Scratch by Mel Teshco Read Free Book Online Page B

go? I’m…I’m free?”
    “No. I’m going to tear you limb from limb.”
    At the other man’s sharply indrawn breath, Blake released
his arm with a disbelieving shake of his head. Retrieving the rifle, he threw
it away. Alexia watched as it arced gracefully through the air and landed with
a far off, dull thud.
    Blake turned back to the inert man. “Get undressed. I want
your jeans, your shirt,” smirking, he finished, “you get to keep your
underwear.”
    The man nodded, putting on a brave face and speaking almost
casually as he undressed quicker than a man with his injuries should. “You
know, my dad will kill you. Your woman too.”
    Blake’s lip curled. “So your father is in charge of hunting
me down?” he asked. At the other man’s nod, Blake stated simply and decisively,
“He can try to take me down, but killing my woman isn’t even an option.”
    Blake grabbed the jeans and dragged them on. “Tell me, how
does it feel to have a father with no honor, no principles? A father who
undoubtedly couldn’t care less that I spared his son’s life and all his men.”
    The man wheezed in pain as he tugged off his button-down
shirt. When he looked up, shame burned behind his young eyes. “Nothing matters
more to him than killing all the shape-shifters. He won’t stop until you’re
dead—or he is.”
    A growl rumbled low in Blake’s throat, the sound more animal
than human. “So be it.” Minutes later he swung a denim leg over the Ducati,
offering Alexia a hand to help her keep balance as she mounted behind him.
    He swiveled a little in the seat, focusing on the man still
sprawled on the ground in his underwear. “Your kind can shoot at me all you
want. But shooting at an innocent woman? A human? You’ve crossed the line.”
    The man averted his eyes. “I do what has to be done.”
    “Tell your father to meet me—alone—at club Shrine. Nine
o’clock tonight.” He fired up the Ducati’s engine, then tossed out one final
instruction, “And tell him to use a white cane so I can recognize him.”

Chapter Four
     
    Coming back to the city with her father’s name still in
tatters and the bad guys still after them and wanting to kill them, Alexia
realized it was like coming full circle and everything had yet to be resolved.
A slipknot that had pulled inexorably tighter.
    She expected Blake to pull over at some stage and find the
tracker on their bike and dispose of it, before he rented another shabby and
nondescript apartment or motel room. Instead he booked them into a luxury hotel
with stunning views of the ocean and ornate chandeliers sparkling on the
ceilings.
    The parking attendant had been bemused but not opposed to
Blake’s request that he ride the Ducati to the other side of the city to
another parking lot, where cruddy old motels lined every street. Of course the
generous tip had been nice encouragement.
    Alexia was only glad that having the bike miles away from
them, and the tracker still attached, would keep them safe, even for a little
while.
    Her boots echoed along the marble corridor leading past the
hotel’s exclusive designer shops and toward the glass elevators. “I didn’t
anticipate five-star accommodation.” Her eyes skated down her bloodied and
ripped flannel that sat oddly askew over her leather jacket.
    He shrugged, and even in his too-tight khaki shirt and
too-short jeans, the movement was all eloquence. “Believe me, I can afford it.
Besides, even without the trace on your bike, my enemies are likely aware now
that I’ve been hiding out in cheap dives. I’m betting this will be one of the
last places the bastards will look for a while.”
    They stilled at the glass doors and Blake lifted his hand to
snare her chin, his rough hand sending goose bumps down her spine. “And I
wanted to indulge you. Treat you as a woman should be treated.”
    Her mouth dried, her pulse tripping. “You’ve already treated
me exactly how a woman would want to be treated.”
    At the hunger