Read Online Christmas Moon by Sadie Hart - Free Book Online Page B

no
doubt expecting Bree to be early—just not this early.
    Hunter cast Rylie another look. Red speckled
the snow around her. She was supposed to be his priority. The rogue
was up to Bree. But damn he hated to leave her blind, hated not
knowing where the bastard was hiding. Hated the damn waiting
game.
    His paws flexed in the snow as he struggled
with himself, his claws digging little divots in the frozen earth. You promised. Rylie first, then all bets were off . Any other
Hound Hunter had ever known would have preferred to have someone
watch their back then give a damn about another shifter, but Bree
actually cared about the woman face down in the snow. And she
expected him to do as she’d asked.
    Was relying on it.
    He couldn’t change the game now, no matter
how much he wanted to.
    But if this rogue did anything to Bree, the
moment he got Rylie to safety he was coming back for her—and he’d
make damn sure the rogue paid for everything.

Chapter Ten

    Bree paused as the trail wound around a small
clearing. The rundown picnic table was covered with snow, but she
caught the scent of blood in the air. Stretching her magick, out
around her she searched for clues as she moved closer. There in the
snow just past the table she could see the struggle laid out in the
snow. Rylie must have decided to fight.
    A small smile touched her lips. It hadn’t
been enough, but the girl had guts. Rylie had stayed alive this
long, Bree just hoped she was still hanging in there. Creeping up
the trail, Bree moved off into the woods. It was quiet.
    Even in the winter, birdsong should have
stretched between the trees. Quite a few birds stayed year round,
hungrily nibbling at bird feeders and what food they could still
find. The silence was a warning in itself.
    Gun in hand, Bree searched every shadow, let
her magic wrap around every snow bank, every tree as she moved.
Finally she saw the summit, the cliff the dipped out slightly over
the edge. A sign stood next to the stone edge . The Summit .
Descriptions and pictures filled the glass covered sign. Rylie lay
in the snow, alive.
    Bree let her magick touch the woman. A steady
pulse. Good. She sensed Hunter next, hiding in the shadows. Then
beyond him, waiting in the fast falling darkness, a man. The same
dark, guarded presence she’d sensed in the ravine when they’d found
his lean-to and makeshift home. She couldn’t tell if he was aware
of Hunter or what, but something told her he could see exactly
where he’d left Rylie even if she couldn’t see him.
    The moment she stepped into the clearing the
game would change.
    She reached out with her magick. This time
she focused in on specifics. Metal. Weapon. Gun . She felt it
then. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and she lunged
to the side. The sharp snap of a bullet eating wood sounded in the
quiet, followed by Hunter’s snarl.
    “Get out of here,” she snapped at him,
ducking behind a tree for cover. Her gun pointed toward the ground
she took a breath to calm the pounding of her heart.
    That had been close. Too close.
    She glanced at the tree she’d been standing
in front of. He’d aimed low. A gouge bit into the bark somewhere
around knee level. Son of a bitch was shooting to wound? The slap
of his hand on her bedroom window, the calls, now this? He damn
well wanted to play with her first.
    Bree traced her tongue out over her lips.
Tentative.
    She wasn’t about to take a bullet so he could
play cat and mouse.
    But right now she had one thing going for
her. He didn’t want her dead. Yet.
    The closest tree that would offer her a good
standpoint of protection was another five feet to her right. It
would be a dodge from tree to tree and she couldn’t afford to cover
herself with gunfire. Both Rylie and Hunter lay somewhere between
herself and the rogue.
    “Shit,” she breathed out and closed her
eyes.
    New plan.
    Pointing her gun toward the sky and raising
her arm she edged her hand out from behind the tree. “I just