Challenged by Darkness (An Urban Fantasy Novel) (Befallen Tides series Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

that was your play. You’ll know my next move soon enough.”
    He slipped outside, and the room went silent as if no one had ever been there.
    Doug hurried to the front door and locked every deadbolt. Then he rushed back to his desk and picked up the phone. He punched the first button repeatedly, but no service was available.  He took out his cell phone instead.
    Before he could finish dialing, a crash echoed from the office behind him. Glass spattered from the entryway. Doug ran straight for the front door, and he tugged at the handles twice before remembering that he needed to unlock it.
    Doug looked over his shoulder to the adversaries making their unsteady way inside. They were unmindful to the injuries sustained from crashing into the glass. They didn’t look… alive.
    He wrenched the front door open only to come face-to-face with the same creatures pouring into his office.
    The owner didn’t last long after that.
     

CHAPTER 3
    Though Winx’s mind had been restless with fears, she somehow managed to sleep. She woke up to find that the room was dark, the clock said it was nine o’clock at night, and she was still exhausted.
    As her eyes adjusted, she searched for Keaton. He wasn’t on the floor, or in bed with her, and it didn’t look like anyone was in the bathroom. She frowned. Where would Keaton have gone? She seriously doubted that he would have felt in the mood to visit with the lixyns down the hall.
    But then again, who was she to check up on Keaton? He’d made it clear that he was only trying to help his pack and nothing more. She couldn’t blame him. If it were a choice of hanging around lixyns or getting back to her clan, she knew damn well what her decision would be. And to hell with the so-called consequences.
    Winx pressed the heel of her hand against her brow, surprised that her headache was gone. Funny. Perhaps those pain pills were finally kicking in. A quick check revealed that, even though most of her injuries were numbing down, she was still far from the definition of good health. Too bad she couldn’t heal like Genevieve. She’d jump back into the action with a steel jaw.
    For now, Winx slid beneath the covers with a lazy sigh.
    Several minutes passed, but sleep eluded her. Damn, where the hell was Keaton? Attempting to not worry about him wasn’t working. And the effort became even more useless when she noticed the sounds. Scuffling feet. Harried breathing. Bodies brushing against each other back and forth… and then glass smashing somewhere downstairs.
    Winx shot out of bed.
    No. Anything but this.
    It was so clear now. She could feel the savages. They tore into the hotel with the vengeance of the hungry. They sniffed about the halls and made their way unsteadily up the stairs.
    They were coming.
    A horrible scream echoed from downstairs. Her already thudding heartbeat seized.
    Someone had just died.
    Quickly dressing, Winx quietly walked barefoot to the door of her room. Opening it was the last thing she wanted to do, but the locks wouldn’t keep for long. Not with how many savages she could sense coming up the stairwell.
    They were still a ways off yet. Slow creatures.
    With light footsteps, she padded down the hall toward the other rooms. Genevieve’s door was close by, thankfully, and she nudged it open in lieu of knocking.
    Surprisingly, it was already unlocked. Even more surprising than that, Genevieve was gone. Her mostly eaten breakfast was the only sign that there had been anyone in the quarters.
    Winx invented some lurid curse words before backing out of her room and heading toward London’s. His room was a level higher than theirs, which meant more space between her and the stench advancing up the stairs. Once she made it onto the new landing, she ran to his door and pounded feverishly.
    No answer. She tried the knob, but, unlike Genevieve’s room, this one was locked.
    “Iragall! We have a big fucking problem!” she shouted at the frame. But no sound came from within.