Free Entranced by Jessica Sorensen Page A

in.”
    I follow him to the entrance door. “Why would anyone want to steal a dead body?"
    “For a lot of reasons.” A bell dings as he pulls open a door. He holds it open for me, letting me step in first. “Think about the powerful things that come through here,” he says as the door swings shut behind us. “Warlocks, Pixies, Faeries. We even had a Nymph once, and you know how wanted their blood is. There’s an entire black market centering on just that.”
    “Okay, I guess I see your point, but it’s still gross.” I glance around at the shelves on the wall carrying knickknacks, T-shirts, maps, and every other kind of souvenir a tourist could ever dream of. “So, where’s this hidden morgue?”
    Jax grins at me as he rounds the back of the front counter, gesturing for me to follow him as he ducks through a beaded curtain. I step through the curtain and into a backroom full of rows and rows of bookshelves angled in every direction.
    “God, it’s like a maze in here …” I trail off. “Jax?” I inch forward toward the shelves. “Jax, I didn’t see where you—”
    A solid chest presses against my back as warm hand covers my mouth. Seconds later, I’m pulled backward. I expect us to hit the wall, but somehow, we disappear into the wall. I freak the fuck out for two point five seconds, preparing to attack, until I get a whiff of Jax’s wolf scent. Even though I’m not going to let him off the hook for the move, I simmer my attack down, not wanting to hurt him.
    At least not too badly, anyway.
    Grabbing his wrist, I lightly twist and pull while bringing my foot up and nudging him back. Startled, he quickly pulls away.
    “Dude, what’s up with the surprise attack?” I ask, putting my hands on my hips.
    “I was trying to get you inside without having to show you how to get in … I’m technically not allowed to show you just yet.” He rubs his wrists, chuckling softly. “Fuck, you’re a lot stronger than you look.”
    “Remember that the next time you try to grab me from behind,” I say with a smirk.
    He smashes his lips together, trying hard to muffle a laugh.
    I bite back a smile. “Quit being a perv.”
    “You’re the one who said it.” He lowers his hand to his side, and we stand there like idiots, grinning goofily at each other.
    A couple of days ago, I thought I’d never have fun again. And while this isn’t the spending-an-entire-day-hunting-a-vampire kind of fun, I’m not gouging my eyes out from boredom like I thought I would.
    Maybe this whole Guardian thing might not be so bad after all.
    Right as the thought crosses my mind, I become hyperaware of the cold air seeping into my skin. I skim the metal walls around me, realizing we’re by the mortuary cold chambers.
    I scrunch up my nose. “So, this is where the magic happens?”
    “Not really.” Jax’s rolls up the sleeves of his hooded shirt, grabs a hand of one of the middle section chambers, and pulls it open, sliding out a bulky body bag. “If you end up being an investigator, you probably won’t spend a lot of time in here. You’ll mostly go to the scenes”—he reaches for the zipper of the body bag while I fight back a gag—“to interview witnesses and go through a lot of fucking paperwork. Sometimes, you’ll have to come here to check on some of the facts, though.”
    I cover my mouth with my hand as he unzips the bag. The stench hits me before he even gets it all the way open, like rotting eggs and vomit. “What the hell’s in there?”
    “A Zombie,” he says, looking completely unbothered by the stench.
    “It smells horrible. Like—”
    “Like rotting death?” He glances at me with amusement dancing in his eyes. “You’ll get used to it.”
    “You keep saying that.”
    “That’s because it’s true.” He leans over the Zombie, inspecting the rotting flesh peeling away from the once human face. “A lot of Guardians are like you when they first start.” His forehead creases as he studies the left