Impulse: Southern Arcana, Book 5 Read Online Free

said.”
    “Oh.” Sera perched on the edge of the couch and nodded toward the phone. “Someone called and hung up a couple times. I was worried.”
    Anna straightened on the sofa. “Caller ID?”
    “Blocked.”
    “When, exactly?”
    Sera retrieved the phone and handed it to Anna. “In the last couple hours. One right before Julio showed up. That’s why he stayed, I think. I was rattled.”
    She shook her head as she scanned through the stored call history on the handset. “I could have come back sooner.”
    “I know.” Sera nudged Anna with her elbow. “Maybe I just wanted to flirt with the hottie.”
    Anna snorted. “I thought you were on the wagon.”
    “You’re my alpha-jackass patch.” With Anna’s friendship grounding her, it was easier to resist the lure of the dominant wolves. Most of the time.
    “Uh-huh.” She frowned at the phone and tossed it aside. “I have a friend who can get me the number that made those calls. All it takes is a few days and a nice bottle of bourbon.”
    “I was hoping you would. I don’t want to freak Kat out about weird calls to her apartment unless we have to.”
    “I’ll handle it, but only if you make me that mac and cheese.”
    “Deal.” Sera rose and started for the kitchen, then hesitated. “After dinner? I think I’m ready for my own gun.”
    “Okay.” Anna gave her an appraising look. “Jackson’s an approved instructor for the state. Spend a Saturday with him, fire some rounds, and you’ll be ready to file for your carry permit. It’ll take a while to come through, though, and the paperwork’s a bitch.”
    The paperwork could be hell on earth, but it was still time. She’d gotten a divorce and a GED. She’d gotten a job to fill her savings account, a few measly dollars at a time, and with Anna and Kat’s help, she’d gotten her independence.
    None of it would matter if her ex was back in town. Josh could corner her and drown her in shapeshifter magic, and everything she wanted would fade away under the purest driving need of all.
    The coyotes had a few generations left, at most, and desperation pulsed in her blood. She didn’t need to love Josh. She didn’t even need to like him. The instinctive parts of her would always submit to him, because nothing was more important to the coyote than the survival of their species.
    He’d take her. She’d let him. Together, they’d recreate the worst nightmares of her family’s past.
    Shooting him would be a lot less painful. For both of them.

Chapter Two
    Julio had been dealt a truly shitty hand.
    Sighing, he tossed in two cards. “Pony up some good ones this time, Dade.”
    Wesley Dade eyed his stack of chips, the stack in front of Julio, and let his gaze drift around the rest of the table. “This is an embarrassment to psychics everywhere. A couple of precogs, and we’re letting them beat us at poker.” A deft flick of his wrist slid two fresh cards across the polished wood. “And Alec can’t even count.”
    Alec snarled an unintelligible curse and glared at his cards. “You dealing from the bottom of the deck?”
    “No.”
    His frown deepening, Alec slid three cards across the table.
    “There’s only one explanation,” the brunette at the end of the table drawled in a light, lazy voice. “McNeely’s packing four aces and is about to take us all for our money.”
    Wesley sent three cards skimming toward Alec. “Yes, Giselle. We know you’re intimately acquainted with what McNeely’s packing.”
    Julio choked on his beer as the woman flashed Wesley a familiar, confused look. “I think you’re getting your reality wires crossed again,” he suggested quietly. After all, judging from the woman’s blush, nothing of the sort had happened—yet.
    Wesley frowned. “But I thought…”
    To his left, New Orleans’ only shapeshifting police lieutenant glared at Julio. McNeely was a huge man who intimidated cops and criminals alike, but he looked ready to crawl under the table. “What did