Predator Girl (A Paranormal Romance) (7 page)

Mya—that wasn’t her real name, was it?—snapped her head to the side, sniffing the air. I smelled it, too: fur, fresh kill, and muddy water. My ears perked at the sounds of heavy, loping steps. We had some big feet coming through the woods (never a good sign when you’re caged and weaponless).

Shadows moved among the pine. Two bulky men emerged, leading the way. One was young—probably my age—the other in his forties. They were both totally ripped, the kind of guys I avoided whether at school or in the clubs. We were talking eight-packs, not six, with arms that could throw you to China. Pretty scary. The boy bringing up the rear wasn’t any better.

If you crossed a wrestler with one of those dudes on the walls at Hollister, you’d get the pack’s alpha. I knew that’s who he was, and it wasn’t just from the name
Rex
tattooed down his arm in big, jagged print. As he hit the wood’s edge, the older guy and the teenager stepped aside, moving in rhythm like electronic doors. Rex strode through them, blonde head held high as he stepped into the clearing.

The boys on the porch stood up. Quietly, they opened the torn screen door and slipped inside. The woman stayed on the steps. Her golden face went pale as she watched the alpha male approach Mya—er—Ilume.

Rex was barely five feet out of the trees when he came to a halt. His nose twitched, inhaling. I swear his blue eyes went black. His lips peeled back, revealing a pair of sharp fangs, like a nightling’s, only shorter. So now I’d not only seen Guinness’s ugliest mansion, I also witnessed the world’s most malicious look. Rex moved quicker toward Ilume.

Toward me.

I leapt to the back of the cage as he stopped, towering over us like a bear. “What in the hell is
this
?” he raged. Grabbing the iron bars, he glowered at me.

I could face dragons, but pissed off werewolves? Trust me, they are worse. They don’t do quick and silent deaths, not to enemies, and they aren’t slow-movers. They are man-eaters, beasts that will eat you—or even their own kind—alive.

I about wet my jeans.

“Rex.” Ilume kept calm, unlike me. “Before you throw a tantrum, let me explain—”

“What is there to explain?” His voice echoed off the trees, the house. “You brought a human here? A
human
? God forbid, Ilume, I send you among mortals for a few short days and you’ve lost your mind.”

“If you would let me
say
something, you’d see why I did it,” she retorted, stretching on her tiptoes. She was all up in his grill, her nose just inches from his. Damn, she was brave.

Rex puffed up, looking even bigger than before.
She’s a goner,
I thought. Then, to my surprise, he deflated. “All right,” he grumbled. “Speak.”

Ilume took a breath, dropping back on her heels. “Thank you,” she huffed. Facing me, she continued, “This boy has been following me since I arrived in Loralin. He not only survived an encounter with water nymphs, he walked away from them completely untouched. Not a scratch.”

Rex lifted an eyebrow. “Oh?” He actually sounded interested.

“Yes.” Ilume nodded, going on to tell him how I can track her, how I found her at the coffee shop. By the time she finished, Rex had gone from irate to curious. Rubbing his smooth, bronze chin he crouched by my cage bars, staring long and hard.

It was deeply unsettling. I didn’t hold his gaze, and my leg jiggled the longer he watched. I suddenly wondered if this is what Otherworlders feel like, the difficult ones we have to cage and send to one of fifty PIU units around the country, where we keep them until they cooperate. I’d never put myself in their shoes before. Should I live through this, I would never be able to look at them the same. Poor caged dudes.

A funny sound echoed out of Rex’s throat. He smiled, slowly getting to his feet. “You’re right, Ilume. He isn’t a normal human. He is a very rare, very different breed of person.” His smile evolved into a grin. “You brought us a Finder.”

The bottom of my stomach dropped out.
Oh, crap.
Here I was, not only kidnapped and stuffed in a box, but kidnapped by the very creatures I hunted; and they knew what I was, what I did.

“Oh, he shivers,” Rex teased. I threw him a dirty look.

“Finder?” Ilume questioned. The word had her puzzled. “What’s a Finder?”

“A tracker. They hunt abnormals like us. It is said that the humans split into two groups long ago. One group dominated, ruling the world as it is today, while a small, feral group grew to be magnificent hunters, almost more deadly than we are. Today, they’ve crossbred. Those that can still hunt work for the government. He didn’t tag you, did he?” Rex’s smile morphed, eyes dangerous again.

