Thunder Road (Rain Chaser Book 1) (31 page)

Leo gave me a knowing smirk. “Should have known that kiss was just a matter of life and death. You sure never get that look on your face when I say your name.”

The kiss.

I’d all but forgotten it, which seemed impossible given how literally electric it had been. “Leo, I…” How could I explain without sounding like I’d used him?

He waved a hand at me. “If you apologize, I’ll have to punch you, and I’ve never punched a lady before. You’re a good kisser, Tallulah, but you are
way more trouble
than it’s worth. The bad-luck priest is used to trouble. I don’t need any extra, thank you.” He grinned broadly, his teeth shockingly white against his dirt-smeared face, then he pulled me in for a tight hug. His bulk knocked the wind out of my good lung, but it was nice to be hugged for something positive.

When he released me, Cade was standing a few feet back, staring at us with raw disbelief.

“What the fuck?” He came over to me, cupping my cheeks in his hands. “You fell through the street.
I thought you were dead
.” His dark eyes scanned my face frantically, as if he still wasn’t convinced I was really here.

“I’m going to see if that outlet temple has a phone,” Leo wheezed. “I think there’s an overnight stay in a hospital in that one’s immediate future. And maybe mine.”

I barely heard him I was so focused on Cade.

“I’m not dead,” I whispered.

I’d never tell him how close I’d come to that being a lie. It didn’t matter now. I was here, not there, and he was here. My hope had not betrayed me.

“You just crawled out of a grave,” Cade said.

I tried to smile but only managed a half-smirk. “I know.”

His fingertips danced over my skin, gently brushing away dirt and pushing hair away from my eyes. “I thought…” His voice trailed away, but his agonized expression told me precisely what he’d thought.

“Please. Like I was going to die before I got to kiss you again? Not a chance.”

Cade let out a choked laugh and held my face gently before lowering his mouth to mine. His lips were so soft, and his mouth so sweet, I thought perhaps I was dead and this was my reward for a life of obedience.

Then I remembered I wasn’t terribly obedient.

He pulled me in tight, deepening the kiss, and I basked in the glow of it, glorying in how very alive it made me feel. His mouth, his touch, his taste, it was all marked with life, and it was so perfect I wanted to cry.

My lung shrieked its protest, no longer able to give me the reprieve I needed for further smooching.

I coughed, breaking free of his kiss, and continued to cough.

“Don’t you go dying on me now. That would be so
me
, kissing a girl to death.”

This, of course, made me laugh, which only made the coughing worse.

Cade propped me up, and in spite of how disastrous I must have looked, he was staring at me like I was a priceless work of art whose meaning he meant to decode through sheer concentration.

When I finally got enough breath back to speak, I scolded him. “You’re going to be such bad luck for me, you know that?”

“Well, yeah. That’s sort of my thing.”

I forced a smile in spite of the pain. Overhead, the clouds had begun to gather, purple-hued from the early-morning light and threatening rain. It appeared we’d been gone the whole night, and now Seth was on his way.

He couldn’t have shown up like twelve hours earlier?

Cade helped me towards the entrance of the cemetery, where the hole Leo and I had been swallowed through was sealed, the street as unblemished as it had been last night.

I sat down on the curb, holding my side, thinking of what I’d just done and all that was still left to do.

I’d saved Leo, but in the process I had damned Sunny. Charon’s eternal memory wasn’t likely to forget what I’d promised him any time soon. Nor was Manea going to be in any rush to forgive me for besting her yet again.

Cade sat down next to me, and I rested my head against his shoulder, listening as the sound of ambulance sirens wailed closer and closer. Guess Leo had found that phone after all.

Thunder rumbled, and the sidewalk began to sprout leopard spots where huge, fat drops of rain fell around us. Soon the storm god would be reunited with his son, and my job here would be finished.

If I could go another year or so without seeing this town, I’d be all too happy.

“What do you know about getting out of verbal contracts with immortals?” I asked him.

“You can’t,” he replied.

I was worried he was going to say that.

“Just so you know, being around me is about to get really complicated.”

He leaned back so I was able to see his face. “Tallulah, being around you was
always
going to be complicated. Are you about to get me in more trouble?”

I smirked. “Probably. Once I uncollapse my lung. But I can get into trouble all on my own, if you want out.”

“Out? I don’t think so. You still owe me dinner.” He pressed a kiss on my temple. “And a new car.”

All the talking was taking its toll, making me woozy. Lightning flashed across the sky as the ambulance pulled up in front of us. The paramedics got out, and one jogged towards me while the other opened the back doors of the rig.

“I’ll get you that new car, if you help me defy a god,” I told him as the paramedic knelt beside me, rattling off a slew of questions while checking my pulse. I barely registered what she was saying, my attention was so transfixed on whatever Cade said next.

“You’ve got yourself a date.”

Thanks for reading
Thunder Road
! I hope you enjoyed Tallulah’s first adventure, it won’t be her last.

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Thunder Road
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· Can’t wait to start another Sierra Dean book? Keep reading for a sample chapter of
Bayou Blues
,
and get caught up on Genie’s story before
Black Magic Bayou
releases this fall
.

Bayou Blues
– Genie McQueen Book 1

When your sister has saved the world, you have a lot to live up to. 

Genie McQueen thought she’d seen it all after helping her big sister Secret stop the Apocalypse. The dead walked, New York City burned, and things nearly went to hell in a hand basket. After it was all over, the world knew about vampires and werewolves, and Genie’s life would never be the same. 

But now, three years later, someone doesn’t want werewolves or any supernatural creatures to live alongside humans. A new anti-werewolf church with a charismatic leader and a cult-like following has declared open season on Genie’s whole species. When a member of her pack is kidnapped, she decides it’s time to stop going with the flow and to step up and fight for her people.

