Page 13 of Bad Moon Rising
He pointed out the window on her side and dramatically unlocked the doors.
“No.” Nova crossed her arms. “I woke up a little over an hour ago remembering nothing. I was dressed in this awful leather outfit with a wedgie from hell that won’t let up. And these ridiculous heeled boots… Have you ever tried to walk on heels this high on ice? My feet are at a freaking forty-five degree angle to the floor. Then I’m told my only hope of remembering something…anything is to extract some unknown guy—you—but you might kill me if I don’t flick a lighter the right way.” She held up her arm and rotated to flash the tattoo of his name in front of his face. “I’m not getting out becauseyourname is tattooed on my fucking arm. That means I stay with you.”
The corners of his lips twitched and eventually broke into a smile. “A wedgie from hell?”
“Apparently, panty lines are taboo in these pants.” She rotated to face him, which she discovered didn’t hurt. Puzzled, she lifted her shirt a little and probed her side. Not as painful. Not a significant wound anymore. Just remnant blood. How was this possible? “Why do you think I’d be healed by now? No one heals that fast. Voice coercion, magic, super speed healing… I don’t understand.” And what had he meant by “what you are”?
He compressed his lips. “You have to remember at least this. It’s basic biology.”
“I recall things like how to drive. I remember languages and how to fight, but I can’t remember anything specific about me, other than a vague and very small memory of my mother. No one heals instantly. You’re delusional.”
“I don’t know what to do with you.” He closed his eyes and massaged his eyelids. She could’ve sworn he muttered, “Lord, help me.” Louder, he said, “I can’t help you.”
“Someone thinks you can.”
“I’m not a fucking babysitter. I can’t take you where I’m going. No one is supposed to know about me.”
“Someone does.” Softly, she added, “I don’t have anywhere to go. Do you really want me to leave?”
His shoulders deflated and eyelids dropped closed on a long sigh. “This was so not a part of today’s agenda. Hell, this year’s agenda.”
“If I don’t leave, are you going to kill me to make sure I don’t remember you?”
“I can’t erase your memory of me,” he grouched. “Voice coercion doesn’t work on our kind or Antonio’s.” His eyebrows squished together. “But if I was going to kill you, Nova, I would’ve already done it.”
“What aren’t you saying about me? Special healing, this voice thing…” She gripped her head against another wave of pain. “What am I?”
She tried to slow her breathing. Her heart seemed to be doing revolutions inside her chest.Who am I?She grabbed his hand. “You have to know me. I have to seem familiar to you in some way.”
“Trust me, I’d never forget you if we’d met before. Females of our kind are so rare they’re almost extinct. You have to remember the witch war last century? The other side targeted females? Smart of them, but left us in trouble.” He slumped back against his seat and gave a defeated sigh. “It’s why I’m supposed to protect you until you get back to your people. That’s an old rule. Dammit.”
“Are you a spy? MI6 or Russia or something? Does that imply I’m a spy, too? Or are we some sort of military genetic experiment with kicked-up abilities?”
He was quiet for a moment, pinning her down with his piercing stare. “No. We’re so much worse.”
Chapter Three
“So, you’re a bad guy?” Nova asked.
Roman’s hometown was the world of the wacky, deranged, messed up, and insane. But an amnesic, drop-dead gorgeous lycan with his name permanently inked into her pale skin?
Hisname.
A woman who flicked his dead brother’s lighter? Twice. Like Shane had always done when stressed. Shane got atomized by a bomb while holding that lighter several years ago.
Call him spooked.
To the point he felt conflicting needs to run far and fast from her and at the same time wrap her up tight in protection so she’d never leave.
But the feeling when she’d been pressed against him, the softness of her hair floating over his skin, the perfection of how her small hand had fit into his… Little surprised or terrified him, but her effect on him did.
A bad guy?He smothered a smile at the naiveté of the question. “Do you wish I was your heroic rescuer? That’s cute.”
“You didn’t do any rescuing. That part was all me.”
“I’m no one’s hero. Most label me an abomination. It’s my lot in life. I do scary things beyond what you could even imagine. It’s why you’re best off if you get out of the car. Go your own way.”
“You doscary things? Like pick up a girl and murder her on the side of the road?”
