gun. That asshole isn’t going to get away if I have to shoot the fucker to
keep him there for the cops to arrest.”
    “How many men did you see?”
    “One. Let go. I have to call the police and get over there
before the guy gets away.”
    “Don’t you think it’s alarming that your lines are down and
your neighbor was just murdered?” His voice was soft. “Stay here. I have a cell
phone in my room. Do not move.”
    She leaned against the wall, realized her emotions were
scrambled from sleep and shock and it probably wasn’t a bright idea to go climb
the wall to face a burglar with a gun. As long as he didn’t realize someone had
seen him, he’d take his time stealing from the house and she hadn’t seen Mel.
She’d have been with Tina or she was already dead.
    “Okay.”
    His hands released her and he backed into his room. She
stood there gripping the gun, trying to pull herself together. She wiped at
tears, calmed enough to realize she was still a little drunk and Brawn was
right. Calling the police was paramount. Brawn’s soft voice soothed her frayed
nerves as he approached her. His dark shape halted inches from her.
    “Send the police and help,” he ordered then the faint light
of his cell phone died as he closed it.
    “I contacted my people and they will have help to us soon.”
    “Give me your phone. We need to dial 9-1-1.”
    “They are doing it now. They are sending us help.”
    “We don’t need help. You need to give me the phone. The
police need to get to Tina’s house. Mel is there and she might still be alive.
Give me the cell phone. He can’t get away with this. They need to catch him and
I’m still a little drunk. I want to go over there to blow the bastard to hell
the way he did Tina but I’d probably go to prison for killing him while
inebriated. I can’t believe this is happ—”
    “Be quiet,” Brawn suddenly hissed softly.
    “I know I—”
    A hand clamped over her mouth and he spun her around, just
yanking her body tightly against his. One of his arms looped around her waist
and his breath fanned her ear. His long hair tickled her arm.
    “Someone is downstairs,” he whispered.
    Terror slammed into her…but it might be her father. Maybe
he’d heard Boomer bark or the sound of the gun going off. Boomer never barked
at night and while the gunshot had sounded faint, unlike anything she’d ever
heard, her dad was an expert with weapons. He’d know how all of them sounded
when fired and would have identified it instantly.
    He’d check on her first and come armed, since he slept with
weapons in his nightstand drawer. Hell, he’d put the gun in Becca’s in case
anyone ever broke in the house. It was always loaded, the safety off, ready to
fire. She wanted to tell Brawn who it could be but his hand over her mouth
prevented that.
    Becca jumped when a noise came from below, a weird one that
she’d never heard before and she had no idea what would cause it. It was kind
of a soft motor sound and then there was a squishy sound, not a good one. Her
father would have pounded up the stairs, searching for her. He would be worried
sick and come after her like a charging bull to protect her.
    Her heart hammered harder when it sank it that it wasn’t her
father down there making the noises. Brawn’s hand over her mouth tightened and
so did his arm around her waist. Her toes left the floor as he hoisted her
higher up his tall body, backing them both inside his room.
    “Don’t make a sound,” he breathed.
    Becca kept her lips tightly sealed when the hand released
her mouth. He used it to very