Blind Destiny: Grimm's Circle, Book 7 [retail mobi] by Shiloh Walker

lips. “Open your mouth.”
    But he didn’t even wait for that. His hand cupped my face, squeezing lightly as he licked the seam of my lips and then pushed inside, taking the very thing he’d been demanding.
    Where in the hell had Prince Charming gone?
    He hoisted me in one arm while the other tore at the opening to his jeans.
    Our breath labored out, coming in harsh, heavy gasps.
    Our hearts hammered.
    And then…
    A growl.
    Low, at first, getting louder by the second until we broke apart. At that very second, Krell started to bark. I’d been around the dog enough to recognize the sound of those barks.
    Warnings for his master.
    I could have cried.
    No —
    The screams…I’d forgotten about the screams. Eerie, carrying wails even now. For a while I hadn’t heard them, but now, even the dead should hear those screams…
    “Somebody’s screaming,” Luc said.
    I looked up at him, startled.
    He eyed the house, his face remote.
    “You hear her now?”
    He shook his head. “This is new. It’s not one of your ghosts. And it’s a man.”

Chapter Six
    That sticky, oily evil woke.
    And it pulled him.
    He tried to get to it and pull it to him. But there was no success.
    All he could do was watch.
    There was a man who was doing more than watching.
    Part of him wondered at it. Part of him was curious.
    He followed for a while.
    But then…drifted.
    It was so easy to fade away from here. So terribly, terribly easy.
     
     
    Natasha woke up with a bad taste in her mouth.
    It wasn’t anything new.
    Sometimes it happened before a job like this. This job was a love/hate thing for her. She loved it. She hated it. It exhilarated her. It terrified her. Sometimes she’d have a fit of the screaming meemies for days before she went into a big one—this one had been such a whirlwind of activity, she hadn’t had the time she normally would have had, so maybe that was the problem.
    Delayed reaction.
    Pacing through the villa where they were staying, she avoided the rooms where the others were, not wanting to wake them. In the end, she ended up outside on the back patio or whatever they called it, gazing up at what looked like a thousand, maybe even a million stars.
    It was pretty here.
    Very pretty.
    Didn’t make sense why she felt such a heavy, oppressive weight, unless it had to do with the vibe this place was giving off.
    Distantly, she heard a door open and close. Somebody must have gone to the bathroom or something. She wasn’t in the mood for company, so she stayed where she was, staring out into the night.
    Right up until she saw the shadow heading down the road.
    They were someplace rather secluded. The only ones on the set-apart little strip of land.
    So who was that…?
    Squinting, she tried to make it out, but it was so dark she couldn’t.
    Rising, she went inside, checking the rooms. Fiona and Lee were both sleeping soundly. Shutting the door to the room she shared with the other women, she headed to the room where the two men were sleeping.
    And when she saw one of the beds empty, for some reason, her heart jumped into her throat.
     
     
    In under a minute, they were dressed.
    Luc caught Krell in his arms as Sina fought with the window. They were on the second floor and there wasn’t any time to waste just then, so fuck the stairs.
    “It’s clear,” she told him.
    He nodded and jumped out, merging his mind with the dog’s so he could see what was rushing up at them.
    Krell was tense, his body trembling minutely, and deep inside his big, muscled body, the dog was still growling.
    Something had him very unhappy.
    Luc was a bit put out himself, although he doubted his reasoning was quite the same as the dog’s. He’d just had a hungry, needy woman in his arms… Sina , for fuck’s sake, and where was he going? Out to deal with demons. Damn his luck.
    Catching Krell’s harness, he looked at the house.
    He had grabbed his black jacket just in case, and the sturdy weight of his weapons was reassuring, but somehow,