Prowlers: Wild Things Read Online Free PDF

New York City had changed. Central Park was cleaner, the paths lined with lampposts, uniformed police strolling about. In the early evening it was common to see lovers walking hand in hand, bicyclists and rollerbladers. Slowly the vendors moved their hot dog and pretzel carts out of the green, heading home. The specter of old violence and the shadow of the unknown remained, however, and as the hour grew later, fewer and fewer people could be found in the park.
    But Jasmine was not alone there, even this late.
    A homeless man with a winter hat and a scruffy beard lay on a bench with his hands beneath his head, surprisingly alert, staring up through tree branches at the stars. Jasmine bristled as she passed him, and her fingers curled into talons. But as prey, vagrants were less interesting and even less of a challenge than fat-bellied raccoons.
    The path curved ahead and Jasmine ran faster, careful not to move too fast. Inhumanly fast. Laughter split the night and she rounded the bend to see a quintet of casually dressed young people, three men and two women. The air was rich with their aromas and Jasmine judged them instantly as college students down from Columbia or up from NYU, probably cutting through the park to get to a more convenient subway line.
    Their laughter stopped when they saw her, and all of them glanced at her as she ran by. Soon, though, she had left them far behind. Moments later her eyes narrowed as she noticed a dark silhouette ahead of her on the path, a figure approaching in the shadows between pools of lamplight. Jasmine slowed only a bit, but then he stepped into the light and she saw the gleaming badge of the policeman.
    "Excuse me, miss," he said. "Do you really think you ought to be out here by yourself this late at night?"
    Jasmine came to a stop just a few feet away and flashed him a coquettish smile. "Do you think I have something to be afraid of, officer?" she asked.
    The policeman looked up at her from beneath the brim of his hat, expression grimly serious. "You never know what kind of animals might be lurking about, miss."
    "Ah, but that's what makes life interesting," Jasmine purred. She crossed the space separating them in one long, graceful stride. "The uniform is intriguing, Alec. Makes me want to tear the clothes right off you."
    Alec growled softly and pulled her into his arms. Jasmine folded into his embrace, relishing the way they fit, and wrapped one leg around behind him as though she might climb right up onto him. With a small, throaty laugh, Alec removed his cap and slipped it onto her head.
    "Don't do that," he whispered, punctuating his words with soft kisses on her forehead, her slightly parted lips, her throat. "I took all the trouble getting it off him without ripping it."
    Jasmine sniffed the air, then touched the collar of the police uniform her lover wore. It was damp and sticky with fresh blood.
    "This won't wash," she warned him.
    "So I'll burn it," he replied, hands caressing her with obvious need. "Bad girl, running on ahead like that. Had to sprint through the bushes to get ahead of you."
    "I like to keep you in pursuit," she confessed, gazing into his gleaming eyes. "It never hurts to remind you who leads this pack. Now come on, I have a surprise for you."
    With that, she darted forward and gently nipped his nose with her teeth, then turned from the path and sprinted across the green lawn. The land sloped gently upward there to a copse of trees and Jasmine raced for it with abandon now, no longer worrying that she might be observed. She had to let the wild out. The heat rose in her and she felt herself begin to change. As she reached the seclusion of the trees, her false flesh rippled and then tore away to be replaced by sleek copper fur. With a shake of her head, she felt the sweet pain of her jaw distending, her face elongating into a snout. Teeth sprouted in long rows.
    At the peak of the small hill, she crouched, concealed from the rest of the park by trees. Her