Fury: Book One of the Cure (Omnibus Edition) Read Online Free

can he?
    Pissed off, I grab a dressing-gown from the bathroom. I can’t believe he thinks it’s okay to turn up at my door.
    “Josi!” he shouts. “Come on, open up.”
    Did he just call me Josi? I open the door a crack but keep the chain in place so he can’t push his way inside. “What the hell are you doing here?”
    “I told you I’d be back.” He smiles disarmingly. He has a wide mouth full of straight white teeth, and the expression is so gorgeous I can barely believe it.
    “How did you know which apartment I live in?” I demand.
    “I watched you go inside last night. Come on, let me in.”
    “No way,” I all but snarl. “Are you out of your mind?”
    “Why not?”
    “Because you’re clearly a sociopathic stalker. Insanity has risen a lot since the cure, you know.”
    He grins as though I’ve said something funny. “Come outside for a walk then. It’s a beautiful day.”
    “Luke—it’s Luke, right? I can’t deal with this right now. I haven’t even had a coffee—”
    “Great, there’s a café around the corner. Get dressed and let’s go.”
    He bounds down the stairs, whistling something ludicrously cheerful as he goes. I want to strangle him. Instead I shut the door and go back to bed. My body hurts, and my head hurts, and I’m too tired for his smiles.
September 19th, 2063
Josephine
    I wake to pounding on my door. Disoriented, I lie in bed and try to blink myself awake and into reality. I’ve got no idea what time it is, or what day. But this feels like déjà vu. Is it Luke again?
    As consciousness returns I become aware that my throat is raw and shredded.
    Then I hear, “Ma’am? It’s the police!”
    My heart lurches in my chest with wild terror and hope. Could it be that someone has finally found a clue? A piece of evidence?
    Have they come to take me to jail?
    I stumble out of bed and pull on some clothes before running to the door. There are two men standing in the dingy hallway. To my disappointment, they’re not Bloods, but just normal, low-ranking cops. One of them holds his hat in his hands, twirling it over and over. The other is leaning against the opposite wall looking bored.
    “Yes?” I ask breathlessly.
    “We had a call early this morning, ma’am.”
    “Yes?” Nobody is getting any handcuffs out. They’re not reading me my rights.
    “From a concerned neighbor. Says she heard a woman’s screams coming from your apartment. Says she could hear it for most of the night. Are you all right? Are you the only one living at this residence?”
    I stare at him and feel all my hope seep away through my pores. There’s no proof, no evidence. These men are not here to arrest me.
    “Yes, it’s just me,” I sigh. “I’m fine. I have night terrors.”
    The man leaning against the wall snorts derisively.
    “Oh,” says the front officer. “Good then. Glad you’re okay. We’ll be on our way. You have a nice day, ma’am.”
    I watch them leave, and that’s when I spot Luke sitting on the stairs leading upstairs. He’s just watched the whole exchange. I consider calling the cops back and telling them to arrest this stalker.
    I feel a storm coming over me and try to breathe through it. What is he doing ? “Leave me alone,” I order through clenched teeth.
    He’s not smiling this morning. He looks like an entirely different man. A dangerous man. Shadows fall across his eyes. “I heard the screaming too,” he says bluntly. “When I got here this morning.”
    I don’t know what he wants me to say. He’s got absolutely no idea what he’s hovering at the edge of, and it almost makes me laugh to imagine how he’d react if he discovered the truth of me.
    “You heard—I have night terrors.”
    “You sure do,” he agrees.
    I stare at him and then spread my hands. “What do you want?”
    He stands and walks past me. “Come,” he orders, and this time there’s no nonsense in his tone. It sounds like he’s someone who is used to being obeyed. I’m about to slam