panic-stricken retreat. The hairy creature began to slowly approach her, its sharp
nails scraping the wooden floor. Thick clumps of bloody flesh and entrails hung
from its large fangs. Baleful, narrowed eyes glared at her, glowing with anger.
470
Her heart thumped erratically, her breath pushed out in short spurts. She
slid her eyes toward the kitchen. If she could only get to the guns…
She made a go for it.
A huge paw connected with the side of her face and smashed her head into
the mantle of the fireplace. She went down. The creature shadowed over her and
pressed its paw into her abdomen, digging its nails into her flesh. Crying out, she
clawed at its paw like a maddened animal. It slapped her hand away and pinned
her arm to the floor.
It leaned in closely to brush the entrails across her face. She whipped her
head to the side and willed back the tears of anguish. This creature taunted her
with the stench of death on its breath and with the innocent lives he"d taken.
The lupine creature released a deep husky chuckle then began to change
shape. The long snout and jaws shrunk, giving way to a human nose and mouth.
Long pointy ears compressed into the small shells of human earlobes. Thick fur
vanished, revealing smooth beige skin.
She stared up in astonishment at what was now, a naked man on top of her.
The same man from the club.
Armando.
471
He turned and spat the entrails out of his mouth. Lustfully, he gleamed
down at her, a wicked grin on his face. “Hey baby, miss me?” he asked in a deep
throaty groan.
Now, ain"t this some shit?
In a snap, her hand was around his neck. Her fangs jutted out, sending a jolt
of pain through her mouth. “You muthafucka, you killed my neighbor"s dog!”
He snatched her hand from his neck and pinned it to the ground. “And I"ll
kill that meat bag too, if you don"t act right.”
She gulped back the angry words that sat on the edge of her tongue.
“Yeah, the one you left in your room, half dead,” he whispered, brushing his
cheek against hers.
A new wave of panic fell over her. She"d left Troy totally defenseless against
an attack. The boy couldn"t even climb out of the window if she"d told him to. She
had to think fast. Think of something to throw wolf boy off track, so she could
make her strike and put him down for good.
She stopped struggling and forced herself to relax beneath him. “What do
you want? Tell me.” she asked seductively, lowering her lids. “I"ll give you
anything, papito.”
472
He grabbed her neck and released a rumbling growl. “Don"t fuck with me,
Rayne or I swear I"ll rip your throat out, right here, right now!” he boomed, his eyes
turning wolfish.
She blinked up a storm and tried to calm her twitching nerves. This was the
second asshole who"d pinned her to the ground and threatened her life today. She
was at the end of her patience and if it wasn"t for Troy, she"d be rolling and
tussling with this mutt right now! It wasn"t even about getting away from him
anymore. It was about dropping his ass in the most ruthless manner possible.
“But baby,” she whispered in a sweet song, arching her back to brush her
breasts against his naked chest. “I"m not fooling with you.” She tilted her head
back in submission, baring her neck then lightly dragged her nail down his arm.
“I"m so horny right now, I don"t know what to do with myself,” she finished with
slight roll of her hips.
His glare softened and his body relaxed. Got him! And the Oscar goes to…
“Baby, I know, I sense it,” he groaned, grinding his groin against hers. “That"s
why I was trying to do my thing at the club, but you was all about getting mad and
cursing me out and shit.”
He nuzzled her neck.
It took everything out of her not to take his throat right then and there. But
she couldn"t be too hasty. If she went for a strike now, with him being bigger,
473
stronger and faster than her, he"d probably be able to pull out of the hold and kill
her on the spot.
This had to be played just right.
She scraped her nails softly up the side of his torso. He whimpered and
flinched. “It"s just this thing I"m going through—I dunno. It"s got me buggin".”
He drew up and stared down at her with desire in his eyes. “Yeah, that"s
some fucked up shit ya" boy pulled. He should"ve prepared you for your shift before
turning you, but that"s the kind of muthafucka he is. He thinks he so smooth and
can do whatever he wants.” With the rise of his voice, his canines came out.
“That"s why I can"t stand his ass.”
Briefly, she closed her eyes and placed her hand to the floor. She took in a
deep breath and on exhale released a bit of her energy through the palm of her
hand. Doing this seemed second nature to her now. A warm, tickling sensation
spread across the floor beneath her.
There would be no interruptions tonight and he wouldn"t leave her house
alive. She would take him out or die trying.
She palmed his bloody cheek. “Well if you hate him so much, let"s do the
damn thing,” she coaxed, bucking her hips against his erect cock, drawing out
sensual growl. “What better way to piss him off than to get it on his woman?”
474
“You"re not his woman! You"re my woman!” he snarled. “You"ve always been
my woman!”
His obsession leaked from his mind and flooded hers. Each and every time
he"d set up the lightning for her shows and watched her perform, it fed his desire
to be with her, and to fuck her in the form of a lust driven wolf. She grimaced,
helplessly siphoning the visions of the many lives he"d stolen just to feed his
craving for the depraved, insane passion he had for her.
