Your Lycan or Mine? (Broken Heart Book 14) Read Online Free Page B

one?”
    “No.” Ash slid the daggers into their holsters. “Don’t you know that sneaking up on people can get you killed?”
    “It hasn’t yet.” The girl was dressed in overalls and a yellow shirt. Her feet were bare. Her brown hair was a rat’s nest with twigs sticking out of it. The overalls were dirty, too. Cobwebs stuck to her shoulders. “You gonna buy that house?”
    “No.” Ash looked her over speculatively. “What were you doing in there?”
    “I’m not allowed inside.”
    It wasn’t a denial. Well, goddamn. Ash was trying to work up the nerve to go inside the home she’d lived in for nearly sixteen years and this little sprite had explored it already. She made Ash feel like a coward.
    “I bet you’re not afraid of anything,” said the girl.
    “You’d lose that bet.” Ash stuck out her hand. “Call me Ash.”
    “That’s a weird name.” She grabbed Ash’s hand and pumped it. “Margaret Lynne Huntson.”
    Huntson? Looked like her past knew she was arriving and had thrown a party. “Is your father named Rick?”
    “Yes. Do you know him?”
    He almost kissed me. I almost fell in love with him. “No,” she said. “I don’t know your daddy. I’m a good guesser.”
    Margaret Lynne Huntson considered this possibility. Then she peered up Ash suspiciously. “What’s my mommy’s name?”
    “Maggie?”
    Margaret’s gaze re-evaluated Ash’s intelligence. “You’re not a good guesser. You’re just lucky.”
    Wrong again, kid.
    “My birthday was yesterday,” confided Margaret. “I’m officially eight years old.”
    “That’s fascinating. Hey! Isn’t it almost dinner time?”
    “Nope. You look like my Rock n’ Roll Barbie, only she has better hair.”
    “Oh, yeah? Have you looked in the mirror lately?”
    But Margaret was bored with hairstyle insults. She chewed on her thumb. “What’re you doing here?”
    Oh, for the love of humanity. Why couldn’t this kid just go away? “Ever hear of the Ghostbusters?”
    “Ghostbusters don’t wear pink.”
    “I do.” Ash squatted down and got eye-to-eye with her. “Do you know why this house is haunted?”
    The girl’s eyes flickered. Once again, Ash felt like she was being judged. “Daddy says a girl lived here. Her name was Natasha. A bad man killed her parents and took her away.” She tilted her head. Dirt was smeared under her chin. “Do you think he killed Natasha, too?”
    “Yes,” said Ash. “He did.”
    “No, he didn’t.” Her declaration startled Ash. “So, are you gonna talk to the ghost lady?”
    “What lady?”
    “She’s in there. She calls me Tashie. I don’t think she’s mean,” said Margaret. “Just sad.” She ran to the fence and pulled off a honeysuckle blossom. “Hey, do you know how to get the honey?”
    Ash’s stomach squeezed. “Why don’t you show me?”
    “You just take this part out, very carefully.” Margaret gently tugged the stamen out and showed it to Ash. “Then you lick it.” Her little pink tongue darted across the fuzzy end. “Do you want to try?”
    “Maybe later.”
    Margaret rolled her eyes. “That’s what grown-ups say when they mean no.” She tossed the flower to the ground. “I gotta go home now.”
    Ash watched her run down the driveway and wondered how her bare feet could take the biting abuse of the gravel. She crossed the street and pivoted right, skipping down the sidewalk.
    She was going in the direction of Rick’s old house. Three blocks up, two blocks to the right, and one block left. Did he still live there? Or had he just moved into the same neighborhood? Oh, hell. Why did she care?
    Her gaze caught the discarded flower. Then she looked at the house.
    It was time to face her ghosts.

Chapter Four
    T HE FURNITURE WAS gone . Ash didn’t know why she thought it would all be here, dusty and disused maybe, but in place. In some part of her mind, she’d believed everything would be the same. Ash had wanted her memories to stay intact. She wanted