Animal Attraction Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Charlene Teglia
jaw jumped, but he didn’t answer. Tension rose in the car and I realized he was really pissed off. My brain finally kicked into gear and it occurred to me that I didn’t have to stay in close proximity to a large, hostile male. I reached for the door handle, but David was faster. His hand covered mine and held the door shut. Déjà vu , I thought. It was like a replay of being in my car with Zach, and it annoyed me to be slower than both of them.
“Let go.” I kept my voice steady and hoped I wasn’t still visibly trembling. I didn’t want to look weak.
“Idiot.”
“Stop calling me names.” I felt my eyes narrow as anger pulsed through me.
He looked like he was swallowing glass as he ground out the word, “Sorry.”
Anger evaporated as quickly as it had come. Maybe a soft answer really does turn away wrath.
“Let’s start over. Hi, my name is Chandra. Strange people keep popping up and acting like I should know what’s going on. What the hell is going on?”
For an answer, David let go of my door and turned on the ignition. “I’m taking you home.”
Taking me where? Alarm clamored in the back of my head and adrenaline spiked, burning away the sugar in my system in the process. The gray fog returned and I cursed my weakness as I subsided into the passenger seat. “Is Zach there?”
“Yes.” His jaw tightened as he stared straight ahead. “I’m taking you to Zach.”
“Okay.” I had a few questions for Zach. David could save me the time and hassle of finding him. I closed my eyes, just for a minute. I opened them when the engine shut off, shocked to realize I had no idea how much time had passed or where we were. Something was really wrong with me.
I heard booted footsteps on gravel before my door opened and then Zach was there, unbuckling my seat belt, scooping me up as if I were a child. David walked beside him and the three of us went up onto a covered porch and then inside a solarium filled with greenery, rich with the mingled scents of earth and growing things.
The men were arguing. “I wanted her to come of her own free will,” Zach was saying.
“You didn’t see her passing out at the wheel,” David snapped in response. “It’s too late for that.”
Too late? I didn’t like the sound of that, but I didn’t seem to have the strength to speak up.
The argument became impossible to follow then, because they stopped speaking English. The foreign syllables didn’t bother me. It meant I wasn’t distracted by the words and could concentrate on their voices. I liked the sound of them.
“Chandra. Swallow this.” That was Zach, coaxing with an underlying tone of command.
“Later,” I evaded. I didn’t want to be drugged, but I wasn’t in any state to fight about it.
“Now.”
One of them held me while the other poured something noxious into my mouth. I swallowed convulsively and then gasped as it burned all the way down. My eyes teared as I wheezed. “Water!”
Zach gave me a glass, which meant David was the one holding me. I drank and sighed in relief as it cooled the fire in my esophagus. “What was that?”
“Herbal tea. A family remedy.” Zach’s voice was calm, his face composed. “Are you feeling better now?”
In fact, I was. The fog was gone and strength pulsed through me. With every heartbeat I felt more alert, more alive. A sense of almost euphoric well-being filled me.
Something that felt this good this fast couldn’t be trusted. “Please tell me that wasn’t meth.”
“No. Just wolfsbane.”
Wolfsbane? My mouth opened and shut soundlessly a couple of times before I managed to say, “That’s poisonous.”
CHAPTER FOUR
MY HEAD WAS NOW CLEAR ENOUGH TO PANIC. I WAS GOD ONLY KNEW where, in the hands of a man whose last name made his interests in silver and moon cycles suspicious to say the least. And he hadn’t hesitated to pour a known poison down my throat.
“It has medicinal uses.”
“Let go.” I kept my voice steady and hoped I wasn’t still visibly trembling. I didn’t want to look weak.
“Idiot.”
“Stop calling me names.” I felt my eyes narrow as anger pulsed through me.
He looked like he was swallowing glass as he ground out the word, “Sorry.”
Anger evaporated as quickly as it had come. Maybe a soft answer really does turn away wrath.
“Let’s start over. Hi, my name is Chandra. Strange people keep popping up and acting like I should know what’s going on. What the hell is going on?”
For an answer, David let go of my door and turned on the ignition. “I’m taking you home.”
Taking me where? Alarm clamored in the back of my head and adrenaline spiked, burning away the sugar in my system in the process. The gray fog returned and I cursed my weakness as I subsided into the passenger seat. “Is Zach there?”
“Yes.” His jaw tightened as he stared straight ahead. “I’m taking you to Zach.”
“Okay.” I had a few questions for Zach. David could save me the time and hassle of finding him. I closed my eyes, just for a minute. I opened them when the engine shut off, shocked to realize I had no idea how much time had passed or where we were. Something was really wrong with me.
I heard booted footsteps on gravel before my door opened and then Zach was there, unbuckling my seat belt, scooping me up as if I were a child. David walked beside him and the three of us went up onto a covered porch and then inside a solarium filled with greenery, rich with the mingled scents of earth and growing things.
The men were arguing. “I wanted her to come of her own free will,” Zach was saying.
“You didn’t see her passing out at the wheel,” David snapped in response. “It’s too late for that.”
Too late? I didn’t like the sound of that, but I didn’t seem to have the strength to speak up.
The argument became impossible to follow then, because they stopped speaking English. The foreign syllables didn’t bother me. It meant I wasn’t distracted by the words and could concentrate on their voices. I liked the sound of them.
“Chandra. Swallow this.” That was Zach, coaxing with an underlying tone of command.
“Later,” I evaded. I didn’t want to be drugged, but I wasn’t in any state to fight about it.
“Now.”
One of them held me while the other poured something noxious into my mouth. I swallowed convulsively and then gasped as it burned all the way down. My eyes teared as I wheezed. “Water!”
Zach gave me a glass, which meant David was the one holding me. I drank and sighed in relief as it cooled the fire in my esophagus. “What was that?”
“Herbal tea. A family remedy.” Zach’s voice was calm, his face composed. “Are you feeling better now?”
In fact, I was. The fog was gone and strength pulsed through me. With every heartbeat I felt more alert, more alive. A sense of almost euphoric well-being filled me.
Something that felt this good this fast couldn’t be trusted. “Please tell me that wasn’t meth.”
“No. Just wolfsbane.”
Wolfsbane? My mouth opened and shut soundlessly a couple of times before I managed to say, “That’s poisonous.”
CHAPTER FOUR
MY HEAD WAS NOW CLEAR ENOUGH TO PANIC. I WAS GOD ONLY KNEW where, in the hands of a man whose last name made his interests in silver and moon cycles suspicious to say the least. And he hadn’t hesitated to pour a known poison down my throat.
“It has medicinal uses.”