Read Online Vampire Instinct by Joey W. Hill - Free Book Online

grunt, still studying the paperwork. “Something you want to say? You wouldn’t be darkening my door like a bear woken from hibernation otherwise.”
    “She’s sleeping deep. I don’t think she’ll wake for some time. She wasn’t interested in the food. Thomas said she threw up what she had on the plane. She’s not well.”
    “Well, we’ll just have to get her stronger. She has a lot to do over the next few days.” Mal raised his gaze and met Kohana’s. “Once she has a proper rest, I’ll meet with her here. There are things I need to know from her.”
    “I think there are things she needs from you as well.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” Mal waved him away irritably. “Danny said as much. Hell and damnation. Babysitter to a bunch of foul-tempered cats, fugitive Indians and now one puny Irish maid.”
    Kohana didn’t smile, not technically. He never really did, but there was a rearrangement of the muscles of his face that gave away mirth. “I’ll leave you to your reading, Mr. Malachi.”
    The thunk of the hunting knife sinking into the heavy paneling next to the doorframe was a familiar threat, one that Kohana ignored as he withdrew. Mal’s accuracy was impeccable, a uniform pattern of slits up and down either side and along the top of the door.
    Kohana wondered how good his employer’s aim was going to be on this new lot of rescued “cubs.” The large Lakota had an uneasy feeling and didn’t like it, but he knew it was best to let time show where danger lay before one reacted too hastily to it.
    However, Kohana suspected the greatest challenge to Mal lay in the bed upstairs. Maybe it was a good thing. Malachi had been on the preserve for a long spell now, turning down any offer to go with the others to the mainland for R & R. Might be time to remind him of the world outside. And it had been a remarkable moment, the way the little miss had stood toe-to-toe with him, trying to give him what for.
    “Winds of change,” he noted to himself. “Good or bad, only time will tell.” Heading back to the kitchen, Kohana started mulling what he could scare up for a breakfast. At the end of this long work night, the hands were sure to be extra hungry.

5
     
    S LEEP did help, but Elisa wasn’t sure anything would truly prepare her for her meeting with Mr. Malachi that following evening. She was glad Kohana had woken her a few hours before, coaxed a couple bites of something into her, then let her go back to sleep. When she finally put her feet on the floor and stumbled into the small bathroom to splash herself awake, nervousness took away her appetite. She brushed her unruly dark brown curls back from her face and slipped a band over them, then ironed the modest dress she pulled from the suitcase Danny had bought for her. She should have done it when she arrived, but in truth, she remembered little once they’d gotten her to this room.
    But that was yesterday. She checked herself in the mirror. She was ready to go to work, and it was best to think of Mr. Malachi as her new employer, meeting to discuss her duties. If she could remember that, stay calm, maybe he’d let her see the children today. The thought gave her courage as she made her way through the house.
    The architecture was log cabin, so the walls were smooth-surface logs, fitted together and caulked. The gray-brown color was balanced by large windows that made it seem they were outdoors, or peering out from the cocoon of a cool forest. Several pairs of French doors led out to the wide wraparound porch. It was sunset, the sky red and gold with wisps of dove gray. One set of windows faced east, the other west, so it would lack for natural light only in the most heated noontime. There were electrical lights, but she saw enough lanterns they must use kerosene in the evenings to save the power source.
    It was definitely a man’s haven, very little indicating a woman’s touch, though even Mrs. Pritchett would approve of the cleanliness. The wood floors were