Tagging along for the ride is a handsome troublemaker, Wilder Shaw, a pack outsider who just wants to save his brother, but will leave Genie’s head spinning in the process. 

Equally troubling are the ghosts of her past she can’t quite shake, the nightmarish figures who haunt her even when she’s wide awake, and a dark magic inside her she hasn’t yet learned to tame. 

Things are about to get messy in the bayou.

Chapter One

Hunt.

Hard earth sped by beneath my feet, but I barely felt it. The exhilaration of running made it seem as if I were flying, and there was nothing under me but wind and joy. The night air was alive with scents, and while the scenery blurred past me too fast to see, I was picking up the story of my environment with every inhale.

The pungent smell of algae, still warm from baking in the day’s sun, gave the air a dank, swampy odor, which made me feel like I was home. It also gave me a good indication of where the land ended and the water began.

There was nothing for me near the water’s edge. Most of the animals in the trees were fair game: small rodents, rabbits and other easy prey. Sometimes I’d find a real challenge and get to stalk a deer through the spongy bog. But where the moss and peat gave way to proper swamp and land became water, I was hesitant to get too close.

I was not the scariest thing out for blood during the full moon.

Once—and only once—I’d crossed paths with an alligator who mistook me for an easy meal. Werewolf versus alligator might sound like a kickass premise for a bad Syfy channel monster movie, but in my case it had been one of the worst nights of my life. If not for my heightened healing ability, I would still have some nasty scars to brag about.

But you should have seen the other guy.

That particular fight was not something I had any desire to repeat, no matter how badass the story made me sound. Just thinking about it made my heart beat a little faster. So, in spite of the water’s edge being an ideal place to catch easy prey unaware, it also put me at too great a risk. Instead I stuck to the trees, avoiding the swamp and the hiking trails as well. At this time of night the area was mostly clear of humans, but I didn’t like to take chances.

Boldness wasn’t my problem—I had it in spades these days—but I preferred to be smart rather than to tempt fate. Foolhardy was just another way to say stupid.

Leave it to me to still be a goody two-shoes while I was covered in fur. Some habits were hard to break no matter what form I took.

Hunt.

My wolf urged me forward, driving me on at a breakneck pace. I’d caught a whiff of rabbit, and now my singular mission was to sink my teeth into it. The frenzied patter of its heart sent out vibrations I could feel, singing a perfect ode to my hunger.
Feed feed feed.
My mouth watered, and I bared my teeth, though there wasn’t an animal in sight for me to menace. The wolf was desperate for the kill, and she and I were of one mind on the subject.

Once I’d learned to yield to the wolf within, I was able to turn off the magical part of my brain and simply
be
the wolf. Like most werewolves, I was thirteen when I first started shifting. The same age young hereditary witches came into their power, something most wolves didn’t have to consider. Unluckily for me, I’d inherited both gifts, leaving my magic and my wolf to collide in a disastrous and literally explosive way. That was how I came to spend my formative years getting to know the ins and outs of a swamp very well.

Now I was older, a little wiser, and definitely had a better handle on my magic.

I skidded to an abrupt stop, nails digging into the damp ground. Sniffing the air, I parsed the layers of scent, dismissing the bog water and night breeze until the only thing remaining was fear. Sweet, delicious fear. It smelled like dying flowers and fresh blood.

Movement low to the ground caught my attention, and I went rigid, ears upright, listening intently.
There.
I could practically feel the creature’s heartbeat in my mouth.

I crouched low, my whole body coiled like a spring as I moved closer inch by inch to where the nervous rabbit lay in wait, thinking it was hidden from me. One moment it was frozen, the next it bolted, and I went after it, pouncing before it had a chance to hide again. My teeth pierced its neck, and there was a brief glorious moment where I could taste every ounce of its fear, then it went limp.

The hunt was over.

I ate quickly, the flavor less satisfying now that the fear was gone, but the meat was delicious and reinvigorated me for the run back. Night was coming to an end, and when the sun rose, I didn’t want to be isolated in the middle of the swamp. My wolf might have a good natural sense of direction, but not all my supernatural abilities translated from my animal form to my human one. I set off running again, zigzagging my way through the woods, still avoiding the edge of the water. It felt good to burn off my energy, bringing myself back to nature and the place where I had been at home for so long.

The night sky was turning purple-blue as I found my way back to the abandoned military encampment of Fort Pike. Sometimes, when luck wasn’t on my side, I’d find party-happy teens or adventurous ghost hunters wandering the grounds. I didn’t like to encounter people when I was in my wolf form. Though my human mind still worked for the most part, I didn’t have the same inhibitions or morals holding me back as I did when I walked on two legs. If someone were to lash out at me or make me feel threatened, I wouldn’t hesitate to attack them. During the full moon my wolf ruled me, and while I might feel bad about it after the fact if I hurt someone, it wouldn’t stop me.

It was best, then, not to put myself at any risk of running into any people. Werewolves had a bad-enough reputation without the media painting us as thoughtless killers too. That would be a PR nightmare I wanted no part in.

My nails clicked against the stone floor, but they were the only sounds. Tonight I was alone. I stopped beside the neatly folded pile of clothes I’d abandoned before my run and lay on my belly, licking the blood from my paws. I could push myself to change early, but it would hurt more. If I waited another fifteen minutes until the sun was up, the transition would happen naturally, without too much discomfort.

I watched between the open arches as the horizon changed colors. It wouldn’t be long now.

Then I saw her.

My first reaction was surprise. I hadn’t heard anyone approaching, and humans made so much noise they were impossible to miss. She couldn’t have gotten this close without arousing my attention. Those thoughts vanished when I focused on what I was seeing.