“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
Ethan sighed. “That’s not what I meant.”
Kerry said, “I think it’s time to take a break from this. It’s about time to call it a day anyway. I’m ready to get something to eat and go home.”
“Want to catch a bite at the pizza place across the street?”
Kerry looked at him, surprised. She hadn’t expected him to ask her to go to dinner with him the first day they worked together. Usually, partners had to get to know each other pretty well before they started hanging out together. She wasn’t sure how to respond to the invitation.
“Ethan, I’m pretty tired. I was thinking about getting something to go and eating it at home.”
“Okay, I just thought I would ask. I’m going to go over there anyway and get some dinner. They’ve got great pizza.”
Kerry said, “Some of the guys eat over there all the time, and I’ve thought about trying it. But not tonight, okay?”
“That’s fine. We’ll do it another time.”
“Sure,” she said. “Another time.”
When she saw him walk across the street, she regretted turning down his offer. He was trying to be friendly and she should have gone with him. Now she faced a lonely night at home, and she knew she would be thinking about Roger. She almost went over to the pizza place anyway, to tell him she had changed her mind, but pride wouldn’t let her do it. So she went home to an empty house with her take out burger and fries and ate alone.
Excerpt:
Mated
By Zoe Winters
If Jane Tanner’s life could be summarized on a bumper sticker, it would say: “Be small. Don’t look threatening.” An odd life mantra for a 24-year-old woman who was five foot three and one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet. But sensing vampires in a world where such beings were a well-kept secret wasn’t great for survival.
Jane huddled in her coat and scrunched behind Paul as he led her into the smoke-filled club. There was snow on the ground, but this wasn’t about the cold; it was about being invisible. Lately, the goal had been to be invisible from Paul. Over the past six months, he’d become what every vampire before Gregory had been with her. A monster.
To the average human, Paul would appear handsome, nonthreatening. His frame was slight, his height only five foot nine. But in that compact form, he held the strength of an immortal. And although he was still a fledgling by most vampiric standards, he was still about ten times stronger than Jane. A fact he reminded her of often.
While other humans saw a handsome face, hair that glinted gold as if touched by the sun, and perfect creamy skin, Jane could only see his good looks as a passing shadow. Instead, what she saw when she looked at Paul, and every other vampire, was coal-black skin that glistened like a snake, with shimmers of silver where the light hit it, and eyes that glowed like doorways into hell.
His fangs remained hidden inside his gums; when they were out they showed on his human visage as well. Vampires preferred to keep a low profile.
Which was why they hated her.
She could see them without being one of them. She’d begged countless times to be turned, but Gregory wouldn’t curse her, and the other vamps wouldn’t reward her.
Paul held her wrist in a punishing grip as he dragged her through the bar. The smoke of countless cigarettes was a thick haze that had her eyes watering. It had to be the control of all the preternaturals because Cary Town was the only place she’d been in a long time where you could still smoke in a bar.
The establishment was run down, but it was obvious it had been the spot in its heyday, maybe sixty years ago. Back then there had no doubt been live singers and performers of jazz and blues, instead of the canned music that was being piped out now through a cheap sound system.
Jane scanned the bar quickly, noting her surroundings. Paul seemed unwilling to protect her from others, so she had to stay aware. There were vampires, some demons, a few humans, and a wolf.
Demons were a hard sort to recognize. If they mingled in the human dimension, they looked like humans. But there was something other about them. They often incited that fearful gut instinct most people feel stupid for feeling, then ignore.
Demons also tended to stare quietly and made plenty of eye contact … something most humans didn’t do with strangers. The humans were easy to pick out because they were just plain clueless. Laughing, talking too loud, drinking too much, completely unaware of the danger surrounding them.
Considering the desire of the preternaturals to remain secret, one would think a lot of humans would mean safety, but with so many vampires present who could easily perform memory wipes, that bet was off.
And finally, the wolf.
Jane was glad Paul was dragging her to the back room because the wolf scared her more than the others. There was no particular defining characteristic that made him obvious to her as a wolf. His eyes didn’t glow, and she couldn’t see fur, for which she was grateful. She knew him from his picture.
Cole Riley. The alpha of the local wolf pack. The strongest werewolf pack in North America, fifty-three members and living right here in Cary Town. No one could find their den. They seemed to move in and out of the city at will without the need to go through the border patrol, and no one knew exactly how they were doing it. Underground tunnels maybe?