Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 by Touch of Seduction Read Free Book Online Page A

hurt her, do you? She must have told them about Connie’s
house, the same way she told you.”
    “Maybe not. Depending on how good a lead they had on
your scent, they might have simply tracked you there.”
    “They can do that?” she whispered, feeling as if every
ounce of blood had just drained from her face.
    “Yeah, and you didn’t travel that far from home.” He
took a deep breath, and his voice seemed even deeper as he said, “Your scent
is…unique, Liv. Different. I’m not sure if they can track Jamie’s Merrick
blood, like they do with the other Merrick, since she’s so young, but there’s a
good chance they could have followed you.”
    “Great,” she groaned, wondering why she would have to
be the freak with the “unique” scent, whatever that meant. “Will they be able
to track us out of town?”
    “Not as easily, and we can keep ahead of them if we’re
careful. But it’s still going to be a dangerous trip. They’re going to guess
we’re headed for Colorado, which means we’re going to need to avoid the direct
routes as much as possible.”
    “This all seems so unreal.” She shook her head again,
her voice thick with emotion. “I don’t even know what I’m doing.”
    “Naw, you’re doing fine. Hell, just look at how you
handled yourself tonight. You drove like a demon, and not everyone could have
done that.” Her pulse rate climbed as he gave her another one of those sexy,
lopsided smiles that just seemed to intensify his outrageous appeal. “I never
thought I would say these words, but you are one badass kindergarten teacher.”
    Though she felt oddly torn between laughter and tears,
his husky words filled Olivia with a strange bubble of warmth that managed to
ease some of her fear, which was probably what he’d been after. “You know,” she
said shakily, looking away as she felt her face go warm, “this is probably
going to sound crazy, but I think that’s the nicest compliment anyone has ever
given me, Aiden. Thank you.”
    As the heat from his gaze lingered on her profile, she
wondered what he was gearing up to say, but then his phone rang, interrupting
the moment. He quickly took the call, asking if everyone was okay, while Olivia
twisted around in her seat to check on Jamie, who seemed to be quite happy as
she studied the beautiful cross that Aiden had hung around her neck.
    “When you’re done taking care of the bodies,” he said
into the phone a moment later, “meet us over at the gas station we stopped at
earlier. Had to leave my truck back at the house, so we’re in a red Honda.”
    “Are they all right?” she asked when he ended the
call.
    “Yeah.” He slipped the phone back into its case, then
raked his hair away from his face again. “A little banged up, it sounds like,
but then they’re used to that. Kellan thinks they took down around seven of the
bastards in the woods, which means there were about twelve of them altogether,
if you count the ones that attacked the car.”
    “That seems like a lot,” she murmured, pulling back
out onto the road. The only gas station remotely close to their location was a
mile away, so Olivia headed in that direction, assuming that’s where his
friends would be meeting them.
    “They’re coming through faster and faster,” Aiden
grunted, his right arm braced against the door, his hand resting against his
mouth as he sprawled against the back of the seat in one of those casual poses
that had always struck her as beautifully male. “But to send that many tells us
that your sister was right. They’re eager to get their hands—” He cut himself
off, obviously not wanting Jamie to hear, but Olivia knew what he’d been about
to say. The monsters wanted to get their hands on her niece. On a precious,
innocent little girl.
    “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “It just…it
doesn’t make any sense.”
    “Yeah, well, you can’t apply logic to these things,
Liv.” The words were straightforward enough, but she