Page 9 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)

CHAPTER 9

SUMMER

He was midnight rain.

Refreshingly cool, like a mountain stream, quenching a thirst I’d never known I had. This was nothing like the animal blood I’d tasted in my wolf form — elk or deer we hunted in the mountains, their blood warm and rich and coppery.

If I’d ever had any doubts about Max being anything but other , this shut it down. Max tasted like the finest ice wine, cool and just sweet enough to keep me coming back for more.

I’d had enough; I only needed a few drops. But I couldn’t stop.

From the shocked expression on his face, I belatedly realized he’d meant to drop his blood into my drink, but the second my wolf had scented his blood, she’d taken over.

“Summer.”

A finger landed on my chin, but I batted it away.

“ Summer .”

In a flash, the finger turned into a full hand around my neck, pressing me gently, but firmly, into the wall behind me, and finally his thumb left my mouth with a pop .

I drew my gaze up to his, and his deep blue eyes swirled.

Swirled?

No, wait, that was my eyes doing that.

I glanced around the room — the whole place shimmered.

Max swore under his breath, his hand around my neck loosening ever so slightly. “I was afraid of this.”

“This?” I echoed, drawing out the s like a snake, then breaking into a fit of giggles. “That’s not even a word, Maxy.”

“You’re a little blood-drunk. It’ll fade in a bit.”

“I hope not.” I grinned at his narrowed eyes, then gasped. “Max! It’s working! I found a vampire!”

Instantly, he went on alert. “Where? In the club?”

I shook my head. “Closer.” I booped him on the nose and burst out laughing again.

He rolled those pretty blue eyes and I reached up, squeezing his cheeks together as I drew his face down to mine.

“Don’t be mad at me,” I said in a mocking tone, my heart racing as I held him close, sharing breath. Whatever I meant to say next fled my brain faster than a herd of wild Willies as I stared at his lips, the peek of his canines sticking out over his plump bottom lip.

Maybe it was the blood, or the close proximity, or maybe just the pheromones in the air around us from the club, but suddenly I wanted to kiss him more than anything I’d ever wanted in my entire life. I lifted up on my toes, needing to see if his kiss tasted like his blood, that same sweet intoxicating delicacy I needed another hit of.

“Summer.” His voice was lower, holding a warning tone that did nothing to break the spell I was under.

“Hmm,” I mumbled, leaning in, lips tingling, eyes closing as I prepared myself for that euphoric feeling again.

His hands landed on top of mine, gently lifting them off his face as he stepped back, eyes as dark as the shirt he wore. “Easy there. Let’s get some air.”

Without waiting for my response, he grabbed the door handle and ripped it open, the handle coming off the door completely as it rested in his palm. Another bubble of laughter erupted from me as he stared at it, then dropped it on the floor and stepped out.

“Nice,” a sleazy guy nearby said, giving me a leering once-over as I straightened my dress and followed Max out of the closet. “She’s hot.”

I flew into Max’s back as he stopped abruptly, spinning on the guy who’d said it. Magic hummed in the air as his focus honed, and I glanced down at his hands. What looked like black ink spread up his arms from his fingertips, painting his arms in shadows as he reached forward and slammed the guy against the wall.

“Hey man!” he spluttered, his beer dropping to the floor and splashing all over my shoes. “What the hell!”

“I’ll have you wishing for hell.”

Max’s canines — no, fangs — punched out again. I pictured him sinking his teeth into this guy, into anyone but me, and my gut churned, rioted.

No .

I jumped into action, grabbing Max by the arm, my skin almost ghostly against that black inky magic.

“Out. Now.”

Max’s gaze flicked to me, and I crossed my arms under my boobs, pushing them up. Both he and the scumbag he held pinned against the wall looked down, just like I knew they would. “You done here, Maxwell House?”

Max turned back to the guy pinned in front of him, his lips pulling back in a snarl, but my focus drifted. Something niggled at my senses, like an itch on a phantom limb, and I turned towards the club, my nose in the air as my eyes closed, focusing on the wide array of scents and sounds.

Something was different.

Chalk it up to Max’s blood, but my nose worked like a metal detector, sorting through the rabble until it settled on three bodies moving through the crowd on the far side of the bar. All three carried that same smoky metallic scent Max did, but different.

My eyes flew open, and I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see over the crowd.

“My spidey senses are tingling!” I tried to whisper-shout over the music to Max. The lurker chuckled.

“If that ain’t innuendo, I don’t know what —”

In a flash of darkness, the guy crumpled to the ground.

