Hunter's Need Read Online Free PDF Page B

her.
    “She’s gone. Gone . . . gone . . . ” he started to mumble, rocking himself.
    A warning whispered in her mind and from the corner of her eye, she saw a couple of police officers glance their way. She didn’t know why. But she reached out and caught his arm, tugging him along with as she walked away. He fell instep beside as easily, as trusting as a child, still crying and whispering to himself.
    Putting some distance between her and the crowd gathered around them made it a little easier to breathe. Granted, not much fun to breathe—the guy needed a bath, desperately. It didn’t make her pull away, though. She wanted to, but she couldn’t. Through her shields, she could feel his pain. Her shields protected her from the worst of the impact, but they were only padding—they could absorb some of the pain. They didn’t eradicate it.
    Blocking it out, she patted his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, Paul.”
    “You know my name.” Like a switch that been thrown, he stopped crying and looked at her. Rheumy eyes blinked and then focused on her face.
    Ana forced a smile. “Yeah. Somebody mentioned it to me.” Uncertain what to do, what to say, but unable to just walk off, she said, “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
    “Like what?”
    Ana shrugged. “I don’t know. Is there anything I can do to help?”
    Paul smiled, that slow, sad smile. Reaching up, he patted her cheek. “You’re a nice girl. Marie said you’d try to help.” Then he sighed, heaving out a harsh, heavy sigh. “But nobody can help.” Glancing off to the side, he said, “No . . . no, she can’t.”
    Automatically, Ana followed his gaze to see who he’d spoken to. Nobody—not that she’d expected to see anybody there by him. But then, as she looked back at Paul, from the corner of her eye, she saw something.
    There.
    Gone so quickly all she could catch was a vague impression. Young. Dark-haired, round face—made Ana think of a native, but there was no way to know for sure because the second her lashes twitched, whatever she’d seen, or who, was gone.
    A shiver raced down her spine. Dragging her gaze back to Paul, she watched as the man turned away from her and headed back the way they’d come. He kept glancing off to the side and over the distance, she heard his voice.
    “No, Marie. She’s just a nice girl. She can’t help us. Nobody can.”
     
     
    I F she hadn’t seen that flash, whatever it was, Ana could have written the whole experience off as a lesson in weirdness, and yet another lesson in why she shouldn’t go around handing out her money to anybody that appeared as though they might need it.
    But she’d seen the flash, and as much as Ana wanted to discount it, she couldn’t. Her skin was tight, hot, itchy, the same way she often felt just before a heavy summer downpour back in Virginia.
    That night, instead of going by the Alaska Club for a workout, she headed straight home, catching the bus back out to the apartment she rented in Hillside.
    It was a quiet area, close to the bus routes—damn good thing considering she couldn’t afford a car just yet. More important to her, it was quiet and the landlord was a psychic null. She couldn’t get a damn thing off of him unless she actively tried, because he didn’t project.
    Even ungifted people tended to project and it was a fricking nuisance for somebody like Ana.
    The apartment, located above a garage and complete with Internet access and a small kitchen, was perfect. Quiet, private and hers. She needed the privacy and had been trying to find a place just like this when she stumbled upon the flyer advertising the apartment.
    Her landlord, Carter Hoskins, a history professor at UAA, wasn’t home when she got there. The Harley was gone, and if his bike was gone in the summer, it was because he’d taken off for a few days. She was glad. He was a nice guy, but he liked to talk. Even in the best frame of mind, talking was not on Ana’s list of things to do. The