Bite Marks by Rardin Jennifer

Author:Rardin, Jennifer [Rardin, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Urban, Jaz Parks, Paranormal, Contemporary, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction
ISBN: 9780316043823
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2009-10-29T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The family reunion began just as you’d expect. Ruvin drove up in that glorious Jeep expecting to spend a few miserable hours driving us around while he pretended not to be freaked about his family. Tabitha and the boys ran out of the house. He’d just walked around to the front of the Patriot when he saw them. The surprise and relief sent him staggering back into the bull bar.

Hugs. Tears. More hugs and kisses. Then Tabitha grabbed Ruvin by the hand and said to me, “Look after the boys for a few, will you?” and dragged him inside.

Uh. What just happened?

I stared at Laal and Pajo, who gazed right back at me. When I looked to Vayl for ideas, he shrugged. Bergman remained just as silent, his attention still focused on Astral’s repair job.

I said, “I have a niece.”

What, are you trying to impress them with your babysitting qualifications?

“Where did Mummy and Daddy go?” asked Pajo, his lower lip beginning to tremble.

I looked desperately at my teammates. “Does anyone have candy?”

Vayl knelt down beside the boys, his demeanor so nonthreatening that a bystander wouldn’t have been surprised to hear he made his living breeding and selling bunnies. “You know parents,” he said. “They just need to have a talk and then they will be right back. I wonder, while we wait for them, should we go into the backyard and play a game? Hide-and-seek might be fun. I believe I saw several places boys your size could tuck into the last time I was there.”

My jaw dropped. I’d been certain Vayl had forgotten how to play games somewhere near the turn of the nineteenth century. And he didn’t actually participate in the hiding or the seeking. But he did laugh out loud when Jack gave the game away by running straight to Laal and Pajo’s spots before Bergman and I could even get started. They didn’t seem to mind, because when he stuck his nose in their faces, they giggled too.

This is your window into Vayl’s past. Look carefully. It may never open again, Granny May told me. This is what got lost when his boys died. And who knows? Maybe this is what he’s searching for just as much as the actual reincarnated souls of Hanzi and Badu. A chance to pull a little bit of himself from the jaws of the predator he’s become.

Hard to fault that, especially when I remembered who I’d been before Matt had died. If I could retrieve the part of me that hoped, would I?

I realized the inside of my arm had begun to hurt. When I focused on it, I found I’d been scratching at it long enough to raise welts. A couple of them were even bleeding lightly. This is my life now. Rashing out due to an untimely possession. And if I don’t do something about it soon—

Give yourself to me, Brude whispered, his voice itself like a lesion, searing bits of my brain as it crackled past them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.