Instinctive Read Online Free PDF Page A

all still primal beings ruled by lust, hunger, and primitive urges.
    Vall arched a brow. “I give her a month before the town eats her alive.”
    “Mmm.” Quinn flashed his white teeth, then brushed his tongue over his protruding incisors. “Can I go first?”
    Harmony leveled Quinn with a glare. “Down, boy. You won’t be eating anyone alive.”
    “Killjoy,” Quinn shot back, an edge of humor in his voice as he turned his attention to his near-empty sack of blood. It was just like Quinn to find amusement in the situation, absurd master vamp that he was.
    Slyck remained quiet during the whole exchange. Oddly fascinated, he found himself drawn to the pictures, despite a hard-fought battle to look the other way. There was something about the young woman in the photo that caused his blood to rush a little faster and his heart to beat a little stronger, which went completely against his feline nature. His skin prickled, and suddenly it took effort to breathe and organize his thoughts.
    “Children, please.” Harmony gave a light laugh and toyed with the charm dangling around her neck. “Sometimes it’s like being in a room full of fledglings,” she teased, then tapped her fingertip on the picture. “From what I understand she comes from Chicago’s Gold Coast and is here to turn around cosmetics sales at the department store. I put her in the rental property on Mulberry
Lane. The house across the street from you, Slyck, so you and your team can keep a close eye on her actions in the interim.”
    An eye on her.
    A hand on her.
    A tongue on her.
    Oh boy . . .
    Warmth spread out over Slyck’s skin as an odd tingling caused the hairs on his nape to rise. What the fuck was the matter with him? No woman had ever elicited such a bizarre response from him—especially of the nonpanther variety. He bit back a raspy moan of pleasure before it rumbled to the surface, and tried to make sense of his reactions to her.
    “So if we buy her product and help her turn around cosmetics sales, won’t that get her out of Serene quicker?” Quinn asked.
    “It’s only a temporary solution,” Harmony assured him. “If sales decline after she leaves, who’s to say the company won’t send more employees in the future? And if we’re forced to continually make their stay permanent, it would raise too much suspicion.”
    Slyck remained quiet through the exchange, his mind racing, his cock thickening.
    “What’s the matter, Slyck? Cat got your tongue?” Vall questioned, ever determined to get under Slyck’s skin.
    “Fuck off, Vall,” Slyck returned, no longer in the mood to humor him. With passion segueing to anger, Slyck quickly pulled himself together and splayed his hands on the table, needing the meeting to end immediately. “You all know the routine. If she’s still here after one month, we reconvene and decide her future. Until then tell your brethren to keep their distance, and make
her stay as unwelcome as possible.” His eyes met and locked with Vall’s. “And remember, no council member is to ‘play’ with her, or ‘mark’ her before judgment, should it come to that.”
    Jaclyn had but one month to get out of Dodge. Otherwise she ran the risk of making her stay . . . permanent .
    With Slyck’s nonnegotiable parting advice, Harmony tapped the table with the tip of her finger, a habitual gesture, and called the meeting to a close. Desperately needing air, Slyck hastily made his exit. He stepped out into the warm night and drew a sharp breath, his mind racing, trying to figure out what it was about Jaclyn Vasenty that held his attention and aroused the hell out of him—because never in his nine hundred years had a human female enticed him.
    Physical discomfort apparent, he adjusted his jeans and berated his traitorous cock as he made his way back to the bar, but there was nothing he could do to bank his desires. What he needed was a cool drink, and a hot woman to help take the edge off. That would help numb the