Page 80 of Rogue Wolf

It still amazed Tamaska how heightened her senses were. Maybe her shifter genes weren’t as dormant as she’d thought.

Feeling drowsy and in need of fresh air, she headed for the gate between the dormitory and the main house. She didn’t think about where she was going, and only wished for Kodiak to be beside her.

A figure appeared down the driveway up ahead, dark and amorphous in the dusk light.

Kodiak!

Without another thought, she ran toward the figure, willing it to be Kodiak willing him back, safe and sound and hers..

Even as her instincts warned her away, she continued sprinting toward the figure. “Kodiak!”

Suddenly, the figure moved with uncanny speed. It stopped directly in front of her, and only then did she realize her enormous, deadly mistake. Panic flooded through her.

It was a vampire, pale, dressed in dark clothing. Most definitely not Kodiak.

She contemplated the possibility of an imminent, gruesome death at its hands.

“I have a message for you,” said the vampire.

“If you’ve done anything to Kodiak, I’ll kill you,” she said, finding her inner strength. No way would she let a vampire leave her turf alive.

“We’ve got Kodiak.”

“I’m going to rip you apart.” She’d kill it with her bare hands and bathe in its blood.

What the hell was she even thinking.

“Then you’ll miss the message,” said the vampire, stepping closer.

A whiff of rot wafted her way. Repulsed, Tamaska struggled not to run away from the creature. “Hurry up and spit it out so I can kill you.”

“As if you could.”

“Just you wait,” she said, her head swimming weirdly. She wanted blood. She needed to run. She stood there, not moving. “Talk, or I’ll consider the message useless and kill you now.”

“We want an exchange. Kodiak for you.”

Her pulse slowed, and her heart drowned in dread.

“Where is he?”

“You’ve got until midnight tonight to come to the Blood Moon nightclub. Otherwise, we kill him. Come alone, or we kill him. You try anything funny, we kill him. Honestly, we’re so looking forward to killing him that we’re not sure how much longer we can wait. Got it?”

“Sure.” Inside, she started to shake and her head swam more but still she didn’t move. She wanted to kill the thing and get to the club and save her man. She wanted to go right now.

Horror moved through her at the thought of him hurt. Bleeding. In pain.

“If you hurt him—”

“Come with me now, then. Save him. You for him. Go on you know you want to.”

It held out its hand and she found herself reaching for it as her head swam more and more, almost like her brain was a spinning top. She took half a step and then stopped.

“What am I doing?” What the fuck was this bloodsucker doing to her?

Putting her hand in his was utter madness. She needed to save Kodiak, yes, and it was a trap. Obviously.

But she couldn’t go with it.

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