The Wild Side: Urban Fantasy with an Erotic Edge Read Online Free PDF Page A

kills brain cells. Did Droege,” he continued slowly, with heavy emphasis, “bring his lawyer to the club?”
    “I don’t . . .” Mike frowned. The lawyer had been at the condo. Hadn’t allowed him to speak to Droege. The club was on Queen Street West. It was . . . there was . . . he didn’t . . . “I don’t remember.”
    “Interesting.”
    “Why?”
    “Because lately, my friend, all your memory lapses tend to lead back to Vicki.”
    “Vicki has nothing to do with this!” When Dave reared back, both hands up, he realized he’d been a little overly vehement. Dave hadn’t known what the bite marks on Duncan Riley meant. Hadn’t know it was Vicki that Mike had chased out of Albert Droege’s condo.
    “Dude, chill. I didn’t say she did. I was thinking maybe you were distracted by a little afternoon delight, not that she’s been ripping people apart. Not that it would matter if it did. You got it so bad you’d never give her up.”
    Mike rubbed his head wondering who the hell had the music playing so loud in the squad room. “Give her up . . . ?”
    “Rat her out,” Dave expanded, rolling his eyes. “Squeal on her. Turn her in. Betray her trust.”
    So easy for you to betray her.
    Memory returned as the music faded.
    “Mike! Hello! Where the hell are you off to?”
    “Back to the club.” He shook off Dave’s grip and pushed past him toward the door. “There’s a loose end I need to tie up.” But he’d have to beat the sunset to do it.
    * * *
    The second evening in a row, Vicki woke to a flood of memory.
    The look on Mike’s face, equal parts fear and arousal, as she bent toward his throat.
    Remembered the effort of moving against the music as she turned the Hunger back into the city.
    Remembered the feel of flesh compacting under her grip as she dragged the dealer into an alley, his customers scattering. Remembered the hot splash of his blood. The dark taste of his terror.
    It was easier as she fed to fight the music.
    Easy enough to finally throw the first body aside and Hunt for another. One appetite fulfilled, others still needing to be.
    So many people on the streets. Unaware.
    An arm broken in passing, caught on the upswing between one blow and the next. So far beyond when he collapsed to the ground that the screams of his companion were nearly lost in the sounds of the city.
    Blue eyes and broad shoulders and hair long enough for her to grip. His pulse pounding. Hips rising to meet hers. His blood tasted of desire. He was weak when she stopped but alive.
    The look on Mike’s face . . .
    * * *
    Vicki ripped the back door of the club off its hinges and threw it across the alley. Before it landed, she was running into the dressing room at the end of the corridor, ready for Lorelei’s song when it hit her, “When the Levee Breaks” pounding into her ears at about a hundred decibels. She’d got her hand around fistful of hair when a bullet whistled past her cheek and smashed the mirror.
    Lorelei’s comb caught the wires as Vicki turned, pulling the earbuds free. The song changed. Caught her.
    On the other side of the room, his back pressed up against the clothing on the rack, Mike lowered his weapon, his movements as much beyond his control as hers were.
    “Kill him,” Lorelei sang. “Kill him.”
    Vicki could feel the Hunger rising along the notes of the song. “Mike, run!”
    “The hell I will!”
    She heard his heart pounding. Inhaled the scent of his fear. Her tongue swept over his throat, tasting . . . Fuck! She didn’t remember moving. The hard ridge of his gun dug into her hip and she managed to find enough control to grunt, “Shoot me!”
    “Not going to happen.”
    “Do it!”
    “No!”
    He titled his head to the side, giving himself to her. Trusting her. Vicki’s teeth broke the skin and she froze in place, fighting the music with everything she had. Fighting the need to rend and tear. Fighting what she was. She licked at the blood welling slowly to the surface . .