Thunder Road (Rain Chaser Book 1) (32 page)

She moved between the shadows as silent and slippery as a ghost, but ghosts didn’t have a smell. Whatever she was, she stank of charcoal and burnt skin. I got up and edged away, baring my teeth and growling. The implicit threat should have been enough to keep her at bay. Most sensible people don’t approach a huge wolf whose teeth were flashing.

It didn’t slow her down at all.

As she oozed out of the shadows, my snarl faltered, and a small whimper of confusion escaped me. She crept forward, her arms akimbo like a broken mannequin who was reassembled with all the wrong parts. Her head was tilted sideways at a painful angle, broken and mangled. Skin peeled away, baring flesh and bone in raw red-and-white patches.

She advanced on me, and I backed away, though my natural instinct resisted. I didn’t want anything to do with her, but I was stubborn to the core. Royal werewolf blood and a long history of lectures from my uncle Callum meant I never wanted to yield the upper hand to anyone, not even a walking immolation-monster, or whatever she was.

Behind the stink of charred skin was a reek of death and sulfur.

She wasn’t human.

That should have been obvious at first glance, what with the blackened skin and impossible bone structure, but I’d seen enough truly weird things in my life that I never took anything at face value. Her smell, however, was unmistakable. The sulfur scent was a hallmark of something dark and demonic.

Her mouth opened, wider than a human mouth could, and a horrible, screeching yowl emerged, croaking and grinding like rocks in a blender.

Then she was gone, blowing apart like smoke as the sun rose.

Moments later the shift took me and remade me, leaving me naked and panting on the brick, shivering from the too-recent memory of what I’d seen.

What the hell was she?

And why did I feel like I should know?

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Also By Sierra Dean

Secret McQueen

The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters

Something Secret This Way Comes

A Bloody Good Secret

Secret Santa

Deep Dark Secret

Keeping Secret

Grave Secret

Secret Unleashed

Cold Hard Secret

A Secret to Die For

Genie McQueen

Bayou Blues

Black Magic Bayou (in 2016)

Rain Chaser

Thunder Road

Driving Rain (in 2017)

Misfits & Mayhem

A Low Down Dirty Shane

Boys of Summer

Pitch Perfect

Perfect Catch

Dog Days

Autumn

Winter

Spring

Summer

The Complete Dog Days Saga

Other Works

Chasing Kings

Night Moves

We Don’t Need Another Hero

About Sierra Dean

Sierra Dean is a reformed historian. She was born and raised in the Canadian prairies and is allowed annual exit visas in order to continue her quest of steadily conquering the world one city at a time. Making the best of the cold Canadian winters, Sierra indulges in her less global interests: drinking too much tea and writing urban fantasy.

She’s also a book lover (of course!), obsessive collector of OPI nail polish and the owner of 
way
 too many pairs of shoes. You can usually find her spouting off
Kroll Show
references or imagining what her wedding to Richard Madden will be like (hopefully not red).

Find her online at
http://www.sierradean.com