[Project Nemesis] Jungle Fever by Celeste Anwar Read Free Book Online Page B

nothing worse had happened
to her.  She´d met a girl at an orphanage—Louise—who’d been raped by one of her
foster parent´s sons.  The boy had been arrested and she had been sent back to
an orphanage, but it had made Yvonne so angry to hear that poor girl´s tale,
especially when a couple of weeks later, she´d tried to kill herself.
                She´d only been
fifteen at the time, luckily her suicide attempt hadn´t succeeded, but it had
not only scared Yvonne, who had been thirteen at the time, it had pissed her
off to the point where her behavior had worsened.  She was caught in a vicious
circle.  By the time she reached David, she´d been fourteen years old and a complete
hellion.  David and Moira, his wife, had lived on a farm.  David had retired at
fifty-five, and Moira was a teacher.  She´d spent more time with David, since Moira
was always working, and at first she hadn´t trusted him--she´d trusted no man
since she´d heard Louise´s tale.  But slowly, David had broken down her
barriers, and they´d become firm friends.  He taught her not only how to hunt
and track, but how to care for animals too.  She´d tended the farm with him,
one Christmas they´d gifted her with a puppy, and that dog had been her best
friend until the day she´d died ten years later.
                It had damned
near broken her heart.  It had hurt her much more than her divorce ever had. She´d
always had an affinity to animals, had for a long time, and to see one being
killed, hurt her, even if it was a monster, a shape-shifter.  Worse yet, these
weren’t just animals, they were humans trapped in beastly bodies.
                What had she done
by coming here?  Would they save a special place in hell for her for what she’d
done?
                When she´d taken
this assignment, she´d tried to put out of her mind what could be happening in
the facility.  Tried to ignore the fact that they were running tests on
animals, but she´d been greedy, too eager to erase the enormous tax debt her
ex-husband had saddled her with.
                Yvonne was
ashamed of herself.  She really was.  Her greed and avarice had pushed her into
this situation--it was her own fault.  Now she’d be lucky if she could get off
the island in one piece, unharmed.  Hell, she’d settle for just getting out of
here alive.
                She could worry
about her eternal soul and penance later.
                She watched the
two men prowl around the area, sniffing here and there, tracking or searching
for more cats.  When they were satisfied that they were alone, they shifted
back into human form.  The scars on Armando mostly covered his arms and legs. 
The rest of him was golden brown, male beauty.  As if sensing her eyes on him,
he looked up and caught her gaze.  His brown eyes darkened to nearly black.
                She shuddered,
relieved when Remy moved away but felt cold all of a sudden.
                Despite her
aversion to their violence, she couldn´t help but appreciate the beauty of
their
    bodies, but her distaste for
the killing and fighting must have shown on her face.  Armando stalked over to
her, grabbed her by the arm, and pinched her chin between thumb and forefinger.
 “You think me a monster, chica? ” he hissed at her.
                “Yes!” she
snarled, unafraid.  She leaned into the tree as his eyes narrowed angrily at
her.  He crowded her with his body, his fury and disgust evident.
                She knew that if
she´d been a man, he would have attacked her.  She couldn´t help but sigh in
relief when he moved out of her personal space.  His body was still tense from
the fight, parts of him covered in blood, she shouldn´t have answered his
question, but she was relieved that they hadn´t noted her attraction for them,
and also, the act that she´d witnessed had horrified her.