Page 20 of Too Cursed To Kiss
I got into the black sedan and hit the start button.
Nothing.
I pounded it again, accidentally hitting the horn.
Wald was leaning against the house, dangling a key fob.
The car doors locked with a snick.
I screeched, slammed the unlock button, and stormed toward him, ready to commit actual murder.
I might not shoot him again.
But I was very, very tempted.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Wald straightened as I stomped down the driveway toward him.
“Hold right there, virago,” he said, holding up a leather-gloved hand.
“Virago? What the hell is a virago?” I was going to have to look it up, but whatever it was, it was name calling, and I’d already eased off on Tails.
I launched myself at him, intent on getting the keys but happily clawing at any part of him that my fingers found. I went for the damned glasses and got them off one ear. His eyes glowed yellow, and his long pink tongue whipped out and dragged up my cheek.
“Oh my God,” I gasped before dropping to the ground boneless. How could his eyes glow?
“Easy there.” Wald knelt beside me. “I didn’t want you to see that. Sorry.” His voice cracked a little, and the scent of animal and blood was cloying in his closeness, but he didn’t touch me. Still, I felt mortality in those seconds. Immobile and knowing the power of him. That he could kill me likeone of those non-human people. He wasn’t human either. I’d known that for a while but hadn’t wanted to believe it.
What kind of monster was he?
When I could finally move, I wrapped my arms around my knees, my eyes locked on him. We stayed like that for a minute, and then he got up, walked around me, and thumped away.
What was I doing here, and what was I going to do now? I was shaking so hard, I couldn’t move. If I ran, he’d catch me.
Metal whined as it scraped across metal. Somehow, Wald had gotten his severely dented car trunk open. The back of the SUV whooshed up, followed by the clang of a big metal thing hitting a solid surface. Then thebeep-beepsignal of the door closing followed that. The hood of the SUV opened, and in a few minutes, thudded closed again. What was he doing?
He was coming back again. I settled into a half crouch that I could spring up from but would protect me until I was ready to move. Where to, I had no idea. My heart pounded to the rhythm of his boots crunching the gravel as he got closer. His movements were controlled like a predator. Werewolf or were-thing? I’d never really been into movie monsters, but the moon wasn’t full. Maybe that didn’t matter?
Wald jingled a key in front of my nose. “Come on, Tails, I’ll take you home since you want to go there so badly.”
I ripped the key out of his hand. Jumping up, I darted around him and ran to the SUV. My lungs burned by the time I got to the open driver’s door. I folded myself into the seat. The driver must have been tiny. I wondered how he’d died and chanted, “Brain don’t go there, brain don’t go there,” while the engine purred to life.
Throwing the car into reverse, I careened out the driveway.In the split second of moving from reverse to drive, Wald appeared in the passenger seat, jerking the steering wheel to the left as my jaw dropped. We narrowly missed the ditch, and I had to focus to keep us on the road. I slowed down and pulled to the side, putting the car into park. I unlocked the door.
“Get out. Now.” I pointed, avoiding looking at his face.
“No,” he said, crossing his arms. “You can ask me questions as you drive. You like questions.”
“What I’dlikeis to go home and pretend this didn’t happen.” I glanced at him. His face was blood splattered. My stomach lurched, and I glued my eyes to the road.
“But it did, and now they will hunt you as well. So having me around is probably a better idea.”
My skin chilled as his words sank in.
“Hunt? Me? Why?” I turned to him. The words were wrong on my tongue. “Who are these people? What have you done to me?” I rasped. He was right, though, I needed answers. “Bastard,” I muttered as I maneuvered the car back onto the road.
Wald leaned back in the seat as I headed to the highway, like he was settling in.
