of exhaust. He wished he were more familiar with English vehicles. The car was white and in need of repair from what he could discern from the repetitive clanking that jangled from the undercarriage. He didn’t know what kind of vehicle it was and regretted this. In his travels he had seen thousands of similar white automobiles.
The taillights of the vehicle faded in the distance, and he increased his speed. The blackness of night was fading into muted grays as dawn approached. The open thoroughfare offered no cover, so he had to keep his speed slow, no more than that of a mortal. He ran at a paced trot after his mate, his booted feet pounding a tattoo over the vast pavement.
He reached another intersection and paused. Raising his face to the sky he breathed in, hoping to pick up a trail of her scent. Suddenly there was a loud honk followed by the whoosh of a car speeding past him, so close the wind from the vehicle ruffled his clothes. “Get out of the road, asshole!”
The momentary distraction caused Adam to lose his mate’s trail. He cursed himself for not seizing her the moment his brain registered her scent. He had been just about to feed and then find refuge for the day when he heard a car idling at the intersection. He was so focused on holding onto the fine thread between him and the animal he hunted, that he did not, at first, allow the car’s presence to distract him. Then his spine began to tingle, and his eyes begin to dilate. His gums throbbed as his fangs instinctually fought to elongate, something Adam usually had complete cognitive control over. Before he even processed the familiar scent seeping from the windows of the white car, he involuntarily emitted a predatory growl. This was no growl a bunny in the woods would provoke.
His body reacted before his mind could process all the information being sent to his brain. It was a sensory overload that made no sense. When he turned to see what it was that caused such a reaction, he felt as though a Clydesdale had kicked him in the chest. His mate was looking right at him. His mind worked at rapid speed to process what he was sensing. Her scent was as thick as syrup in the air, yet tainted with an odor he could not place, an aroma resting on her skin not being emitted from her blood, not wrapped in the essence that was her. For some reason this new scent was offensive to him. He felt his hands ball into fists and fought the impulse to snatch her out of the car right then and there.
Then there was, over the rattling clink of her idling car, a tiny click in the distance. He briefly glanced away, identifying the sound as the mechanism inside the traffic light that made the colors change. Another sign that he had found his mortal, his instinct to protect her had quadrupled. He was attuned to even the slightest shifts of energy, checking for any signs of danger. However, his protective instincts forcing him to identify the source of that small click caused him to break eye contact with his mate. That millisecond of distraction was enough to sever the fragile thread between him and his mate.
He felt her withdrawal like one would feel the removal of a layer of flesh. The moment she drove away, his fangs punched through his gums, and a growl rumbled through his chest. He should not have hesitated to grab her. She was his, and she would not escape him.
Adam roared in frustration. He had lost her scent, lost her car, and dawn was rapidly approaching. His body was hypersensitive at the moment, sensing even the tiniest vibrations of the world waking up and moving about. A vibration too slight for a mortal to detect, but the slight change in the earth’s rhythms caused by the motions of man was enough to inform him that the presently empty road would soon be swarming with automobiles and humans. He needed to find a resting place.
Adam walked into the Holiday Inn just as the first fingers of dawn began to stretch between the strips of stores and complexes that dotted
The taillights of the vehicle faded in the distance, and he increased his speed. The blackness of night was fading into muted grays as dawn approached. The open thoroughfare offered no cover, so he had to keep his speed slow, no more than that of a mortal. He ran at a paced trot after his mate, his booted feet pounding a tattoo over the vast pavement.
He reached another intersection and paused. Raising his face to the sky he breathed in, hoping to pick up a trail of her scent. Suddenly there was a loud honk followed by the whoosh of a car speeding past him, so close the wind from the vehicle ruffled his clothes. “Get out of the road, asshole!”
The momentary distraction caused Adam to lose his mate’s trail. He cursed himself for not seizing her the moment his brain registered her scent. He had been just about to feed and then find refuge for the day when he heard a car idling at the intersection. He was so focused on holding onto the fine thread between him and the animal he hunted, that he did not, at first, allow the car’s presence to distract him. Then his spine began to tingle, and his eyes begin to dilate. His gums throbbed as his fangs instinctually fought to elongate, something Adam usually had complete cognitive control over. Before he even processed the familiar scent seeping from the windows of the white car, he involuntarily emitted a predatory growl. This was no growl a bunny in the woods would provoke.
His body reacted before his mind could process all the information being sent to his brain. It was a sensory overload that made no sense. When he turned to see what it was that caused such a reaction, he felt as though a Clydesdale had kicked him in the chest. His mate was looking right at him. His mind worked at rapid speed to process what he was sensing. Her scent was as thick as syrup in the air, yet tainted with an odor he could not place, an aroma resting on her skin not being emitted from her blood, not wrapped in the essence that was her. For some reason this new scent was offensive to him. He felt his hands ball into fists and fought the impulse to snatch her out of the car right then and there.
Then there was, over the rattling clink of her idling car, a tiny click in the distance. He briefly glanced away, identifying the sound as the mechanism inside the traffic light that made the colors change. Another sign that he had found his mortal, his instinct to protect her had quadrupled. He was attuned to even the slightest shifts of energy, checking for any signs of danger. However, his protective instincts forcing him to identify the source of that small click caused him to break eye contact with his mate. That millisecond of distraction was enough to sever the fragile thread between him and his mate.
He felt her withdrawal like one would feel the removal of a layer of flesh. The moment she drove away, his fangs punched through his gums, and a growl rumbled through his chest. He should not have hesitated to grab her. She was his, and she would not escape him.
Adam roared in frustration. He had lost her scent, lost her car, and dawn was rapidly approaching. His body was hypersensitive at the moment, sensing even the tiniest vibrations of the world waking up and moving about. A vibration too slight for a mortal to detect, but the slight change in the earth’s rhythms caused by the motions of man was enough to inform him that the presently empty road would soon be swarming with automobiles and humans. He needed to find a resting place.
Adam walked into the Holiday Inn just as the first fingers of dawn began to stretch between the strips of stores and complexes that dotted
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