Free Maikoda: Power of the Moon (Blue Moon Trilogy Book 2) by Adrianna Morgan

and each abandoning the place as if it was cursed. So, it sat there, empty and forgotten.
                  The bus arrived, moving along Main Street before it turned off into the bus depot. She hurried on and sat in a far corner. A man got on after her, his baggy clothes dingy and grimy, his beard filled with filth. He moved towards her, sitting far too closely and the hair on her nape stood on end. 
                  On a bus mostly empty, he sat only one seat away and she frowned at the discomfort she felt. Not in the mood for company, she got up and moved towards the back and was dismayed when he moved as well and sat right across from her, his back to the bus driver. 
                  She studied him before she looked around. He was definitely not a Were, just creepy.  There were few other people on the bus; an older woman facing the driver, her eyes closed as she leaned against the window, a teenager with his cellphone out and ear buds in listening to music and a young couple busy whispering and giggling as they indulged in a round of heavy petting and kissing. No one paid any attention to her or the man with her.
                  He grinned then as if understanding her predicament; his teeth yellowed and rotting as he rubbed his hand along the front of his crotch. Her lip curled in disgust and he grinned again, opening his legs wider to get better access. His tongue was thick and wet as he licked his lips and he stared at her, almost daring her to do something before he began to unzip his pants, his hand reaching into the dirty material. 
                  Eyes narrowed, she stared at him as he continued to grin and then pulled her hoodie over her head, carefully concealing her face from the other occupants. She grinned wickedly, mouth wide as she allowed her fangs to descend.
                  The man stopped moving and peered at her, his mouth gaped open in surprised fear. 
                  She raised a hand in a silent wave, this time allowing her fingers to transform slightly.  Her nails grew extremely long as her hands became covered in fur. Her fangs started to protrude from her mouth and the man slowly moved his hand away from his crotch.
                  “Boo!” 
                  Layla laughed as he jumped before racing to the front of the bus, yelling at the driver to stop. She quickly changed back as the bus slowed and the man raced away down the street. The bus driver looked back at her and she smiled at him and shrugged. 
                  When the bus finally reached her destination, she pulled on the cord signaling her stop.  Her mind was ill at ease as she thought about the killings. It had to be a message for her. There was no way this was all coincidence. Four women killed the exact way that Wattan had been killed? Four women who resembled her. It had to be a warning. But from whom? Kuruk or Suzette? Or someone else waiting in the wings? 
                  The bus pulled away and she moved towards the government assistance homes in the older section of town. As she walked past a rundown apartment complex; the second floor landing littered with toys, she thought of her old friends. Jared, the boy she had the biggest crush on when she was ten, her friends at school, even her teachers.  Many of them had probably moved away by now, especially after her mom’s horrific death. 
                  Cameras adorned the outside of the buildings as she turned into the housing area where she and her mom had lived. The homes were painted grotesque colors and contrasted horribly with the area. Smells assaulted her sensitive nostrils, reminding her of her childhood and the people who had lived here for years; jerk chicken from one of the Caribbean neighbors, some sort of curry from another apartment, even the smell of fresh laundry from the Laundromat on the