A Shock to Your System (Dangerous Creatures #2)

A SHOCK TO YOUR
SYSTEM

Dangerous Creatures Book 2

Mandy Rosko

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Chapter One

Jamie Holland opened his eyes, but had to
shut his lids again instantly when a fiery light bulb in front of
his retinas stabbed him through the skull. He groaned as he came
awake, and he tried the eye-opening thing again, slower this time.
The trees were upside down and spinning around him, and he had no
memory of how he'd come to be here. Why was he so cold? Damp in
some places, too. Not to mention stiff and sore as hell, like he'd
been in a fight and totally got his ass handed to him on a plate.
Every limb felt like wood.

He shifted his body,
mindful of aching joints that flared with pain, causing him to
hiss. The pain sharpened in his back. Like that was the jolt he
needed to remember, everything came back to him in one sharp,
sudden rush of information to his brain, as though it was being
downloaded in high speed. He remembered
exactly
where he was and why, and it
was so damned painful and scary, it was as if the pain completely
disappeared.

He tried to sit up but the heavy net around
his body made it impossible for him to get to a comfortable sitting
angle. Still, he was up and aware at least. The dart that he'd been
shot with was still sticking out of his skin; red where the needle
pierced him with a small bruise turning a dark purple color.

Anger filled him up like liquid being poured
into a cup, and Jamie yanked the dart out of his skin and tossed it
away. It didn't go very far thanks to the stupid net.

That fucking bastard had
actually shot him. Ethan had netted him like he was some kind of
fish, and then
shot
him.

That was about when the
anger melted away. Panic buzzed inside of Jamie like a swarm of
insects were droning and pulsating within him. That was the noise
he usually heard whenever his abilities were getting out of
control, and he searched around for
—

There
he was. Ethan Frost was lying right where Jamie had left him.
Still unconscious after Jamie launched a bolt of electricity at his
chest.

He'd been lucky. His aim had been spot on,
and Ethan had gone down, but not before he'd fired his tranquilizer
gun. Jamie had wondered which of them would wake up first before
the drug in the dart pulled him under. Now he had his answer.

Jamie never thought he'd
be on the run from
him
of all people. Jamie was usually running toward
him.

Ethan didn't give off the
“
evil hunter who got his rocks off by
chasing paranormals”
vibe. That was what
Jamie got for being taken in by such a pretty face.

Of course
a guy who was that well in shape, that good in
bed, that attractive, and supposedly that into Jamie, was a
hunter.

Ethan's chest rose and fell as he lay on the
cold, damp leaves in the woods. The man had caught up to Jamie when
his car had broken down, and then chased him into the trees when
Jamie had run for it. He would've put Jamie in shackles, boxed him
inside one of those coffin-like contraptions, and then brought him
to a lab.

Now Ethan almost looked innocent, with the
way his long lashes rested against his cheeks as he slept, pink
lips slightly parted as he breathed. He was so close that Jamie
could still make out these features; he could see the burn mark
left behind on the jacket from the electrical charge Jamie had
thrown at him.

Ethan looked as relaxed and casually
handsome as he always did. It was beyond not fair that he could be
so good looking, even while sweaty and dirty from the chase.

Jamie's body temperature rose just looking
at him. He could almost trick himself into thinking they'd come out
here on purpose for a quickie or something.

He panicked when his cock twitched and his
testicles tightened.

No! Cut that out! Bad! Don't even think
about it because it was clearly never going to happen again.

Then Jamie thought of
something else that took his breath away for an entirely different
reason. Wait a minute.
Was
he unconscious? Or was he actually sleeping? If
he was just sleeping now, he could wake up any minute. The
slightest noise could wake him and have him reaching for his tranq
guns and other weapons, and Jamie was still beneath this stupid
net.

He had to be as quiet as possible. But the
net was heavy, and it was weighted down with metal balls that each
weighed a ton.

Or, at least
seemed
to.

Considering how quickly
Ethan had been chasing him, Jamie had no idea how the man had
managed to throw this over his head to begin with. Jamie had known
the man was strong and had muscle—that was part of what had
attracted him to Ethan to begin with—but
Jesus
.

Maybe it wasn't so much a strength thing.
Maybe Ethan was a robot in disguise.

Jamie's body was still sluggish, his fingers
especially. Probably an effect from the drug inside of the dart,
but the more he moved, the better he could control himself.

Every twig that was beneath him made tiny
noises as Jamie shifted and squirmed. Even the cold mud and leaves
beneath his body seemed to squish loudly as he worked his way out
from under the net. Every breath he took even seemed like it was
amplified, and he was kind of stunned that no one heard him all the
way back in the city.

All the while, he watched as Ethan slept.
Jamie didn't dare look away from him. The man didn't move, he
didn't open his eyes, and he didn't do something that normal
sleeping people did, like scratch his nose or twitch or
something.

Jamie had watched Ethan do that once or
twice in the times they'd shared a bed. Now that Jamie thought
about it, he was always the one who woke up first after they'd been
together. Jamie had always taken a minute to admire how unfairly
handsome Ethan was, even in the early morning when anyone else
would have bags under their eyes and tired skin. Not Ethan. The man
was a regular sleeping handsome, whereas Jamie always looked like
shit after waking up. Puffy eyes and saggy face, and
everything.

