Animal Instincts (Entangled Ignite) Read Online Free Page A

trained. That was the point. That was her punishment. Her jaw already hung crookedly, and her screams pierced the din of the crowd.
    Someone in the crowd screamed, and a thrill shot through him, awakening his appetites. He glanced back to the arena. As wave after wave of pain and fear and excitement of the audience washed over him, he gorged on the human bloodlust.
    Glancing to where Shade Cross sat, the controller watched the cop use his smartphone to capture Jez’s death. Then he pocketed his phone, got up, and left. Damn it! What the hell was Cross up to now?
    …
    Shade went straight from the shifter fight to Elizabeth Reyes’s home. It was more estate than home, as were several other mansions surrounded by black iron fencing in the Buena Park neighborhood nestled close to the lake. Lit by streetlights as well as post lights on the property, the historic brick-and-limestone building was three stories high and certainly more than five thousand square feet. All for one person. Or maybe two, if her son still lived here—Shade hadn’t been able to find out.
    He rang her bell. No answer. Shade checked his watch. Already half past eleven. He sat on the front steps to wait for her and flicked through the video he’d taken on his cell phone. The fight haunted him, and he hoped it would haunt the Reyes woman enough to make her talk this time. The panther had died, but in the morning, the woman’s body would be found, as had happened before.
    Another case to add to the growing pile that he and Ethan were investigating. Shade didn’t know how to tell him about the shifter fights. Practical, black-and-white Ethan wouldn’t believe it. People who turned into predators. Even he’d had a hard time believing it. Now he knew it was true. Straight-arrow Ethan might force a psych evaluation on him if he tried to explain.
    A dark sedan pulled into the side drive, and Shade got to his feet. Elizabeth Reyes alighted, her expression darkening as she took the walkway to the steps where he waited.
    “What are you doing here, Detective Cross?” She walked up the steps past him, then paused to fumble with her keys. “I’ve told you everything I know.”
    “You’ve told me fairy tales, Ms. Reyes. Now I have one to show you.”
    She turned to him. “What?”
    He clicked on the cell screen to show her digital footage of the black panther before she was sent out to be killed. “This is a friend of your son’s.”
    “Excuse me? A zoo animal?”
    He could see the lie on her face, could hear it in her voice. He couldn’t hear her . Not her thoughts. Not after what he’d done to break this case. He’d lost his psychic edge, maybe permanently. He’d lost more than that, enough that he shouldn’t care about the case anymore, but to his own surprise, he had no desire to give up.
    “I think you know differently.”
    “It’s late, Detective Cross.”
    “One more look.” He clicked to the footage where the wild dog tore open the panther’s side and practically shoved the phone in her face. “This is how she ended the night.”
    Her eyes widened and a strangled sound escaped her.
    About to press her for information, Shade caught movement from the corner of his eye. One glance behind him, and he tossed away the cell to shove the Reyes woman out of harm’s way. The night exploded with sound, and her arm jerked as she took the bullet.
    Before Shade could get to his Glock, something hot and sharp crashed through his skull.
    Then all went dark.
    …
    The doorbell’s shrill buzz nearly tossed me out of bed. A quick glance at the clock confirmed it was 4:13, well before dawn.
    Had I dreamed the sound?
    Another blare, more insistent this time, confirmed someone was, indeed, at my door. One of the cats flew off the bed. Shade, no doubt, had misplaced his keys. Again.
    Grumbling, I climbed over a second cat who couldn’t be bothered to move and stumbled out of bed and into the hall to the intercom. The video screen revealed not Shade, but