Ilume shook her head. “He tried. I won.”

I tried to read their faces, see what they were thinking. In Ilume’s, I saw curiosity brewing under the wall of dislike. The beast in her wanted me destroyed, I knew, but the humanlike side wanted to know more about what I was.

In Rex’s face was just cold, hard murder.

“Well,” the alpha male said, shifting his feet. “While this is rather entertaining, he’s still a liability. I’m sick of cleaning up messes. We’ve got enough issues as it is.” He snapped his fingers. “Fox, Adonis, come dispose of this, will you?”

The bodyguards left the trees.

A black hole opened up in my head, sucking out any hope of survival. I pressed against the cage bars, feeling like someone had wrapped their fingers around my lungs and squeezed. Holy hell, I’d never been in this kind of situation before. I couldn’t put up a fight with brutes of this size. Not alone, not without my daggers or stun-guns. I couldn’t outrun them, either. They could easily change and have four legs while I only had two.

I was about to be dog chow.

The cage door opened. The older guy reached in, grabbing me by the scruff of my shirt. I struggled, held onto the cage bars, but he ripped me loose. The cage noisily tumbled over as I was jerked out to the ground. He dragged me away, and I held my shirt collar so it wouldn’t choke me.
Need a plan, need a plan quick.
Rex started toward the house, hands in his pockets like it was just another day in the woods.
Bloody bastard!
Beneath the panic, I spouted off curses in my head. That damn hound will pay for this. Peter won’t give up. He’ll go searching for me when he realizes I’m missing. He’ll find my scent mixed with Ilume’s. He’ll track her here, even though I’ll be . . .

Dead.

Ilume stared at Rex’s back then at me, lips parted. I threw her the nastiest look I could muster as Fox dragged me through the dirt, away from the mansion.
Bitch.
I hadn’t meant her harm—I just wanted her to follow the law.
Freaking rotten mutt, I hope you die for this.
I hope Peter stun-guns her when he finds out. Better yet, hit her as hard as she hit me.

“Wait,” she said.

The body guards stopped. I peeled the nasty glare off my face. Wait a second. What was she doing?

Rex stopped on the steps. The dark-haired woman had disappeared. “What now, Ilume?” he said.

She hesitated, eyeing me head to toe. “I have an idea,” she announced. “He’s a tracker, right? Someone who can seek out abnormals?”

“Uh, yeah?” Rex shrugged, impatient.

“Then why not use him? Couldn’t his abilities help us seek out the Jackals?”

Adonis and Fox exchanged glances.

I blinked at her. No way. Did she just say that?
Okay, I take it all back. You’re not a mutt and you don’t deserve to die, and as long as you don’t stun-gun me I won’t let Peter stun-gun you, or do anything else.
I held my breath, daring to hope. Maybe—just maybe—I’d see another day after all.

For a long moment, Rex stood like a statue. The fact that he didn’t instantly say “no” gave me another spark of hope. He chewed on his lip, thinking.

“Ilume, it’s not that it isn’t a
smart
idea,”—he seemed to have trouble complimenting her—“but how do you know he won’t trick us and lead us in the wrong direction? Do you think
I
trust someone who is bred to slay our kind? No. Not one bit. And don’t you dare tell me you do.”

“I don’t trust him,” she assured. “Who has the upper hand here? There are dozens of us versus one of him. If he leads us in the wrong direction, we kill him, but I think it’s dumb to pass on the opportunity.”

Please, please, please say yes.
I couldn’t believe I was begging for survival. Yeah, I could play their little animal tracker while I thought up an escape. I would do anything to buy me some time. It would be easy. Plus, the more I knew about this place and area, the sooner I could return with backup to tag them all.

“He will need constant supervision and a firm hand,” Rex pointed out, getting cranky again. “None of the omegas are going to want to drag him around all day.”

“Then I will,” she interrupted.

Silence. I noticed the old man’s grip on me slacking somewhat. Yes! Another good sign. After growling and pulling at his hair, Rex huffed, “Fine. But if any harm comes to this pack, Ilume, I will personally hang him by the river and let the Jackals tear the skin off his bones.”