Ethan never seemed to mind, though. The man
had always smiled as he stretched himself awake, putting a hand
into Jamie's hair and bringing him down for a leisurely good
morning kiss that always seemed to lead into something deeper.

Christ, now look at them.

Jamie held his breath as he slowly got to
his feet. It was as if he was trying not to wake a sleeping dragon,
or a flesh eating zombie instead of a man, he was that scared.
Right now Ethan was having that effect on him. The guy was taller
than Jamie, and broader in the shoulders too. Basically, he could
snap Jamie in half if he really wanted to, and Jamie was so
drained. He was tired, his muscles felt useless, and he was pretty
sure his powers over electricity wouldn't help him now.

Being unconscious for...however long they'd
been there, left him doubting if he could even summon the energy to
defend himself if Ethan did jump up and attack him. He probably
couldn't even charge a watch battery.

Instead of turning around and running for
the hills, which would have been the smart thing to do, Jamie
started walking over to where Ethan was lying on the ground, and he
was dragging the heavy-ass net with him.

It wouldn't stop him, but hopefully waking
up beneath it would confuse him enough that it would buy Jamie a
little more time to get to the highway, get back to his car so he
could pick up his stuff, and then hitch a ride with someone and get
far away from here.

Jamie stopped, holding the net as he stood
over Ethan. He stared down at the man, at the dirt smudged on his
forehead from when he fell, and the way his chest softly rose up
and down.

A sharp lurch in Jamie's chest made itself
known to him, as though someone had punched him, and it fucking
hurt so damned much that Jamie couldn't bring himself to move for a
few seconds. His hands gripped the net so hard and powerfully that
his knuckles turned sheet white.

Ethan was so attractive without even trying.
Why did Jamie have to be the kind of guy who only fell in love with
a man's face? Ethan had been the perfect one, exactly Jamie's type:
dark hair, excellent muscle definition, and a smile to die for. The
fact that he'd had a good sense of humor was a bonus.

He'd also been a damned tiger in bed.

But it wasn't just that Ethan was charming
and good looking. Jamie had liked him. He really had. Then it
turned out that he was a fricken' hunter.

He should've known. He really should
have.

Okay, whatever. He needed
to suck it up and take a deep breath. He had no time for this.
Jamie was basically risking his life just by standing there and
doing nothing, so he needed to do what he was going to do and make
like
The Flash
already.

He draped the net over Ethan's still body,
careful to keep the ropes from touching his face as much as
possible, or the metal weights from coming into contact with his
hands or legs.

Jamie almost wanted to lean down and give
him a quick kiss goodbye before he turned and walked away. As scary
as it had been running away from Ethan, he could still remember how
it felt to lie in bed next to him, both of them naked, sweaty and
smiling, while chatting to each other and learning all they could
about one another.

Except for what Ethan did for a living, or
the fact that Jamie was a paranormal with sometimes-hard-to-control
electricity powers.

How could he have been so wrong? It was like
every romantic movie he'd ever watched had lied to him.

Jamie shook his head. He
wasn't going to give the man on the ground a kiss. Aside from
being
way
too
melodramatic, that would be just pushing his luck even more, and he
had to make like the Roadrunner already and get out of there as
fast as if Wile. E. Coyote was after him.

Jamie sighed, keeping his words soft. "I'll
see you around," he said, and then turned and walked briskly
away.

With Ethan, the bastard, working as a
hunter, and chasing after Jamie, the odds were pretty good that he
would see the other man again. And how fucked up was he that he
clung to that fact just to keep his stupid chest from imploding on
him?

Jamie waited until he was several feet away
before his resolve to walk with his back straight and his head held
high crumbled. Every step away from Ethan hurt like hell, and he
wanted to go back. He couldn’t believe he was actually considering
going back! His reasoning was sound, sort of. What if Ethan really
was hurt and Jamie just hadn’t noticed? He could be cut somewhere
or an animal could come along. Ethan would be helpless under that
net against a bear or a wolf.

"Keep going. Don't turn back. Don't even
think about it."

Jamie could see through his own stupidity,
and even then it was hard to put one foot in front of the other,
like he was chained to a giant anchor.

The very thought that he was even
considering going back scared him as much as the mental image of
being stuffed into a metal box, because he knew that was basically
what he'd be setting himself up for if he returned. Jamie started
running for it.

He ran for maybe ten seconds before a noise
that made his guts quiver and his skin crawl made him skid to a
halt, kicking up mud and twigs and leaves. The sound stopped him
because it was a scream.

Not just any scream, either. It was almost a
shriek. The sound he heard was the kind that erupted from a man's
throat when he was in so much pain that his body didn't know what
else to do except for scream. Jamie knew the difference. Normally a
sound like that wouldn't be cause for him to stop and listen. It
would be a reason for him to feel pity towards whomever was being
tortured and run the fuck away, but that was Ethan's voice, and
Jamie's blood went so cold that he started to shiver.