Hotter After Midnight Read Online Free PDF

Looked slowly around the yard.
    “What is it?” Her voice. Dr. Drake stepped onto the porch. The light cascaded over her. For an instant, with that shining light all around her, she almost looked like an angel.
    But he knew she wasn’t an angel. No, not an angel. Never an angel. The doctor was a demon. Just like the others.
    The cop was looking right at his hiding spot now. The guy took a step forward.

    “Gyth? Is someone out there?” Dr. Drake crossed to the cop’s side.
    A trickle of sweat slid down his cheek. He realized the crickets around him had stopped chirping. The night was quiet, too quiet.
    Now wasn’t the time, he realized, inching deeper into the brush.
    He’d come back for the doctor another night. Wait until she was alone.
    Then he’d destroy the demon.
    After all, hunting demons was his job.

    Colin stared into the dark, twisted trees on the vacant lot across the street. For an instant, he’d sworn he’d heard something, someone.
    He spared a quick look at Emily. She was gazing at the trees, a faint furrow between her brows.
    “I want to check that place out,” he told her, and pulled his gun from the holster at his hip. “Stay here.”
    He didn’t wait to see if she obeyed, just took off, moving slowly, stealthily across the street. Maybe he was wrong, maybe he was just too damn tired, but he had to check the place out.
    Because his instincts were screaming at him, and he never, ever ignored his instincts.
    The faint scent of cigarettes teased his nostrils as he crept closer. Yeah, someone had been here all right.
    But why?
    The moonlight barely trickled past the trees, but he’d always had excellent night vision. Another little shifter side effect. So he could easily see the ground and the bent grass where someone had knelt, where someone had watched.
    A growl rumbled in his throat.
    His fingers tightened around the butt of his gun and—
    A twig snapped behind him. He spun around, gun drawn, leveled, aimed, and ready to fire—
    Right between Emily’s eyes.
    “Dammit!” He lowered his gun. “Didn’t I tell you to stay put?”
    Her gaze followed the movement of the gun, then slowly lifted back to his face. “Yes, but I’m not a dog. I don’t generally ‘stay’
    when I’m told.”
    He realized the doctor was annoyed. Good. Matched him perfectly. “Future reference note,” he muttered, quoting her earlier words back to her, “when I give an order, there’s usually a damn good reason for it. And next time, you’d sure as hell better listen to me.”
    Her lips tightened. “I thought you might need some help.”
    “What?” Jesus. He was the cop! He didn’t need the mind doctor to back him up.
    And he was a shifter—that fact alone meant he knew how to guard his own ass.

    She muttered something beneath her breath, something he didn’t quite catch but sounded a lot like “asshole shifter.”
    “Shit. Just stay behind me, all right?” He wanted to check out the thick patch of bushes up ahead. He strained, trying to listen for any telltale sound that might indicate the watcher was still there. But he heard only the call of crickets, the faint rustle of the leaves in the breeze.
    He crept ahead, keeping his gun up. Emily’s soft footsteps whispered behind him.
    With his right hand, he pushed back a mass of bushes. Saw only dark earth.
    He looked up, gazing straight ahead. There was no sign of anyone else. He couldn’t hear anyone, and he had damn good hearing.
    Looked like their watcher was gone.
    Pity. He would’ve liked to have found out exactly why the sonofabitch was hanging outside the doc’s place.
    He spun back around, frowning down at Emily. In the darkness, he knew she couldn’t see much of him, probably little more than the rough outline of his body. “You got any enemies I should know about, Doc?”
    With his enhanced vision, Colin could see every detail of her face and body. He could easily recognize the sudden tension on Emily’s face.
    “Doc?”
    She