Under My Skin Read Online Free PDF

throat as it shoved its forearms off the cage, dropped to all fours, and turned to face me. For the second time that day, I stared into the werewolf’s red eyes, bright with human intelligence though a wildness flickered in their depths. The stuff of nightmares stared back at me, through me, and called to the beast that lurked within. Finding me out. My body tightened against the urge to flee. To hide.
    I waved my dagger to remind the beast, and myself, that I was the one in control. Or at least, I hoped I was. The security lights glimmered off the sharp silver blade, making my point for me.
    Flinching, the werewolf averted his massive head. Thank God, I didn’t have to bluff this time. Now I was all about the follow-through. My doubts faded on a mind-blowing rush of power at the beast’s show of fear.
    I took a bold step forward.
    The beast stumbled backwards, knocked into the bunny cage, and sent the trapped creatures into spastic scuttles.
    I had him. We both knew it.
    But then I slipped in the bunny blood and crashed to the floor. I cried out, flailing my hands in the air, trying to regain my balance, but my feet shot out from under me. My head cracked against the linoleum.
    I landed in a sprawl under the werewolf’s stinking jowls. His foul breath filled my nostrils as stars spun in front of my eyes. My athame flew from my hand, scraped across the floor, and came to rest a few feet away, its momentum slowed by a rack of jerky treats. I twisted onto my stomach and reached frantically for the hilt. Oh, this was so wrong. My nails dug into the linoleum floor. I inched closer. My breath escaped in a ragged sob. My splayed fingers trembled. An inch. One inch more. So close. But not close enough.
    A heavy paw planted itself on my back.
    I couldn’t breathe.
    I couldn’t move. Claws dug into my jacket.
    I craned my neck and stared up at canine lips as they slowly twisted to form a maliciously human grin. A thick line of bloody drool wavered inches from my face. I shook my head from side to side, trying to avoid the drool. It struck my neck with a heavy splat, running down my neck to the floor.
    And so the hunter became the prey. Irony really sucked the big one.
    A shot rang out. My body seized. Breath clogged in my throat.
    The animals in the store fell quiet.
    Above me the beast’s grin extended, but the light died in his eyes as a thick pool of black blood formed in the center of his forehead. My nose crinkled as the battery-acid fumes of silver meeting werewolf lit into the air. His breath left him in a rattling gasp. With a thud he toppled onto me, all two hundred pounds of suddenly human deadweight.
    Not how I envisioned my first encounter with a naked guy.
    “Get him off her!” The voice was familiar, but I’d never heard it so authoritative.
    Two sets of hiking boots rushed to my side, carefully avoiding the bunny blood. The werewolf’s weight eased as my rescuers grunted and heaved the guy’s body off me. Lungs free to expand, I gulped in waves of ripe pet store air. Air curdled by the panicked frenzy of caged animals.
    I pushed my chest off the floor with shaking arms and raised my head. A slick gush of werewolf blood ran down my neck.
    I blinked in shock. “Brit?”
    My only friend at Redgrave High stood before me, an uncertain smile on her face. Wearing yellow plaid cargo pants tucked into her usual Doc Martens, a black leather coat belted at the waist, and a skull-covered scarf tied artfully around her neck, Brit looked like a gothic pixie on a mission.
    Strong hands lifted me to my feet.
    “Well, that looked embarrassing—falling on your butt in front of a werewolf you thought you had in the bag. Everyone agree?” The question, with its sharp bite, distracted me from Brit’s gothic-superhero-to-the-rescue stance.
    A guy stood next to me, a crowbar slung over his shoulder, staring at me with suspicious, dark eyes. He was tall, lean, and looked a lot like my new and highly untouchable crush, Alec. But