Read Online Wounded: Book 8 (A Rylee Adamson Novel) by Shannon Mayer - Free Book Online Page A

mellow half of the species; we have to be. The ladies get all the press because of their stellar dispositions.”
    “Oh.” Harpies didn’t tend to be mellow at all, fighting and shrieking at every opportunity. I was completely thrown by the fact that he was male. “I’m Pamela and this here is—”
    “I is Alex,” Alex barked out. He clung to my waist, not that I had that much better of a grip than he did. His tongue hung out, flapping in the wind. “I am werewolf.”
    The harpy bobbed his head, the same way Eve often did. “My name is Marco. Do you have an idea which direction we should head?”
    That was a good question.
    “Rylee,” I yelled to the other trio, “where are we going?”
    She turned toward me, her skin pale and sickly looking, and her eyes dull. “London. But we’ll need to stop first.”
    I waited, wondering if she was going to tell us where. Nope, she leaned forward and whispered to Eve.
    “We’re going to a place called Bismarck,” Marco said.
    “You could hear that?”
    “Easily. But I do understand the caution. No need to go shouting it to the sky and let all those who seek us know where we will roost for the day.”
    Eve led the way, and while I was afraid for Rylee, I was glad this time we weren’t separated.

    I directed Eve to head for a little motel on the outskirts of Bismarck. We all needed a few hours sleep and a chance to decompress from the battle. The wind was icy cold and though Erik did his best to keep me warm, he didn’t run hot like Liam. Thinking of him, I found myself reaching out to Liam through the bond between us, rather than Tracking him. He slept and his heart was steady, if a bit on the slow side. I could live with that, as long as he made it.
    “That vampire, how sure of him are you?” Erik asked as we drew close to the motel.
    “Faris? Fuck, he can be trusted one day, and not the next. I trust Doran, though. And he deals with Faris.”
    “Doran will be pissed with him for shutting the veil.”
    I let out a sigh. I didn’t want to say I understood what Faris had done, but I did. He was protecting Doran, the vamp king; that was his job. Even if that meant leaving us behind. Stupid fucking asshat.
    “Yeah, he will. But there is nothing any of them can do now.” Shit, that wasn’t true. Alex had a tie to Faris; we used it in the past. I explained quickly to Erik and he nodded, though his hazel and green eyes were troubled.
    “I hope you’re right. It would redeem him somewhat.”
    The rest of our flight passed in relative silence, other than the instructions I gave Eve. Late in the day found us over the motel and the harpies landed on the roof. The flight had given me time to heal, though I hadn’t been able to rest, or even nap. I’d been hoping to maybe get a chance to contact Berget, let her know we’d made it out.
    Erik, Pamela, Alex, and I shimmied down a fire escape to the back of the motel. We made our way around to the front office. Shit, I hadn’t been here in months. I hoped John and his wife were still here. They were old enough that it was a valid concern. I pushed the door open and peeked inside. John snoozed in his regular chair, cowboy boots up on the front desk and hat pulled down over his eyes.
    I couldn’t help but smile. “John. Sleeping on the job, really?”
    He snorted and sat up, grabbed his hat and blinked at me. “Ry! What the hell, girl, you’ve been a long time between visits. Find any kids lately?”
    My smile faltered. “Not enough. Big stuff coming, though.”
    “Yeah?” He waited for me to say something out-of-the-world goofy. Typical human would think I was fooling him.
    “Well, thought I’d try to save the world from demons. Then maybe take an honest-to-God vacation before anymore hunting for kids.”
    He slammed his hat back on his head as he laughed. “You’ve got the imagination for telling stories, girl. You need one room or two?”
    I knew he still had my credit card on file. Which was good since I