Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson Guardian 1)

The vamp's teeth sank into my flesh, and heat flashed white-hot through every cell in my body. The sounds of his greedy sucking filled the air, the last thing I'd ever hear if I didn't do something soon

I took a deep breath and gathered the last of my fast-fading reserves. Energy surged through my limbs. I grabbed the vamp's head, ripped him away from my flesh, and twisted his neck hard

Bone snapped. Breaking his neck mightn't kill him, but it sure as hell would immobilize him and allow me to get away

I rolled him off me, then grabbed the car door and pulled myself upright. The parking garage whirled around me and, for several seconds, I simply stood there, battling for breath as sweat dripped down my face and blood ran from my neck and arm. There was a bitter taste in my mouth, my throat was drier than the Sahara, and my heart pounding so erratically it felt like it was going to leap out of my chest

Something had been on the arrowhead. Something meant to knock me out

Ahead, a creature that was cool and blue moved toward me. It seemed to flow rather than walk, shimmering brightly one moment, fading out of existence the next

I blinked, not sure what I was seeing. Or if I was actually seeing

Then the smell hit me. This was the dead thing. The thing I couldn't let get me

I tried to climb into the car, but my legs had become lumps of unfeeling ice and suddenly I was toppling sideways again. I hit the ground with a grunt, gasping for breath as the blackness rushed in

The last thing I remember seeing were the hands that reached for me

Hands that were blue and suckered like a gecko's Awareness returned slowly. It came as an ache - a throbbing heat that radiated from hot spots in my arm and my neck, with smaller flares of warmth coming from my wrists and my ankles

Noise surrounded me. My heart, beating nine to the dozen in time with the pain. Above that, the throbbing beat of a bass, a rhythmic tune that seemed to pound through the metal underneath me, mingling with the deeper, throatier roar of an engine

Laughter drifted past - deep, powerful and male. With it came scents - musk, mint, and decay, entwined within the metallic odor of blood. Blood that was stiff and heavy on the sleeve of my coat

I cracked open my eyes. There was nothing to see but blackness. I blinked, and realized the blackness was a cover of some sort. Pinpricks of light spotted the material, indicating it was daylight. I wondered if it were the same day, or another

Laughter edged across the noise again, and through the musky foulness of the blanket covering me I caught a whiff of alcohol. I hoped that meant my captors were drinking, that it wasn't just another odor coming from the blanket covering me. The chances of escape escalated if the men were boozing

I shifted slightly, trying to ease the ache in my arm. Chains rattled, scraping harshly across the metal flooring underneath me. The surrounding noise stopped, and I froze

"She awake?" The voice was deep, guttural

There was several beats of silence, then, "Nah. I told you, they pumped her with enough juice to drop an elephant. She won't wake for at least another twenty-four hours." The second voice was a mirror image of the first

Silence fell again. I listened to the hum of the tires against the road and, after a while, drifted off to sleep. The slamming of a car door woke me sometime later

The road noise had stopped. So too had the throaty roar of the engine. The sharp odor of the two men had faded somewhat, and I could hear only one intake of breath

It might be the only chance I had to escape. I lowered my shields a little, feeling out the thoughts of the man still in the van. Unlike the guards at Moneisha, this man was shielded from psychic intrusion

I swore under my breath. That one fact would make escape more difficult. The only chance I really had now was if I could somehow get the man's attention and get him in the back of the car with me

And the best way to get a man's attention? Flash some breast, of course

I shifted a hand. Metal clinked against the metal again. Obviously, I'd been chained, and if the burning on my wrists and ankles was anything to go by, those chains were silver. I couldn't claim my wolf form until they were off

In the front of the van, the man stirred. I held still, waiting, until the squeaking of the seat indicated he had gone back to whatever he was doing. Slowly, carefully, I undid the buttons on my coat, then pulled up my sweater. Once my breasts were free, I flicked off the foul-smelling blanket and rolled onto my back. I kept my eyes closed, my breathing slow and even, as if I were still out of it

The seat squeaked again, then came a sharp intake of breath. Desire surged around me, a hunger as sharp as any wolf's

For several seconds, nothing happened. Then the van lurched as the man moved into the back with me. The scent of mint and death became so strong my nose twitched. Only with those scents came a feeling of wrongness. This man wasn't human, wasn't wolf, wasn't even a shapeshifter or vampire. He was something else, something I'd never come across before

And whatever he was, he was dying

The heat of him caressed my skin. His breathing was short, sharp, the smell of his desire so strong it stirred the moon fever in me

He stopped. I cracked open an eye, watching as he reached for me. His eyes were a muddy brown and filled with hungry intentness. Around his neck was a thin piece of wire - the psychic shield. Get that off, and his mind was mine