Free Taming the Heart (Creatures of the Night Book 2) by Tisha Wilson

creatures is to keep the upper hand. If they see for a moment that you have hesitated or that you are reluctant, they will strike out at you. If you can get away from them you can grow back lost body parts, but if they devour you completely you become part of them, you will be lost in the evil until the end of days.”
    “You’re crazy,” she muttered as she continued to tremble.
    He rammed the knife into the center of his palm and pulled it out again quickly. All she could do was stare at him in shocked horror. He shoved the hand in her face and she saw it heal right before her eyes. She shook her head and closed her eyes. He reached out and shook her hard. She looked up at him again knowing that fright was written all over her face.
    He growled and leaned into her and she screamed out loud. His face… it had changed. He looked almost feline and he had… fangs. They came from nowhere she had seen. She closed her eyes again and tried to wheel away but he held firm to her and forced her to look at him. His eyes were violet again.
    “Please. Don’t hurt me,” she mumbled.
    “Do you believe me now? Do I seem crazy to you? You blew half my face off last night, yet here it is. I tell you I have fangs and drink blood, and here they are for you to see. What else do I have to do to prove to you that this is real!”
    He was so close she had to push at his broad chest to keep him out of her face. “I… I… I’m just a copy girl in a wheel chair. What am I supposed to do with all this? I just want to go home,” she pleaded and the tears flowed without stopping.
    He leaned back then and took a deep breath. His face returned to normal, forcing more tears from her eyes. She didn’t believe it, but how could she not? She could see with her own eyes what he was. What she couldn’t see was if he meant her harm or if he really wanted to help like he claimed.
    “You are going to have to let go of that old life.”
    “But… my mother… my sister.”
    “They are gone,” he said more gently.
    He strode to the door and grabbed his coat before he left her alone again. She clutched her middle and sobbed out loud. The pain that coursed through her was more than physical. She wheeled herself into the bathroom as quickly as she could manage before she lost her breakfast into the toilet. Katie was dead, she was missing, and no one would ever know what had happened to either of them. Her poor mother. She was undoubtedly sitting at an empty breakfast table right this moment, ringing her hands over and over, wondering where her husband and children were.
    No matter how many times she had tried to tell her mother that her father had died… she was just lost in a world of her own memories. They would put her in a home and she would rot her life away thinking everyone that she cared about had abandoned her to her fate. Miranda pulled herself to the big bed, crawled inside, pulled the dark comforter over her head, and sobbed until she fell asleep again.

Chapter Four
     
    Braden heard her calling out in her sleep. He entered the house glad that the sobbing noises had finally subsided. He hated to hear her cry, but there was nothing to be done. She would need time to mourn the loss of her old life. Humans were so sentimental about the shortness of their lives. He sighed. What he wouldn’t give for tomorrow to bring the end.
    He flopped down on the couch and realized with a start that that wasn’t really true at the moment. He hadn’t thought about the end all day. It was rare for him to get through an entire day without thinking about it anymore. He shrugged. It was just the distraction. He would get around to seeking death again tomorrow. He checked the hunter site, but there was nothing new. He had received a file from Saul about the profile on the woman and her family, but still no news from Bateman. Where the hell had Bateman gotten to? There were things going on here that a mentor needed to be dealing with, not him.
    Unbidden, a