Drawing Deep Read Online Free PDF Page B

the horrors of her childhood had created a barrier to anything more. They’d manage to part as friends of a sort, with a measure of concern and caring on both sides.
    “Everything all right?” She asked the second he answered.
    “With us, yes. You, I’m not so sure about.” Us was his family, which now extended to his very pregnant, loving, and pretty wife. A perky human woman Ria had come to approve and care for as well. “An older man came in last night, flashing your picture around – a recent one at that – and asking if anyone had seen you.”
    Heart coming to a screeching halt, Ria slowly sank down onto the bed. “What did he look like?”
    “Not a vamp or shifter, but not totally human either. Late fifties. Five-eleven. Light brown hair liberal with gray. Grey-blue eyes. Had a couple other men with him. Muscle was my take. Ring any bells?”
    A greasy ball of terror coiled in her chest. “Maybe.” The single word strangled in her throat.
    “Dammit, Ria. He resembled you so much he could have been your father.”
    Which he was. Her older sister favored their long-deceased vampiric mother in both looks and attitude, while Ria had been told more than once – and punished often for it – that her rebellious nature flowed directly from her paternal grandmother. Tossed out into the savage wilderness with nothing but a baby boy in her arms, Mala hadn’t lasted long before she was attacked by a wolf shifter bent on revenge against the cruelty and prejudices great-grandaddy Kalin inflicted on the surrounding shifter community. Mala had fought with her sorcery, the shifter with teeth and claws. Only a subdued baby had been found alive when Kalin rescinded his order and had sent guards out to retrieve his only child.
    Refusing to take any blame in the matter, Kalin became even more obsessed with his zealous quest to inflict destruction on those who carried a beast in their soul, yet ignored his own blackening one. He raised his grandson in the same way, passing on a twisted and evil legacy.
    “Did...” Mouth drier than dirt, Ria paused to take a drink, though her stomach revolted. “Did you tell him you knew me?”
    What seemed like an endless period of silence passed. Not a good sign. She must have made some sound of distress because Dax finally spoke, quiet apology coating his tone, “I had no choice, Ria. He hit the tables before the bar and I overheard some asshole say he saw you talking to me last Saturday. It’s a damn good thing I did too, otherwise this guy would have become suspicious.”
    “Someone remembered me?”
    Dax let out a curse. “You’re hard not to. Few women can wear hair that short and still look hot. Then there’s the curves you couldn’t hide under a potato sack. You look like a white Halle Berry. With a bigger butt. Not easily forgettable.”
    Reflexively, she ran a hand through the short, wavy, thick strands, saying in defense, “If the picture was recent than it wouldn’t matter if it was long, short or dyed orange.”
    Dax let out a frustrated sound. “True. But, babe, he offered me a grand to give him a phone call the next time I saw you.”
    Ria carefully set the bottle of coke on the nightstand when her shaking hand threatened to spill the contents. “Shit.”
    “Indeed. It’s possible he made the same offer to a couple others. When you get back in town, stay away from the bar.”
    She wanted to scream with the injustice of it all. “Stay away from the bar? I’m going to have to stay away from the city.” Staying on the move meant safety, but she’d thought she might have another few years to call New Mexico home, especially since her job kept her traveling for long periods of time. Yet it seemed time had just slipped through her fingers like so much sand.
    Closing her eyes against a wave of anger and despair, she ignored the beep on her phone signaling an incoming call.
    “As much as I’d hate to see that happen, it might be best. Anyway you can hang where