The Shifters by Alexandra Sokoloff Read Free Book Online Page B

then there was the sound of a siren approaching, followed by feet pounding, and she was seized around the waist as Ryder grabbed her and hauled her back into a storefront, holding her against his side.
    A patrol car skidded around the corner, past the doorway where they were hiding. Uniformed cops were jumping out even before the vehicle came to a complete stop.
    The cops ran for the tourist, who did one final, impossible jackknife and collapsed in the middle of the street.
    The cops surrounded him with weapons drawn.
    â€œHands behind your head!” one shouted. The tourist didn’t move.
    â€œPut your hands behind your head!” the officer repeated grimly.
    The body lay still. The uniforms advanced cautiously, weapons at the ready.
    At Ryder’s side, Caitlin strained to see around the corner of the doorway. In death, a shapeshifter’s body returned to its original form, and she wanted to see what that original form was.
    The tourist’s head had dropped to the side, and his face was angled straight toward the doorway where she and Ryder stood. The streetlamps provided a perfectly lit view. Cait held her breath, waiting for the change….
    The tourist’s eyes were wide and staring. Definitely dead.
    But his features remained the same, as did the proportions of his body. Caitlin shook her head, not understanding. “But…”
    Ryder said quietly beside her, “He wasn’t a shapeshifter.”

Chapter 6
    C aitlin grabbed Ryder’s arm with a ferocity that she could tell startled him. “Then what was he? I want to know now, ” she demanded—then stopped dead as he put his fingers on her mouth and she felt a tingle in her lips, again that raw, aching electricity.
    â€œShh,” he said against her face. “We need to get out of here first. That vampire friend of yours will be here any second.”
    â€œHe’s not my—”
    Before she could finish, he was taking her arm and moving her back into the narrow alley between the shops, away from the gathering crowd of police.
    The iron gate to the courtyard was padlocked,but Ryder did something with some kind of tool he pulled from an inside pocket of his leather coat, and the lock clicked open. Once they were through, he reached back through the bars and snapped the lock shut before taking her arm again to move into the darkness of the inner courtyard. This time Caitlin pulled her arm away and grabbed for the tool in his hand.
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    He let her take it, amused, and watched her as she examined it greedily. He could still feel the softness of her lips on his fingertips and entertained the thought of kissing that mouth, of forcing those lush lips open and plunging his tongue into her, hearing her moan and soften under him as he pulled her hips against his….
    She looked up from the device, frowning. It was a skeleton key, nothing more than that. “Is it en chanted?”
    â€œJust a little.”
    Her eyes narrowed, and he could tell she wanted it. He pressed his advantage. “You can have it—if we can talk.”
    She clenched her jaw, but he could tell he had her. “If you talk first,” she agreed sullenly.
    â€œDeal,” he said.
    The key got them through two more back doors and a front gate, and then they were on St. Philip Street.
    Ryder turned to Caitlin and presented her with the key with a mock bow. She narrowed her eyes again and then snatched it from his hand. To his delight, she pulled a little bag from her cleavage, which he recognized as a gris-gris pouch, a voodoo charm bag, and dropped the key in, before returning the bag to the enticing cleft between her breasts. First the key and then me, he thought, and felt himself stir in anticipation.
    She suddenly blushed as if she’d read his thoughts. Before she could turn away, he grabbed her hand and felt her pull back from him—but just a little. “Now we talk, that’s the deal. How about