Lover's Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page A

way. She moved through them, sidestepping or avoiding the worst while she ignored the rest. She wasn't here for them, she was here for the isolation. Surrounded by dozens of people, she knew she was alone.
    Her thoughts traveled back to Penny and the two werewolves. Penny must have known what they were, she kept trying to keep Beth away from them. Protecting her. Penny knew her past, she'd spent an entire night telling Penny her life story before her mentor offered her the gift of eternal life.
    And then Beth turned her down.
    She'd been scared and confused. The story of her life, really. Beth was always scared and confused. She wanted what she couldn't have. The same as everybody, except she never seemed to learn from it. She just got more and more bitter every time what she thought she wanted was snatched away from her. Stupid toys and friends as a kid, then Crystal, her best friend that she'd have been willing to do anything for.
    She followed that up with the first guy that showed an interest in her only wanting to use her to get to Crystal, and he used her and abused her, but it almost worked. After him came Colin, the next guy she was willing to give a chance tricked her into getting drunk and horny and tried to let his frat brothers rape her. Penny saved her from that.
    And that was when she knew she had to stop wanting the next best thing. She had to grab onto something and go with it, for once. Waiting for something better only made it worse every time. Crystal wouldn't let her be a werewolf with her pack, she'd said she was protecting her because it was dangerous. Beth wondered if that was it, or if it was because she wanted to be the special one.
    Now it didn't matter, Beth found something else. Something better, as far as she was concerned. So Crystal could turn into a wolf. Big deal. She could turn into anything she wanted. Well, someday, when she learned how.
    Crystal would live for a long time, maybe even hundreds of years. Beth would live thousands of years, if not more. Penny was over two thousand years old and she was magnificent. Strong, beautiful, intelligent, and powerful. Beth couldn't think of anyone better to spend the rest of her life with.
    Her thoughts were stopped as she rounded a corner and saw the flow of pedestrians curving and bending around something. She walked closer and saw a man bent over a puddle of vomit. A woman stood beside him talking to two police officers.
    Beth froze. She stared, her lips parted in a breathless gasp. The cop nearest to her turned his head in slow motion. She watched as his profile against the slush covered street became recognizable. He kept turning, sensing her unusual lack of movement. Beth knew who he was before he saw her. She knew he couldn't see her, she was dead. He'd been there at the end. Her last hurrah. Her one and only love in life that could have meant something real.
    Beth fled. She slipped back and darted between people, moving so fast that they cried out in surprise or just stopped and stared as a blur moved past them. She rounded the corner and ducked into an alley. She glanced around, afraid John would follow her, and saw a fire escape twenty feet up the side of the building on her right.
    Beth glanced back over her shoulder. People were walking by the alley but no one did more than glance down it. She looked up again and bit her lip. She nodded, she could do this. She'd been making herself stronger and learning how to do amazing tricks. Things she'd never thought possible until she met Penny.
    She crouched down, bending her knees, and then leapt at the wall of the building on her left. Her left hand and foot hit the bricks at the same time and she pushed against them, springing away from it and catching the bottom rail of the fire escape in her right hand. She swung on it and had to kick out to stop herself from slamming into the building. She grabbed on with her left hand and pulled herself up, hand over hand, until she rolled over the railing