Page 63 of The Vampire's Thirst
“Call me three days in a row. If I don’t pick up, ditch all the phones. Have our trackers change to new locations. Call Braelyn James. You’ve got the number. Then forget about me.” Miller sighed, resigned. Resigned to disappearing on Scath or being snagged by his pursuers. He didn’t like his options. “Have my backup take care of my bloodline. You know her. In fact, have her take over now. I’m too busy running to do a good job for my people.”
“Miller, this isn’t sitting well with me, man.”
“Hey. I’m still here, mate. I’m not easy to catch. Anyway, what’s the call about. I know you’re not so in love with me you just called to hear my dulcet tones.”
“You’re right. I’ve got a list of names. Eirene’s tracker called. Celene Bailey has been missing. She’s some heiress with a death wish who does all these extreme sports things. He didn’t think much about it when she didn’t come home for a while. Nothing new. Time has passed. He talked to neighbors. Apparently, she was on her way to Venezuela to base jump over a waterfall. Crazy shit, if you ask me. Anyway, he flew to the site, talked to the outfitters she hired. A guy says she made a successful jump but disappeared after a safe landing.”
“He didn’t report her missing earlier?”
“Nah. He said these adventurers are unreliable types. She paid upfront. Not unusual for his clients to take off with no goodbyes.”
“She could be off on another exploit.”
“Could be, but the guy said she shared with some of her fellow crazies how she was headed home after the jump.”
“You said you had more names.” Miller paused to take a gulp of his brew.
“The other’s from Faelan’s bloodline. Finley Sage. Apparently, her mom died a while ago. The tracker said she took off a bit of time from work for the funeral. Afterward, she was back to the job, mourning the loss but dedicated. When the catering business had some downtime recently, she took off on a camping trip.”
Miller heard the shuffling of pages.
“To Montana. She should have been home a few days ago. We’re not talking about a lot of missing time. She could have extended the vacay. My gal says Fin’s employer claims she would not extend her trip without notifying him. Not her style. The boss is worried something happened to her while she was communing with nature. In fact, he’s called into missing persons.”
Harry rattled off several more missing and their backgrounds.
“I’ll give the names to my contacts. Sorry to lay all this management shite on you, mate. Bye for now.”
“Miller. You said they told you to come in for them to protect you. You might consider it.”
“Not yet. I don’t do well in lockup.”
Miller enjoyed a good dustup now and again. Keeping one step ahead of predators was different, though. It was exhausting. He needed a good self-talk.
The buggers are cheesing me off. No reason to give up, though. Buck up, mate.
Chapter Fourteen
Daxslid from behind the wheel, jacking his boot on the car’s doorframe as he scanned the area. He reached into the backseat to remove the duffel and Chiara’s threadbare monkey.
“You drive too fast.” Chiara stepped from the vehicle, lifting her arms overhead, stretching left and right, her breasts pushing against the fabric of a thin cropped T-shirt.
Damn. She looked good. His erection punched the front of his pants. He was jonesing for a hit of O blud.Sure.That was it.Couldn’t be the present company.
She snorted when she rounded the car. “What’s in your pants? Did you get a knobgoblin from driving?”
Damn thing was hard as a rock. He needed a female. “You have a mouth. Where do you come up with your shit?”
But Chiara would not do. Delicious taste mixed with Blood Coven descendant was a bad combo. He could not keep sampling her brand. He had to unload the female.Hell. She tasted so good if he kept her, he’d probably kill her within a year.
“I had a lot of Google time in Idaho. You’d be surprised what you learn on the net.”
Dax sighed. Unload her. Thorn was good looking, he supposed. She’d be attracted to him. Most females liked shifters.Yep. The wolf was a good solution. They would all return to Scath where Thorn could step in to take care of Chiara. The solution pleased him and pissed him off.
Fuck.
Peals of laughter sounded from behind the ranch house. “This way.” Dax dragged her toward the giggles.
“This place is incredible.” Chiara twisted her neck, glancing around as he clutched her hand. Her feet stumbled to keep up the pace.
