My Kind of Town Excerpt
My Kind of Town
“There’s blood everywhere.”
Kyle Treharne leaned into the passenger side of the overturned car, the driver’s side so badly damaged no one could get through the crumpled metal to extract themselves. Not even the female whose fear he could smell. Her fear and panic…and something else. Something he couldn’t quite name.
“Do you see anybody?” his boss asked. Kyle re-adjusted the earplug to hear the man better. The Sheriff’s voice was so low, it was often hard to make out exactly what he’d said.
“Nope. I don’t see anyone. No bodies, but…” He sniffed the air and looked down. “Blood trail.”
“Follow it. Let me know what you find. I’ll send out the EMS guys.”
“You got it.” Kyle disconnected and followed the trail of blood heading straight toward the beach. He moved fast, worried the woman might be bleeding to death, but also concerned this human female would see something he’d never be able to explain.
Kyle pushed through the trees until he hit the beach. As he’d hoped, none of the town’s people or resort visitors were hanging around, the beach thankfully deserted in the middle of this hot August day. He followed the blood cutting in a small arc across the sand, the trail leading back into the woods about twenty feet from where he’d entered.
He’d barely gone five feet when a bright flash of light and the missing woman’s scent hit him hard, seconds before she hit him hard. He should have been faster. Normally, he would be. That scent of hers, though, threw him completely off balance and he couldn’t snap out of it quick enough to avoid the woman slamming right into him.
Her body hit his so hard that if he were completely human, she might have killed him.
But Kyle wasn’t human. He’d been born different like nearly everyone else in his small town. They may not all be the same breed, but they were all the same kind.
Still, his less than human nature didn’t mean he didn’t experience pain. Like at the moment, he felt lots and lots of pain as he landed flat on his back, the woman on top of him.
Yet the pain faded away when the woman moved, her small body brushing against him. She moaned and Kyle reached around to gently grip her shoulders.
“Hey, darlin’. You all right?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she slapped her hand over his face, squashing his nose. Putting all her weight on that hand, she pushed herself up.
Between her fingers, he could see the confusion in her eyes as she looked around. Blood from a deep gash on her forehead matted her dark brown hair and covered part of her face. Bloodshot, slightly almond-shaped brown eyes searched the area. For what, Kyle had no idea. A cut slashed across her top lip and although it no longer bled, it had started to turn the area around it black and blue.
Damn, little girl is cute.
“Uh…” He tapped her arm. “Could you move your hand, sweetheart?” And the question came out like he had the worst cold in the universe. “I can’t really breathe.”
She didn’t even look at him, instead staring off into the forest. “Dammit. It’s gone.” Putting more pressure on his poor nose, the woman levered herself up and off him. “Damn. Damn. Damn.” She stumbled toward the forest and Kyle quickly got to his feet. “This isn’t my fault. It’s not.” Poor thing, completely delirious from all that blood loss and muttering to herself like a mental patient.
Then she stopped walking. Abruptly. Almost as if she’d walked into a wall. “Damn,” she said again.
Knowing he had to get her to the hospital before she died on him, Kyle put his hand on her shoulder, gently turning her so she could see him. “It’s all right, darlin’. Let’s get you out of here, okay?” He slipped one arm behind her back and the other under her knees, scooping her up in his arms.
Hhhm. She feels nice there.
Kyle smiled down at her and, for a moment, she looked at him in complete confusion.
Then the crazy woman started swinging and kicking, trying to get out of his arms. Although she had no skills-she did little more than flail wildly-he couldn’t believe her strength with all the blood she’d lost, but he quickly realized someone else had caught on to her scent, too, and was heading right for them.
Kyle gripped the fighting woman around the waist, dragging her back against him with one arm. Ignoring how much her tiny fists and feet were starting to hurt, he turned his body so she faced in the opposite direction and with his free hand, swung up and back, slamming the back of his fist into the muzzle of the black striped and orange Yankee bastard hellbent on getting his tiger paws on the woman in Kyle’s arms. Tiger males only had to get a whiff of a female and they were on them like white on rice. The fact this one was full human and an outsider didn’t seem to matter to some idiots.
A surprised yelp and the Yankee cat flipped back into the woods. Kyle rolled his eyes. He loved his town but, Lord knew, he didn’t like the Yankees who often came to call. All of them rude, pretentious, and damn annoying.
Kyle walked off with the woman still trapped in his arm until she started slapping at him.
“Hands off! Hands off! Let me go!” After all that blood loss, she seemed completely lucid and quite insane.
Even worse…he’d recognize that accent anywhere. A Yankee. A damn Yankee.
Kyle dropped her on her cute butt and she slammed hard into the sand.
After a moment of stunned silence, she suddenly glared up at him with those big brown eyes…and just like that, Kyle Treharne knew he was in the biggest trouble of his life.
