Free A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

“Now, if you come across a leech, no offense, remember your training.”
    â€œNone taken. And would that be the sword training where you fly past my defenses and swat me on the ass, chirping, ‘Dead!’? Another swat. ‘Dead!’? Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”
    â€œNo, that would be the training where you sprint like hell whenever you hear that I’m looking for you to train.”
    *  *  *
    Once she’d hung up the telephone again, Lachlain strode around the corner without even acting like he hadn’t listened.
    She jumped again, then her brows drew together. “You eavesdropped, didn’t you?”
    â€œAye,” he answered without compunction.
    â€œLearn anything new?” she asked in a nervous tone.
    Not really. “Your accent’s odd and you speak too quickly,” he answered honestly. Then he smirked. “But I did hear that you think me ‘wildly handsome.’ ” He wondered why he’d felt a flush of pleasure at that. As if he cared what she thought.
    She glanced away, but not before he saw her face flush. He thought he heard her mutter, “Emphasis on the wild.”
    â€œWhy did you no’ tell your family what I am?”
    â€œI would never want to worry them unduly.”
    â€œAnd knowing you are with a Lykae would worry them?” he asked, as though he didn’t know how violently they would react to the news.
    â€œOf course it would. They’ve told me about you. About what you are.”
    He crossed his arms over his chest. “And what am I?”
    For the first time since he’d taken her, she purposely met his gaze. “Deep down, you’re a monster.”

6

    E mma wears her fear like a flag.
    That’s what her aunts said about her, not cruelly, just with baffled shakes of their heads. Compared to them, she feared so much—and she was the first to admit it.
    They were courageous, fierce, and each of them had a purpose in life—some to guard indestructible weapons that could never fall into the wrong hands. Some watched over a bloodline of a particularly strong or noble human family. They were considered guardian angels.
    Emma? Well, Emma had undertaken the epic endeavor of . . . college. At Tulane . She hadn’t even ventured outside of her hometown to earn her identity of Emma the Co-ed, possessor of a B.A. in pop culture.
    She remembered one time when she was young, playing at night in her sandbox. Out of the corner of her eye, she’d seen the yellow glow of a troop of ghouls as they descended on the manor.
    She’d fled inside, bursting through the door, screaming, “Run!”
    Her aunts had all shared glances. Annika had appeared embarrassed, her stunningly beautiful face displaying a frown. “Emma, sweetling, what precisely do you mean by run ? We don’t run from anything. We’re the creatures they run from, remember?”
    How surprised they’d been when Emma had wanted this trip abroad. How shocked they would be that her finger was very decidedly pushing the lobby button of the elevator to take her to the Lykae waiting for her. After she’d called him a monster to his face, his eyes had flickered, then he’d stormed out of the room, ordering her to meet him at the car downstairs.
    The car downstairs. Holy shite, was she really going to do this? As she descended, she did a quick mental tally of the pros and cons of cooperating and leaving with him.
    Pros. She could possibly use him to finally understand more about herself and her nature, and he would kill any other vampire in sight, thereby protecting her from them.
    Cons. He’d never told her whether he ultimately planned to kill her or not. The Lykae might protect her from the vampires, but who would have her back against him?
    Her aunts might never run—but Emma excelled at it. Until she got into the car with him, she thought, she still had a