When Wicked Craves (36 page)

“Why?”

The question came out as a whisper, but she knew he heard it.

“I heard you were coming to find me,” he said, and at first she thought he meant in the past, that he was answering her question. “News travels fast in the mountains.”

“And here I am. Tell me what I want to know, and maybe I’ll let you live.” It was a lie she didn’t regret telling.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out a gun. Not something she usually feared, but this was the one man in all the world who would know what type of bullet would hurt her. Wooden bullets coated in silver. A weapon designed to kill either a vampire or a werewolf. Or both.

“Abomination.”
He held the gun steady. “I should never—”

“Why?”
This time the word ripped from her throat, and she hated her own lack of control, but dammit, she’d been waiting decades to face this man and she wanted answers. “Why did you do this to me?”

His finger moved on the trigger, and in that same instant, she launched herself sideways. The bullet sang out, burning through the leather sleeve of her coat, slicing into the flesh of her arm. But no kill shot. He’d fucked up there big-time.

She fell back into the snow and rolled, and when she came up, she had her own gun in her hands. He was about to get off another round, but she fired one shot at his head, and he stumbled backward, a neat little hole in his skull. She stood, aimed, and put another through his heart, knocking him to the ground.

The man she’d come to kill was dead.

Somehow, she didn’t feel any better.