The Dark Side Read Online Free PDF Page B

phone number and an e-mail address. I slipped it into the back pocket of my pants. There were probably lots of people in Seattle who’d love to have Esteban’s card but I was wondering just how soon I’d be able to burn it and forget I’d ever had it in the first place.
    “I’ll call tomorrow,” I said, and rose before I could dig myself any deeper.
    * * *
    I closed the door to Esteban’s office behind me, tempted to lean back against it and sigh with relief. Or cry. Or maybe both, I wasn’t sure. One thing I did know was that I wanted to go home and sleep. Tomorrow—or rather later today—could only be an improvement over the last few hours.
    Dan stood sentry a couple of feet from the door. He still smelled mad and his ‘just try me’ vibe made the hairs on my arms stand to attention. Niko was nowhere to be seen but Leah lounged against the wall a little away from Dan, just close enough to be pushing the boundaries of his personal space, looking amused. I wondered what she’d been doing to him while I was inside with Esteban.
    Asking would be pretty dumb. I didn’t need Dan exploding on top of everything else. His control was very good but everyone has limits and he’d been at the edge of his the last few weeks. So I ignored the satisfied smirk on Leah’s face, and focused on Dan.
    For a moment we just stared at each other, me trying to let him see I was sorry, him looking even more tightly wound than I felt. His eyes scanned my body as if reassuring himself that all my limbs were still attached. I couldn’t think of anything clever to say, so I stayed quiet and let him look and hoped he wouldn’t be able to smell the lust Esteban had aroused.
    Maybe he could. His hand snaked out, closing around my neck and pulling me close while his mouth found mine. His kiss burned through me, igniting the fire all over again. Heady. Wild. Intense. I moved closer, wanting more, but Dan slowed the pace, gentling the kiss, before he eased me back from him completely with a tiny shake of his head.
    Current mood assessment: worried, glad I was okay but still pissed off. There was nothing I could do about that with Leah as an audience.
    “What a touching reunion,” Leah said into the silence.
    I turned. “What’s wrong? No one waiting to kiss you hello at home?” She bared her fangs. I ignored it. If her boss needed me, she couldn’t actually do anything to me.
    “Shall we go?” I said to Dan.
    Leah’s muttered, “Don’t hurry back,” floated to my ears. I kept walking. Behind me, I felt Dan start to follow. Since I’d become a werewolf, I no longer felt a buzz around shifters but I could tell when Dan was close. It wasn’t a tingle on my skin like shifter buzz but rather an awareness, like a distant hum inside my head. I wasn’t sure if the connection was part of being bonded. Something else to put on my growing list of questions to ask Ani.
    Knowing Dan had my back made me feel a little better. After letting Esteban kick him out, I’d half wondered whether he’d be waiting or whether he’d leave me to wade back through the crowd alone.But apparently he wasn’t mad enough to completely abandon his good guy instincts.
    The screeching music grew louder as we descended, sharpening my headache until the throbs in my temples synchronized with the pulse of the bass. Wincing, I dodged through the throng, making a beeline for the doors.
    A slow beeline. More people were packed into the club than before and the atmosphere had sharpened—more anticipatory, more focused. Expectation saturated the air, sliding over my skin like the gleaming edge of a razor and making me shiver.
    All that hungering energy seemed to be focused toward the middle of the dance floor. Toward the stage. Toward whatever it was that Esteban considered suitable entertainment for this crowd. I didn’t want to know. Instead, I kept my head down and pushed my way past one person after another, breathing deeply to try and ease the pain in my