She smiled. “Deal.”

The alpha male stomped into the house, letting out a snarl. As the screen door slammed shut, Ilume snapped her fingers. “Fox, put him down now, dearest. I can take it from here.”

“Huh,” the older man scoffed, letting go of me. I dropped to the ground, laying there covered in cold sweat as the two hounds moved away.

I’m alive, I’m alive.
That was the closest to being murdered that I’d ever been. I didn’t want to be that close ever again.

“Not sure what you just did, lovely lady, but I can tell you one thing: it’s going to be damn interesting,” Fox concluded with a chuckle.

Ilume cackled. “When is it not?”

Fox and Adonis loped across the clearing, whispering to each other as they climbed the porch steps. The second they were inside, Ilume’s nice act dissolved. She came over to me, frowning as she crouched down. I was still sprawled out on the ground.

“You’d better not cost me my dignity, punk,” she warned. “I just risked my ass to save yours. You’d better appreciate it.”

“I-I do.” My voice cracked.

Why had she just risked her life to save me anyway? The pack must really need a tracker. Sitting up, I rubbed the back of my neck where Fox’s long nails had grazed skin. Did all werewolves handle people like rag dolls?

“We’ll see about that. Come on. I’ll get you some ice. You probably have a permanent bump on your head.”

“You really give a new meaning to
hit like a girl
,” I muttered, getting to my feet. I shivered, and my head throbbed. Part of me wanted to yell at her for hitting me so hard, but seeing as she just saved my life I began to forgive her. As we started for the mansion, my vision went wobbly. Suddenly I was going sideways.

She grabbed my arm, steadying me with a grunt. “Nope,” she said, pushing me forward. “I hit like a wolf.”

“Come on.” Ilume tugged on the hem of my shirt. “You’ll have plenty of time to stare at them later.”

At the sound of Ilume’s voice, the russet wolf turned its head. The girl in the shorts looked at me, too. They tensed as they saw me, emitting low-pitched growls. The scary part? I couldn’t tell one noise from the other; the sound coming from the girl was just as lupine as her friend’s. In my opinion, it wasn’t a sound that a hot blonde in a sports bra should make.

Ilume ignored them, continuing toward a staircase at the edge of the living room. I stayed on her heels, afraid that if I fell even a step behind, I might be preyed upon by my new housemates. This wouldn’t be an easy transition. I could do this, right? Live in a house of monsters and come out alive in the end? I
was
a Finder, although training for this kind of situation wasn’t scheduled until senior year. I just had to be calm and play it cool even though my heart pounded in my ears.

The second floor hall was painted horse-turd brown. One end opened up to a loft filled with rowdy werewolves, the other hosted an elaborate, stained-glass window. The pieces were all angled to form trees with wolf silhouettes sneaking through them. Clear glass was shaped into four phases of the moon above—an elegant piece, too elegant to fit in here.

“That’s the bathroom.” Ilume pointed to one of the many doors in the hall. “Be careful where you step. Some of the youngsters are at that age where they tend to scent-mark their territory.”

“Oh, great,” I muttered, imagining myself stumbling out of bed in the night. Bleary-eyed, I’d be two feet from the toilet when my feet slid in something yellow and reeking. Gross.

Ilume stopped at the door beside the bathroom. “Wait here,” she ordered, then disappeared inside.

I pressed against the opposite wall, letting my head fall back. I took a deep breath. It didn’t help. All around me I smelled fur stained by the woods. I heard barking, howling, moving all around me. I wanted to turn my Finder senses off, and I didn’t want to stand here alone.

I glanced uneasily toward the loft. A set of young grey wolves were roughhousing, a group of young guys cheering them on. Fangs flashed as they rolled each other over, gnawed on each others’ limbs. It was like watching a wrestling match, only wolf-style.

Behind them, Aspen—the black kid from earlier—sat against the wall on a beanbag. He saw me. His face was blank, but his lips pressed flat, forming a narrow line. I had a feeling he didn’t like me. At least the wild children didn’t seem interested in me, or were just too preoccupied to notice.

Ilume reappeared. Under her arm was a wadded up blue blanket, and in her hands she grasped two large dog pads—the sheepskin kind with fleece bottoms. I narrowed my eyes. “What are those for?”