Page 128 of After the Burn

Then she became the single greatest pain in my ass I’d ever had to deal with.

Somewhere along the way, she’d become something else.

Something I tried very hard not to name.

Adrian mumbled something else to her, and she looked at him with heat in her eyes.

Those eyes hit me somewhere low, and it pissed me off to no end.

I closed my eyes. Sleep was better than whatever the hell this was. But of course, it eluded me, my mind going a million miles an hour.

The rain started not long after and fell softly against the roof, then grew harder and steadier.

Thunder rolled again, close enough this time to make the old barn tremble.

I must have slept, because a short while later something cold landed on my cheek.

I frowned.

Another drop.

The roof must be leaking. Shit, just my luck.

I opened my eyes, and lightning flashed.

Harper’s face hovered inches above mine.

For one frozen second, my brain refused to process what I was seeing.

Her eyes were clouded, and her mouth hung open. Dark blood stained her lips. A strand of saliva stretched between her teeth… then she snarled.

I jerked backward, but I was too slow because of the shock I couldn’t shake off.

Her mouth gaped wider, and I knew this was it… then, out of fucking nowhere, Taryn hit Harper before the teeth could reach me. Both women crashed sideways into the hay, and the barn erupted with movement.

Beck was up, and Adrian reached for his knife. Max went from asleep to feral in less than a second.

Rory screamed. “Mommy!”

Harper twisted beneath Taryn with a strength she hadn’t possessed just a short time ago, and her hand closed around Taryn’s throat.

I lunged forward and caught Harper’s wrist. “Get off her!”

Harper snapped at me, then turned back to Taryn. Taryn shoved her forearm under Harper’s jaw. I saw fabric tear, and everything inside me froze.

“No!” I grabbed Harper by the shoulders and ripped her backward.

Beck caught her around the waist as Adrian seized her legs. Together they dragged her away.

I dropped to the ground beside Taryn, frantically checking her arm for a bite. “Did she get you?!”

“I’m fine.”

I pushed the material of her sleeve aside so I could see her arm more clearly. “Were you bitten?!”

“Lucas—”

I tore the sleeve higher.