Beauty and the Brute [Werescape III] Read Online Free PDF Page A

hand in marriage?"
    Ludicrous. I spun to his impenetrable mask. “He was saving her for some political marriage to solidify connections between the new cities."
    "Apparently, he fears the aliens more than New York or New Boston."
    An almost inaudible ring sounded.
    From where? Overhead? From the city? Or behind me in the trees?
    My skin crawled.
    "I hear it too,” he said, scanning the trees.
    This was wrong. All wrong. “We've got to go,” I snapped.
    Orange fire shot down through the clouds beyond his shoulders.
    The alien's beam. “Run, Brutus.” I whirled and stretched my stride for the forest.
    * * * *
    That something nagging at the back of Brutus's subconscious came crashing to the front. The beauty's warning and reaction was enough to kick Trance into a full gallop in her wake.
    Toward the old burn line from the last time Pittsburgh was exterminated. The only other place less than a foot underground offering hope. If we could reach the tree line, we were most likely to escape the vaporization ray.
    She shot the most terrified glance back toward the city.
    And slid her gaze to me. If she thought I would run the other way, into the extinguishing light, she was mistaken.
    Protect. Wolf snarled.
    Shit. I couldn't leave her behind. Wolf growling or not. I reached down, hooked my around her waistband, heaved her slender form up over the saddle, and kicked Trance's ribs.
    Quietly, she watched what unfolded behind us. “Faster,” she howled.
    Trance burst between the closest tree trunks into the forest's old growth.
    "Go,” Lorelei yelled.
    Her boot slammed into a trunk.
    "Keep your head and feet down.” I'd be lucky to keep her in one piece if we survived. But stopping to avoid slamming her against trees would be risky. The beam damned sure wasn't aimed at the same spot it was last time. Only fools would believe such stupid things.
    "God, it's coming,” she shouted.
    How much farther would we have to run?
    "Stop. It's over,” she barked. “Let me down."
    I pulled Trance to a halt and slid her body to the ground. She gaped at the scene behind us, rubbing her ribs.
    The orange glow slowly seeped back to its point of origin.
    What went through her mind? Did she realize she was free of Yale?
    She took a couple steps toward the dying nightmare.
    Not so wise. “Don't go that way. If Yale or his goons made it through the sweep, they'll be coming for you."
    She paused, the slim form of a woman any man would fight to possess.
    Concealed only by her backpack. Did she have any weapons? Not likely. The way she feared
    I'd come to drag her back to Yale, she would have used whatever she had on me. A man's got to pity a Normal turned on by the rest of her kind. In a nutshell, she wasn't safe here.
    She turned around, gripping the straps of her backpack harness with fists, staring almost blankly at the leaves and grass on the forest floor. Her knees buckled.
    She plopped onto the ground.
    "You can't stay here.” Surely she realized that much.
    She rubbed her face with both palms.
    "You need to go, Lorelei.” I studied the now bare earth as far as I could see.
    She just sat there, holding her face in her hands.
    Hell. They'd find her for certain. I slid out of the saddle and knelt by her side. “Lorelei?"
    She dropped her hands into her lap and stared at the devastation.
    Get up, woman. “Why are you sitting here?"
    She waved a hand at the barren land and lonely buildings. “I killed them."
    Not so much as a wince graced her aware expression. I'd just have to enlighten her. “They were going to kill you. It's a dog-eat-dog world, Lorelei. Get up and start walking in case any wild dogs lurk nearby."
    Protect, Wolf snarled.
    One was closer than she thought.
    She locked a stare on me that could have exterminated my ass.
    Maybe I deserved it. But she had to get up. Start walking. I rose and extended a hand.
    Would she accept the help?
    Slowly she glided a palm across mine.
    Warm. Soft. Silken skin.
    Wolf began to pounce,