Bite: A Shifters of Theria Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

cops moved fast. A unit of Kevlar-clad officers stormed the warehouse, guns drawn. Another armed unit split up and circled the building. Flashing cruisers continued to arrive at the scene.
     

     
    A prostitute across the street had her eye on my bag. She looked me up and down and then scoffed before turning away. I could see her mouth the words “fucking cop.”
     
    Seconds later, the police dragged the kicking and screaming James by his cuffed wrists. From three blocks away, I could hear him scream, “It’s not mine! None of it’s mine!” My heart skipped a beat as I waited for him to scream my name before disappearing into the back of a cruiser. He didn’t.
     
    I noticed two cops staring in my direction. One of the cops pointed at me and the other began walking my way. Running would be a dead giveaway, but it’s all I wanted to do.
     
    “Shit,” I muttered under my breath, turning away, clenching my bag of stolen clothes. My cold, wet body trembled. My legs became weak.
     
    Olivia’s Survival Guide, tip #33: go big or go to prison. Over-the-top-lies are more convincing than small subtle lies. Commit completely to your character, and abandon all traces of yourself.
     
    “Hey!” the officer called out behind me.
     
    I didn’t turn around.
     
    “Hey—you!” he yelled again. I could hear his footsteps drawing closer, splashing in a nearby puddle.
     
    After forcing a breath past the lump in my throat, I turned to face the officer. I looked at him with my best ‘what do you think you’re lookin’ at?’ stare. “What?” I said, shrugging my shoulders. I held my eye-contact.
     
    Olivia’s Survival Guide, tip #8: always maintain eye-contact when lying. When you break eye-contact, you break all believability.
     
    “You need to get out of here. Go home—all of you!” he called out. The prostitute across the street rolled her eyes as she turned to walk away. “You ain’t getting any business out here anyway—not today—not as long as we’re here.”
     
    I kept eyes locked on the officers.
     
    “You deaf or somethin’? Go—Get lost,” he said before turning back to the red, white, and blue flashing warehouse.
     
    I looked the officer up and down, smiled, and winked. His face turned red. He stuttered something incoherent, hesitated, then turned back to the warehouse.
     
    Olivia’s Survival Guide, tip #1: sex sells everything.
     
    A train of police officers emerged from the warehouse, each holding one of my boxes. Shit . All my savings were gone, being loaded into a police van. I had no money to my name and nothing to sell.
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    MONEY LOST, MONEY EARNED

    I haven’t heard from James, or the police, since that day at the warehouse. There’s has been nothing in the paper and nothing on the news. Not a moment goes by that I don’t worry he’s ratted me out—that they gave him a plea deal, and now a small army of policemen are on their way to my apartment. Any second, they’ll crash through my door and haul me off to prison.
     
    It’s been three days now. At what point can I breathe and relax? How many days before I can be sure James kept his mouth shut? What if James thinks I was the one who ratted him out?
     
    Even now, as I make my way home from that motel room where I smashed the lamp over Freddie’s head, the thought of James ratting me out lingers in my mind.
     
    I drop everything at my apartment door, including my soaking wet clothes. It’s not until I’m in the shower that I remember I still haven’t investigated the messenger bag full of money. As far as I know, there could be a million dollars in that bag.
     
    But discovering whether or not I’m a millionaire isn’t worth cutting my shower short. I never want the hot water to stop running down my naked body, washing away the smell of Freddie’s cheap cologne. After two rounds of shampoo and half a bottle of body wash, I can still smell it. The smell must be embedded in my brain, but unfortunately,