Davies, Corinne - Claiming Destiny [Midnighter Seductions 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Online Free PDF Page A

to remain invisible as a figure crept low to the ground and right across the opening to where she hid.
    At first she thought it was a mountain lion, but another flash of lightning revealed black, scale-like fur, and incredibly long teeth. She blinked, wondering if she was hallucinating or her fear was creating images that weren’t real because there weren’t really panthers in New Mexico. Right?
    It lifted its nose and sniffed the air around it, slowly turning its head in her direction. Its eyes were bright yellow and it curled its lips as it growled low at her. Dropping down, it stalked toward her hiding spot. Fear ripped through Destiny as it approached and for a moment she considered letting it kill her and saving herself from a long, painful death from exposure. Before she could finish that thought, her thumb pressed down on the button and she sprayed the animal right in the face.
    The cat screamed and threw itself away from the opening to her hiding spot. Destiny ignored the pain in her hips and legs and pushed herself out from between the boulders and scrambled up the incline and out from between their protection. The rain had started to ease, but the ground was uneven and the rocks slippery as she navigated her way around them.
    She felt a presence at her back a moment before a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She screamed and swung her arm up to spray the man behind her. His hand hit the nerve in her wrist enough to numb the feeling in her fingers and she dropped her pepper spray. Destiny tried to leap back out of the way, but her sandals slipped on the uneven terrain. There was a moment of weightlessness as she fell, but a sharp pain at the back of her head pulled her into darkness before she landed.

    * * * *

    Rock leapt forward and managed to snag the woman around the waist before she slipped between two boulders and over a cliff. He’d heard her head contact the rock face with a sickening crack and feared that she might’ve fractured her skull. “Jag!” The coppery scent of blood colored the air and Rock feared it might bring the attention of other predators to her. Keeping her pressed against his chest, he navigated his way to his friend. Jag was there a moment later.
    “How badly is she hurt? I can smell blood,” Jag said as he pulled off his shirt.
    “The side of her head, she smacked it against a rock face and knocked herself out.”
    Jag moved closer and pressed his wet shirt against her head. “It didn’t occur to you to try to reassure her before leaping at her?”
    Rock felt guilty enough for scaring her again, but this was exactly why he didn’t want an Atan. They were a liability. A pawn to be used by their enemy, who would know for certain that they had returned to this world. “She would’ve been better off if we hadn’t found her. She panics too easily.”
    Jag looked at him as if he was out of his mind. “Sure, because she was panicking when she made you choke on your own balls right before she dropped me to my knees.”
    “She was panicking,” he argued.
    “Exactly.” Still holding the material against the side of her head, Jag pulled his communications device from his armband. They’d brought some of their own devices across the portal because the humans’ current technology couldn’t track them or listen in. “I’m afraid to think what her reaction would be if she’d been actually thinking about her actions.”
    Rock didn’t want to admit that he was impressed at her instinctive reaction to what she perceived as a threat. A part of him wanted to get to know their Atan and looked forward to having a conversation with her. But, as their leader, he couldn’t risk his attention being divided or distracted at a vital moment.
    Jag contacted Blade and gave him directions to where they were. The woman’s weight was almost insignificant and he wasn’t concerned about carrying her back to the portal, but with the injury they needed to get her to safety as quickly as possible.