GoodHunting Read Online Free Page B

when you have us,” one of
the women teased, and Daniel growled at her, ready to go on until the other
girl called him back.
    “Maybe we did. What’s it worth to you?”
    Genevieve watched with dismay as Daniel turned, and she made
herself stay silent as he flipped the waiting woman a coin. She was tensed to
leap when the woman replied.
    “She ran down that way.” The woman pointed. “She ran to the
left, and she was saying something about finding an inn.”
    Daniel nodded shortly and ran on.
    When she could no longer hear his footsteps, Genevieve
dropped down to the alley again.
    “Thank you,” she whispered, embracing them both, and the
taller woman shook her head.
    “He looks angry with you,” she observed. “Are you sure
you’ll be safe, bella ?”
    Genevieve grinned, her close miss making her reckless.
    “Nothing I can’t handle.”
    * * * * *
    The storm blew in from the ocean, striking the city like a
fist. Merchants closed their doors, and the only people in the streets were
madmen and foreigners. Business was poor, but still, women stood along the
avenues, braving the weather for men who might give them coin.
    In her green linen gown, Genevieve hoped she passed for one
more of the city’s many whores. She was no prostitute, but the men who sought
them had money and dry houses.
    A hunted animal needs a place to go to ground, she thought
to herself, even as she smiled at the men passing by.
    It had also been too long since she had last fed, and she
knew that the longer she went without, the slower and the stupider she would
grow. It would be too perfect a victory for Daniel to find her racked with
hunger and unable to run, and so she scanned the avenues.
    The man who approached her was dressed in the flamboyant
outfit of a private guard, and the pikestaff that he carried and his glare
would keep most people at bay. He spared no glance at the women beside her, and
he addressed Genevieve coolly.
    “Donna, my mistress has business for you.”
    “Mistress?” Genevieve blinked. “And what will she pay for my
business then?”
    “She is a rich woman, you would be well paid for your time.”
    Genevieve bit her lip, but it only reminded her of how
hungry she was. A perfumed lady, clad in silk and with skin just as soft…
    She nodded her assent and followed the man through the
streets. For a moment, she had no thought of Daniel and only of the pleasure of
feeding and hot blood in her mouth.
    The man led her through the wet streets, and finally they
came to an inn set far back from the canals. It was a fine place, or at least,
it had once been so, and neither the innkeeper nor the sullen girl wiping the
table spared them a second look as the man led her up the stairs.
    He rapped on the door once, and nodded that she should
enter.
    The room was lit with a dozen candles, and the bed that
dominated the center of the floor was draped with rich velvet. It was a place
where men met their favorite lovers, and the woman who lounged in the center of
the bed was as lovely as an angel.
    “You honor me,” she began, stepping closer to the figure,
and like a snake sensing an earthquake moments before it broke the ground, she
knew there was something wrong. The woman, propped up on the pillows, was deep
in an unnatural slumber and just as Genevieve turned to escape, iron arms
locked around her body, pinning her as neatly as a bird.
    “No,” Daniel rumbled in her ear. “You honor me.”
    She would have moaned in a panic at her capture but his hard
hand drifted up to her jaw, stroking the side of her face and tracing a finger
along her full lower lip. Almost involuntarily she licked her lips to taste his
skin.
    “Sharp,” he muttered, grazing a finger against her sharpened
canines. “You’ve gone too long without feeding.”
    She wished that she had some witty retort for him, some kind
of stinging reply that would have made him throw her on the bed and kiss her
until she saw stars, but instead she could only whimper