My jaw dropped. “Max!”

Max waved a hand at the pile on the ground. “He’s alive. Let’s go. Lead the way, sunshine.”

I was still staring at the guy, trying to reassure myself he was, indeed, still breathing, as Max’s large hand grasped mine and tugged.

Back on the dance floor, the gyrating mass of bodies was still in full swing to the pounding music, but the vampires had disappeared into the crowd. I tried to ignore everything but the pull on my magic. Easier said than done with the way Max’s blood still turned every flash of the strobe lights into a glitter bomb.

“Close your eyes.” Max’s lips were at my ear to be heard over the music, and then his arms wrapped around my waist from behind.

Right. We were on a dance floor. Needed to blend in and all.

Go big or go home.

I closed my eyes, and let my hips sway, brushing my ass against him. A low growl let me know my retaliation had succeeded, his hand settling on my hip and squeezing.

Don’t write checks you can’t cash, Maxy.

Then — there.

Opening my eyes, I tapped Max’s hand resting on my hip before I darted through the crowd, slipping and dancing effortlessly through the bodies in pursuit of my prey. I didn’t turn to see if Max was keeping up — I knew he would.

Reaching the far side of the dance floor, I scented the vampires again, but they were gone now. I followed the trail to the club’s side door, and pushed it open into the cool night air.

A moment later, Max burst out as well, and I chuckled. “Took your sweet time.”

He scowled. “Don’t go where I can’t see you.”

I lifted a shoulder. “Keep up, then.” I took off down the street, my wolf pushing forward in my mind now that we were on the hunt. Briefly checking my surroundings, I let her in, bracing as my body shifted into a tawny wolf.

My clothes dropped in a puddle on the ground, and Max swore as he bent down to grab them, hugging them to his chest. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

I yipped, then darted across the street Frogger -style dodging cars, and turned when I realized Max had gotten stuck waiting for a truck to pass. My tongue lolled out as I watched, but I kept moving, following the magic, when a cloud of shadow materialized in front of me. I skidded to a halt with a yelp, and Max emerged from the darkness.

“Do I need to get a leash for you, wolf?”

My wolf growled, her teeth bared and hackles rising before darting around him. The night grew darker around me, Max covering me in his shadows as I ran down the crowded streets undetected, letting my nose guide me.

A few times I paused, afraid I might have lost the trail, but then I’d feel it again, and keep moving. The air turned salty as we wound our way closer to the ocean, and I slowed my steps as the magical signature grew stronger, the metallic smoky scent thickening unmistakably.

Only a single flickering streetlight and the moon lit the dark street as I stopped to looked up and down it. On one side of the street, a junkyard; on the other, a boarded-up warehouse behind a cheap wire fence. Standing this close, the scent was almost choking in its intensity.

In a blink, a wash of magic shook my body as I transformed back to my human form. I gestured at the warehouse, dark and foreboding as Max approached from behind me. “A little cliché, don’t you think? Practically screams, there’s a dead body in here. ”

A choked sound escaped him and I turned to look as my clothes slapped against my chest.

“Get dressed,” he mumbled, his back turned to me as he stared up at the night sky. I grinned, slipping back into my dress and heels.

Darkness swept around us, and I realized Max was cloaking us in his magic even more than before. The chill followed, and I wrapped my arms around myself as Max’s sharp eyes darted around the area.

“All good. And this is the place.”

“You’re sure?”

I snorted. The appropriate response to dumb questions. “The fact you can’t sense them is what’s more surprising here. It reeks.”

Max stiffened at my comment, but didn’t respond, instead pulling out his phone and tapping away at it with his back still turned. Then he tucked it back in his pocket, and turned to me with a decisive nod. “All right. Let’s head back.”

I jolted. “What? No way. We have to go in there and check it out! This is not the part of the story where they go home.”

He frowned, but I wasn’t leaving, at least not yet. My head tipped back as I inhaled deeply, then tip-toed around the side of the building, following the trail of the vampires who’d been here last. I could have scaled the fence easy enough, but my wardrobe choice wouldn’t make it graceful and I’d already shown the world my bare ass once tonight. Shifters were used to nudity, but Max’s rejection when I’d tried to kiss him earlier stung just as much as everything else, and I wasn’t about to give him a free show.

“Summer,” he whispered from right behind me as I kicked at the part of the fence where the scent was strongest, my foot going right through the magical barrier. “Leave it.”

I opened my mouth to offer him a sassy response as I stepped through, but jerked in surprise as a man appeared in front of me.

“Who knew they delivered food to this part of town?”