Wren and the Werebear by Aubrey Rose Read Free Book Online Page A

figured that now the shifter knows we're after him, he'll be on the lookout for an inconspicuous sedan coming from San Jose."
    "Nobody expects an assassin to come roaring up all the way from Los Angeles on a green motorcycle." Wren swung her leg over the Ninja and settled into the seat. It was small enough that she only had to tiptoe a little bit to balance. Not bad.
    "Exactly. Also I know you like to ride."
    "You're the best, Marty."
    "Go kill 'em," he said. "Literally."
    She pocketed the cell phone and revved the engine. The sport bike growled under her, as though it was as eager to race up the coast as she was. She patted the smooth green side of the sport bike and flipped her braid back over her shoulder
    "Good boy," she said. "Let's go put down a bear."
    The coast flew by under her feet, and the rising sun soon burned up the waves of fog. The rumble of the engine under her body hypnotized her and caused her to lose all sense of time. By the time she stopped for gas she was surprised to find that she had been riding for hours already. No time to waste. She ate a protein bar and hopped back on.
    Curve after curve, she made her way north. The tall pines were as black as shadows against the yellow cliffs, and the sunlight glinting off of the water was blindingly bright. The salt air seemed to clear her brain of all thought, and she let herself ease into the rhythm of the ride, enjoying the wind and the sun.
    There were fewer and fewer cars up on the northern edge of the California coast, as they peeled off to the inland highways to head toward San Francisco more quickly, and soon she was alone on the road, with only a few cars passing in the other direction every once in a while.
    It was late afternoon. She'd thought she had missed the small town and was planning to stop for directions soon, but then she saw the city sign. Maugham. Population: 411.
    All thoughts of her relaxing ride were driven away by the reminder of Tommy's death. This was where it had happened. She swallowed and slowed down.
    Fifty feet up ahead, a man walked alongside the side of the road. His shirt was off, slung over one shoulder, and he held out a thumb to hitchhike. He turned at the sound of her bike and held up his hand in a half-wave.
    As she passed him and waved back, her eyes swept over his body. His physique was incredibly muscled for such a tall man, and his broad chest shimmered with a gleam of sweat in the sun. His hair hung down past his ears: "hippy hair," as her dad would have put it. And something else, something lighter on his skin, running across his chest. She only saw a glimpse of it before his arm dropped.
    He turned to watch her as she sped by him, and in her mirror she saw his eyes flicker down to the back of the motorcycle.
    Beautiful eyes. Light, almost golden brown. If Wren had been a normal girl, she would have been taken in by them completely. Years of kills had cautioned her against those sorts of feelings, and there was only one thing in his eyes that mattered to Wren: where he had focused them.
    In a split second he was out of sight behind her, but Wren knew without a doubt that those beautiful gold eyes had memorized her license plate number.
    A half mile later, Wren reached town. She turned off into a dirt road in the center of Maugham.
    It was a sampler pack for what a real city might look like, she thought. There was one tiny restaurant, one grocery store, one gas station. And one hotel, a small inn with wood shingled sides. All of the parking spaces at the inn were full, so she pulled into the parking lot for the gas station across the street.
    After gassing up, she went into the gas station store to get some coffee. The teenager sitting on a stool at the counter had his eyes closed and was bobbing his head to whatever music was playing in his huge headphones. Wren waited unsuccessfully for him to notice her and then tapped his shoulder. He looked up at her from his chair with red-rimmed, glassy eyes and a goofy grin.