Hunter's Prey: Bloodhounds, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

ghouled servants.
    “Living forever isn’t for everyone.” She leaned forward and grasped Nate’s hand. “But a little extra time surely never hurt.”
    His fingers tightened around hers. “You only wish to keep me around so you have someone with whom to discuss the follies of philosophers turned vampire. Satira wouldn’t willingly open a book without design schematics or equations on the inside.”
    “Guilty,” she admitted readily. “You haven’t learned how to say no to me, have you? That would be a disappointment.”
    “Who can say no to you, darling?” Nate eased his hand away from hers and patted her fingers. “I hear the new boy is following you around like an eager puppy. He’s not bothering you, is he?”
    “Hunter, you mean?” Ophelia looked away. “He’s hardly following me around. And no, he’s fine.”
    “He’s not fine. He’s like me, my dear. Trapped between existing and being consumed by the ether.”
    “No, I meant—” She sank her teeth into her lower lip. He wasn’t fine. He was struggling too, casting about for solid footing when there was none to be found. “He sees something familiar in me, some shred of his former life. You know it’s true.”
    “I know everything he sees in you,” Nate agreed, tapping the side of his head. “I shouldn’t be able to read a bloodhound, you know. The formula they use to create them includes protections against vampires. He doesn’t have protections. Not for his mind…” Nate thumped his chest once. “Not for anything. He’s a raw nerve, and you touch it.”
    No, Hunter hadn’t gone through the Guild’s process. He hadn’t been properly prepared, and whatever had happened to him out in Lowe’s dungeon had left him open and bleeding in unexpected ways.
    It hurt too much to think about.
    “I’m not touching him at all,” she said lightly, rising from the stool. “Not for the next few days, anyway. He’ll be with Sylvie.”
    Nate’s lips twitched again, an almost smile that his face seemed too weary to let form. “I imagine she won’t touch any of the same places,” he muttered, then pinned Ophelia with an unwavering look. “I’d understand, you know. If you wanted to leave as well. The blood Hunter is leaving should keep me through the new moon, but I’d rather be alone. Just to be safe.”
    “I’m not leaving you, Nate. I’ll lock the basement door if you need me to, but I’m staying here.”
    He didn’t blink. “Then lock the basement door. You can ask me to live with what I am, but there are some things I wouldn’t survive.”
    Ophelia nodded and offered him a smile as she backed toward the stairs. “I promise I’ll protect myself. Even from you.”
    She was almost to the stairs when he spoke again. “You’re reborn too, Ophelia. Don’t forget that.”
    She managed to control the hitch in her breathing, but her heart was pounding and he would hear that, anyway. “How so?”
    He looked down at his table, nudging a stack of notes into a neat pile without seeming to look at them. “You spent your last life seeing to the needs of others. Don’t go through this one without letting someone take care of you.”
    Perhaps he’d been reading her mind, as well. “I’ve already come to that realization, actually. I plan to talk to Satira—after the new moon.”
    Nate didn’t look up. “She’s a strong girl. And Wilder will tend to her, whatever happens.” Paper crinkled under his hand as his fingers curled into a fist. “Or perhaps you shouldn’t listen to me at all. I don’t have enough bloodhound in me to heed the new moon’s call, but it isn’t helping my mood.”
    She started to ask him if he was sure, but she bit off the words. Nate wouldn’t want to discuss his more carnal needs with her, even as a matter of comfort or necessity. “I’ll come back down in a few days, when everyone returns. Until then, ring if you need me, yes?”
    “Of course. I hope you enjoy a bit of time to