Read Online The Catalyst by Zoe Winters - Free Book Online Page B

it, and now you’re rejecting me? Is this some
kind of game to you?”
    Z suppressed a growl and pulled his shirt back on.
“No. No game. I just can’t do this. Whatever you think, it’s not
personal.”
    “Like hell it’s not personal. You get your fucking
coffee elsewhere from here on. If you come into the Java Junkie
again, I’ll tell my boss you’ve been starting trouble. Half of our
patrons would back me. You give them the willies. There’s something
not right about you.”
    Z just shrugged. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,
Cherry. It would have just been tonight, anyway.”
    “It’s worth shit, is what it’s worth, you son of a
bitch.” Her hands were shaking, part in anger and part due to
embarrassment, as she was probably wondering if there was something
wrong with her and her desirability that had caused his inability
to bring himself to sleep with her. She buttoned the last few
buttons, sent him an evil glare that he wasn’t sure didn’t come
with a curse attached, and slammed the door behind her.
    He followed her outside, his shoes abandoned in the
room. “Do you want a ride back? It’s dark out.”
    “Screw you!” she shouted over her shoulder,
disappearing down the street and into the night. As angry as she
was, any thug would steer clear.
    Z shut the door and flopped back on the bed to fall
into a fitful sleep.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    Jane stood motionless in a white room, her eyes glued
to several video monitors. She jumped and turned at the voice of
her adjustment angel. For a heavenly being, he was short, bald, and
quite surly.
    “You should go enjoy heaven, it’s not healthy to stay
in this room,” Rodolfo said. He looked nothing like a Rodolfo.
    But it was her room, the room that let her see what
she knew she should let go of and close the door to. There were two
monitors in particular that her eyes had been riveted to for
months. On one, the image rarely changed, and at times she wondered
if it was up-to-date—if it was working.
    Cole sat with his head in his hands, a bottle next to
him. She’d watched him lose himself so many times inside that
bottle. The den was littered with dozens of paintings, all of her
bleeding to death. He’d gotten a vision too late, and thought the
pup had died, too. He’d searched for her body, but it had already
been taken by a wild animal.
    When he’d returned, he’d painted the vision over and
over, as if it were penance, as if painting it just one more time
would bring her back to him. After that, while he’d been strong
enough to shift into his wolf form, he’d huddled in the bed and
whimpered for days. As he stopped eating enough to shift, he’d
turned to alcohol as his last option to mute the pain.
    He was useless to the pack like this. The only
remaining sign of his alpha status was the black tribal tattoo
around his arm. The beta had all but taken over while her mate
mourned. Their baby was still out there, and Jane was the only one
who knew about it.
    Her eyes flicked to the other screen: her baby wolf
with the panther therian and now the witch. Jane’s life had been a
strange one: born human with vampire blood, tormented by the
bloodsuckers, rescued by a werewolf, and made into his mate. The
magical blood that had damned her had later set her free in Cole’s
arms. And now here she was, in the land of the dull. Her former
incarnations were something she couldn’t process or think about at
the moment. She was too attached to this most recent lifetime. All
she cared about right now was getting back to the man she loved and
their pup.
    “Please, I have to go back. You have to send me
back.” She’d had this conversation with the angel daily, sometimes
multiple times a day.
    “I’ve told you a thousand times,” Rodolfo said, “You
can reincarnate, but your memories won’t hold together. It’s a
gamble if you’ll remember anything worth knowing. And the time line
is off. Being reborn now won’t help your pup and your