Tigress (Night Hawk Series) by J.E. Taylor Read Free Book Online

burgers. He sat with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the stick shift just staring at me.
    “What?” I asked with a mouthful of French fries.
    “I’ve seen wild dogs eat with more manners,” he said.
    “Fuck you.” I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “I haven’t eaten in five years, what’d you expect?”
    He started laughing and put the vehicle in gear, pulling back on the road before addressing me again.
    “I have no idea what I expected, but that certainly wasn’t it.”
    “ Normally I do have manners,” I said and licked my lips. “It’s just this was delicious.”
    “I guess so.” He licked his lips and inhaled. “I’m going to have to eat something before sunrise.”
    The way he gazed at me set my body on fire and I had to look out the window. While he was talking about hunting, my mind went to the last time he made love to me with his mouth, to the heat he created that went to a cellular level and I sighed, taking a sip of the chocolate shake like it could quell the fire he set with his innocent statement.
    Silence filled the cab and after I finished my meal, I tucked the garbage into the bag and took Damian up on his offer of using his leg as a pillow.
    “Sing something for me,” I said and our eyes met for a moment and he offered a slight nod before looking back at the road. He pressed his lips together in contemplation and then took a breath and his incredible voice filled the cab. I swear his voice would put the heavenly host to shame. He could easily walk into a recording studio and put out a number one album and the women would swoon, just like I always do. He crooned through a collection of my favorite songs, lulling me to sleep.

Chapter Nine
     
    A chill tickled the back of my neck and I burrowed further into my coat and shifted, opening my eyes to the empty cab and the night beyond. I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and stared at the almost deserted rest stop. The lights were on in the rest rooms and I bit my lip, looking at the key ring hanging from the ignition. It held half the keys that it had earlier and I knew Damian was hunting.
    I stretched and pulled the remaining keys from the ignition, pocketing them and sliding out of the cab. I made sure I had the right one to unlock the truck before I closed and locked it, and headed inside to pee and rinse my mouth out.
    When I stepped out of the stall, movement caught my attention and my head snapped toward the door. I stepped back at the hovering shadow. Sharp teeth gleamed and the form stepped toward me. It wasn’t Damian and my heart thundered in my chest announcing my fear to this fiend.
    Instead of retreating into the stall and limiting my options, I stepped into the center of the space, facing the vampire. She chuckled when I took a defensive posture, tucking my chin to my chest and Michael’s name popped into my head.
    “Michael,” I whispered, calling on my ancient grandfather who could toast her on sight.
    The air shifted as the vampire attacked, but the moment her fangs dug into my arm, her feral growl turned into a scream of agony. She pulled away, her hands clawing at her throat as my blood spread like poison through her.
    Michael’s hand descended on my shoulder and he stood watching exactly what my cured blood did to descendants of Lilith and Eve. The angry blisters on Damian’s skin were nothing compared to the complete breakdown of this vampire’s cells. It was as if she swallowed a gallon of battery acid. A bloody froth bubbled from her mouth and her skin looked as if it were boiling. Her dying screams echoed off the tiled walls, the entire ordeal horrified me and I turned my face into Michael’s chest.
    All I could think of was what if I had let Damian drink my blood.
    The screams subsided, but the stench of death hung on the air like a thick bank of fog. When the door banged open, I turned my head, meeting Damian’s frantic gaze. A drop of fresh blood still graced his lips and when he glanced