What Rough Beast [Blood Oath 1] by Kari Gregg

Author:Kari Gregg
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Loose Id, LLC

Chapter Twelve

Kate should've been grateful.

She'd never been outside the house. Before she'd become a bloodsucking vampire, she'd never traveled farther south than Memphis, and the sights and sounds in the shadowy bayou dazzled her. The light of the fingernail moon washed the drooping vines and clumps of moss in a soft inky silver. The shiny eyes of the night creatures both fascinated and frightened her. Even though spring hadn't begun, at least not back home, the subtle scent of jasmine wafted through the air here, teased her nostrils. A stray cricket chirped. Something plopped into the water to her left, adding to the symphony of insects and rustling animals.

She'd never been in a boat either, though she wasn't entirely sure this one qualified. Since it had no motor, Luc poled them through the dark, weed-choked channels of the marsh.

Still, it was a new experience for her, and Kate loved exploring new things.

She would finally meet the weres too. All of the weres. To date, she'd only seen Peter and Olivia. They hadn't left her with the greatest impression of their kind, but meeting a bunch of werewolves? That should be exciting. Given that the pack was sworn to protect her and she knew she was safe with them, she ought to be exhilarated.

Kate shivered.

Though she tried to be, she wasn't grateful.

Or impressed.

Or excited.

She was terrified.

Garrick had left their rooms after an hour, as promised.

"It's not much farther. Look.” Luc pointed to the north. “You can see the flicker of their campfires."

Garrick had told her nothing, her guardian less so. Which meant what was coming must be unspeakably horrible. Trepidation snaked up her spine. Her stomach rolled with sick anxiety, her mind torn between wanting desperately to know what would happen once they reached the orange glow approaching through the tangled vines and instinctively recoiling from it.

Kate knew what a boon was. Or rather, she knew what it was supposed to be. A prize or treasure among thieves or pirates. Maybe?

But a pirate treasure wouldn't make her nerve endings snap with fear. It wouldn't make her pulse skitter and race, nor set anxiety to writhing in her stomach like one of the swamp's slithering snakes.

Luc poled to a dock where three men awaited them.

One caught the rope he tossed to shore and tied the boat to the roughly hewn wood.

Luc leaped to the dock on nimble feet.

When one of the men reached out to help her ashore, Kate cowered back into the boat. Why she should be repulsed by the touch of another, Kate didn't know. She only knew that she didn't want the men, any of them, near her.

Luc stepped in front of the weres. “I'll tend to her. Gather your cloak, bebe."

Luc had pressed the blasted thing on her. “For Garrick.” Black as sin and warm, smooth velvet, the hooded cape swathed her in shadow from the crown of her head to the tips of her feet. She assumed the luxurious fabric was intended to conceal her from the weres as well as keep the night's chill from seeping into her bones.

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