Harlequin Nocturne March 2016 Box Set Read Online Free PDF Page B

some notes.
    â€œSo,” he said, unable to stop himself. “What do you think it is?”
    Monica looked up. “I’m still not sure. I came here convinced I was looking for a new breed of chupacabra or something similar, but now I’m thinking this is something else entirely.”
    Jordan snorted. Monica’s brows rose. He shrugged.
    â€œIs it really so hard for you to believe in the unknown?” She put a hand on her hip and gave him a hard look he thought was meant to shame him.
    It didn’t, though it did stir another, baser emotion in his lower gut. Jordan shrugged again. Monica sighed.
    â€œDo you know there are thousands of new species of animals and insects discovered every year? The rain forest—”
    â€œThis isn’t the rain forest,” Jordan pointed out. “This is Louisiana.”
    â€œAnd every inch of it’s been explored, huh?” she challenged, moving a step closer. “There are thousands of acres of land, all charted. Nothing could possibly be hiding away from the rest of the world, could it?”
    â€œNothing like what you’re talking about. Something big and predatory would’ve been discovered before now, that’s all I’m saying.”
    Monica frowned. “My grandparents live in New Jersey. Not Jersey Shore, but up north, close to New York. They have a postage-stamp lot backed up to another postage-stamp lot, with neighbors all around them. You could spit and hit two different highways. And guess what they have in their backyard every night.”
    â€œA lot of noise?”
    â€œSmart-ass,” she said but didn’t seem angry. If anything, he’d made her smile. She shook her head. “Deer. They eat my grandma’s garden and make her crazy. It’s not a place where you’d think you’d see deer, but there they are, and why? Because they’ve been driven there. They don’t have another place to go.”
    â€œYou’re saying whatever’s attacking the menagerie has been driven here?”
    â€œCould be. Land development, taking away territory. Chemicals in the water, changing the food supply. Something we don’t even know about, like down in Florida, where those people are dropping off their ball pythons and anacondas that got too big to be pets, and now they’re breeding and fighting with the alligators for dominance on the food chain.”
    â€œThat’s not happening here,” Jordan said.
    Monica gave him a solemn look. “Could be something else, then. Too many gators being taken, maybe this thing normally eats them , and now it’s hungry. Whatever it is, it’s discovered the menagerie, and it’s not going to stop coming back unless we stop it.” She paused. “Why is it so hard for you to believe?”
    â€œI don’t believe in monsters,” he said flatly.
    Monica laughed. “You’re lucky, then. Because trust me, they exist. Or they did and have gone extinct. Or, like in this case, haven’t been discovered.”
    â€œMaybe it’s zombies,” he said, deadpan. Scoffing.
    She narrowed her eyes. “You mean like voodoo?”
    â€œI mean like ‘They’re coming to get you, Barbara,’” Jordan said. “Voodoo is a religion.”
    She frowned again. “I wasn’t trying to be offensive. Zombies like in Night of the Living Dead definitely are not real, I can tell you that much.”
    â€œNo? But Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster are, huh?”
    She turned on him, finally, with a scowl. “I’m a cryptozoologist, Jordan. That means I search for the existence of animals whose existence has not been proven. Or things outside their natural realm. Do you know that just last year a half-sized cougar was discovered rummaging in the Dumpsters of restaurants in Hell’s Kitchen? A cougar in New York City.”
    â€œThat’s not surprising, I bet there are lots of cougars in the