Free Wild Fever by Donna Grant Page B

the receiver.
    “Hello?” she answered breathlessly.
    “Olivia? Olivia, is that you?” said a male voice.
    She couldn’t quite place where she knew the voice, but the fact that he was calling from her grandmother’s phone made her heart pound against her ribs. “Yes? Who is this?”
    “It’s Sean Hebert, Olivia. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but there’s been an accident. Your grandmother was on her way home when a drunk driver hit her.”
    The room tilted around Olivia. No. She had lost too much. “Is she all right?”
    “They’ve taken her to the hospital in Crowley.”
    She needed to get to her grandmother, regardless of the promise she gave Vincent. He would understand. “I’ll be there shortly,” she said and hung up the phone.
    Olivia grabbed her keys that Vincent had tossed onto the counter earlier and rushed from the house. Her hands were shaking so bad that it took three tries just to get the keys in the ignition.
    As soon as the car roared to life, Olivia threw it in drive. All she could think about was her grandmother being hurt and alone and confused at the hospital. That only made her drive faster over the bumpy terrain.
    With her hands squeezing the wheel, she sped over the worn path Vincent had called a road. She could see the lights up ahead on the main road. Once she reached that, then she could really fly.
    One moment she was driving, and the next, something slammed into her car shattering the glass. She screamed as the vehicle began to roll.
    She had no idea how many times her car turned over until it finally came to a stop upside down. Her head pounded from when it slammed against her door during the roll.
    Olivia moaned and tried to unbuckle her seatbelt, but the glass had caused several cuts on her hand, and she couldn’t press the lever because the blood made her fingers too slippery. Tears welled, not for her injuries, but because of her grandmother.
    It was the low growl that took her breath. She looked around, trying to find the source when she caught sight of thick, hairy legs right next to her.
    She bit back a scream and turned her head away when the driver’s side door was ripped off and tossed aside like a kid would toss a toy.
    A massive hand with long claws reached for her. Olivia leaned as far away as she could, her tears falling freely now. If only she would have done as Vincent asked.
    The golem’s hand latched onto her seatbelt and ripped. Olivia screamed as she fell.
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TEN
     
     
    Olivia opened her eyes to see a fire. Grass itched her cheek, and a mosquito was happily sucking on her shoulder. She tried to swat the mosquito away, but found her hands tied.
    “A precaution. I’m sure you understand.”
    She stilled, her blood turning to ice as she recognized Sean Hebert’s voice. Olivia lifted her head to find him sitting on the opposite side of the fire making what looked like a doll out of straw.
    “What are you doing, Sean? You’re a sheriff’s deputy.” Maybe if she could reason with him he would let her go. It was a long shot, but what did she have to lose.
    He ignored her and focused on the doll. “I was so excited when you came back to town. You were cute in school, but damn, you turned into a fine looking woman, Olivia.”
    A glance around showed a house about a hundred yards away. The bayou was behind her. She tugged at her bindings, hopeful that she might get a hand free.
    “You came here once,” Sean said as he looked up at her with an overly bright smile. “Our senior year I had the party at Christmas.”
    So they were at Patricia Hebert’s house. Was Sean helping his mother commit the murders? How had Patricia convinced her son – a cop – to kill?
    “I remember,” she said to keep him talking.
    “I kissed you that night.”
    She winced as her bonds seemed to tighten the more she struggled. “You kissed a lot of girls that night.”
    “True. I had my pick of girls.”
    “You