Free Avenger's Heat by Katie Reus Page A

this scene to check for scent . . . though I don’t smell anything other than normal swamp and forest smells . . . and her death.” She knelt down by the body and gently took the dead woman’s hand.
    Yeah, Noah smelled the decaying body too. Had been trying to ignore it from the moment they’d arrived at the scene. “They probably dumped her somewhere upriver, maybe thought the gators would dispose of her body or—”
    He stopped when Erin sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t think that’s it. I think she was buried just like Meli. Look at this—her clothes and arms are caked with dark soil, as if she was buried. But it looks like someone dug her back up.”
    Noah frowned, moving closer and bending down next to her. “Why would anyone do that?”
    Erin held out the woman’s arm and turned it slightly over. She wiped away more of the dirt, leaving streaks along the woman’s lifeless limb, but revealing nasty bite marks. “To feed on her like fucking scavengers,” she bit out.
    After Erin wiped her arm nearly clean, Noah stared at the bite marks covering her exposed arm. He had a feeling they’d find more on her body. “Could be a feral vamp.”
    Erin looked over her shoulder at him in surprise. “What? Vamps can’t go feral . . . can they?”
    â€œNot feral like our kind, but I don’t know another word for it. I’ve seen it happen before to those who shouldn’t have been turned in the first place. They feed on anything, including the dead. It’s just a guess though. I can’t imagine another creature feeding like this.”
    Shaking her head, Erin looked back at Kaigen’s lifeless, bloated body and sighed. She took out her cell phone and began snapping pictures, though he could see it pained her to do so. “I’ve got a digital camera in my pack, will you grab it too?” she asked as she shoved her phone into her jacket pocket.
    As she took more pictures she began talking. “You know, the Rolling Stones were my mom’s favorite band.”
    At first he didn’t realize why she was telling him, then he made out a couple of the letters on the long black, ripped T-shirt covering most of the woman’s belly. The Rolling Stones.
    â€œShe used to sing my baby sister and me their songs at night before going to sleep. Well, anything by them or the Beatles. So many of my memories have faded over the last few decades, but I remember some so clearly.” Her voice broke on the last word as she stared down at the body. “This never should have happened,” she whispered almost to herself.
    Noah gently grasped her shoulder, knowing she wouldn’t want more and knowing it wasn’t the place to comfort her anyway. Surprising the hell out of him, Erin reached up and placed her hand over his, but didn’t turn around. The action was so small, but it touched him that she was accepting his comfort. Finally.
    He wanted to say something, anything, but froze when he sensed intruders. There was a new, foreign scent in the air that didn’t belong. At the same time, Erin stiffened. Slowly, she withdrew her hand and he heard the soft buzz of her unzipping her jacket.
    As she withdrew her blades whisper quiet, he turned, scanning the area, but didn’t see anyone. Didn’t mean they weren’t out there. Moving out of the swampy embankment, he quickly stripped out of his clothes and shifted form. As a wolf his senses were more attuned to his surroundings.
    He spotted two eyes in the trees to the west. In this form they almost appeared to be glowing and he could see the heat signature of the individual was much lower than his or even a human’s. Not all shifters had the ability to see heat signatures, but it was one of his rare gifts. A familial trait he’d gotten from his father. Right now, he saw a vampire.
    Growling low, he took a step forward,