Oh yeah, wolf boy had to die.
“Well if I"m your woman, feed me. Give me a taste of what you got.” She
trailed her fingertips along his jugular.
He sharply inhaled then licked his lips. “Naw girl, I can"t do that. Not while
you"re shifting. So you can have me like homeboy in the room, all messed up,
missing a few pints of blood? I"m not trying to be like that brotha.” Chuckling, he
nodded toward the hallway. “You vamp bitches ain"t nothing to fuck with when
ya"ll shifting.”
She gazed at him through narrowed lids, locked her legs around his waist
and heaved her pussy against his hardened length. His eyes grew wide as he
plastered his palms against the floor. Shuddering, he drew up on all fours to level
himself. She hugged his neck and pulled her top half off the floor, flush against his
chest.
475
Now she had him in a hold he couldn"t get out of even if he wanted to. She
tilted her pelvis and rolled her center back and forth along his shaft in an easy
rhythmic motion.
Panting like a dog, he dug his nails into the wood floor. “Oh damn, chica!”
She shifted into overdrive, causing his whole body to convulse. His arms
became wobbly and his knees started to give out. Small whimpers slipped out of
him, then a wall shaking howl ripped from his throat as the eruption of h
is lust
spilled onto her sweatpants.
His limbs collapsed and she was smashed into the floor.
This man was spent by one nut, without penetration. That was a downright
bitch ass move in its fullest. She almost cracked up in laughter.
Using her thigh muscles, she easily flipped him onto his back. “I don"t like to
work this hard for what I want, Armando,” she hissed, pushing his head to the side
to expose his neck.
“My bad, mami,” he drawled, giving her no resistance.
She leaned in, ready to go in for the strike when suddenly…
“Whachu doing, girl?”
Her eyes snapped in the direction of his voice. Troy held himself up on
doorframe, and stared at her from down the hall.
She felt Armando shifting beneath her.
476
“Run!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, shattering every glass in the
house.
A swift blow to the head knocked her on her side. By time she got to her
feet, Troy"s screams were clawing at her soul. She couldn"t save him, it was too
late. She just prayed the shock killed him long before the wolf did.
She rushed to the kitchen. The gun rack was still open.
Shifting anxiously from one foot to the other, she ran and antsy glance over
all the guns. Which one could take out a big ass wolf? What did Sota say?
Something about UV and liquid silver, and secret compartment with extra ammo?
Fuck it! She snatched one from the top and one from the bottom. Already loaded.
She disengaged the safeties and cautiously headed down the hall with the
semi-autos cocked. No wonder Sota forced her to go to the shooting range twice a
month. Big bro had to know this day was coming.
Broken glass from the African artwork, which moments ago decorated her
walls dug into the soles of her feet as she closed in on her bedroom. Blood and
silver tinted sweat soaked into her t-shirt and sweatpants. She closed her eyes and
backed up against the wall. The horrific sounds of the wolf feeding on Troy"s flesh
filled her ears.
I"m so sorry, Troy.
477
Demetri stormed back and forth in front of Sharayna"s house, growling in
rage and squeezing Katsumi"s handle. She had blocked him out. The golden barrier
surrounding her house was so strong he couldn"t penetrate it. Not even the
powerful blade of Katsumi could breach it. Golden sparks flashed at his assault, as
he slashed at it again and again in feverish strikes, yelling out in a fit of outrage.
“Sharayna!”
It wouldn"t anger him so much if his woman wasn"t on the other side,
trapped in her house with a psychotic, third-level shifter. Huffing, he closed his
eyes and sensed her aura. Adrenaline pumped hard through her veins. Silver
emitted from her pores. Determination and fury ruled her every movement. She
was dead set on killing the beast and deep inside he knew she needed to for her
own peace of mind.
Every Xsonri needed to kill justifiably, to tap into the true meaning of their
existence, and with the battle angel side of her urging her forward, she wouldn"t
let down. This would define who she was to herself. But the only problem with
that was, he couldn"t handle it.
“Please Sharayna, let me in!”
He couldn"t handle the fact there was a fair chance the creature trapped in
there with her could kill her. Her strength was waning. While in mid-shift, she
needed to be fed a considerable amount of blood to lock into her true spirit energy.
478
This, she didn"t have, so she was vulnerable, but her opponent on the other hand,
had the ability to heal and regenerate within seconds.
It was not an equal battle match.
Demetri felt the eyes of the neighbors peering at him from their windows.
He expected this. He was, after all, standing outside of Sharayna"s house screaming
out her name for all to hear. Yes, it was truly foolish of him to do so without
placing a sound barrier around him, but he could not spare a moment to gather his
wits when his emotions were out of control. To even attempt to make a level-
headed decision at this moment was useless.
Someone stirred in the distance, moving toward him. Demetri shook his
head. This was unfortunate. With him being disoriented, he was liable to kill
anyone without warning.
Before the man could open his mouth, Demetri turned around, his eyes
burning fury and his fangs out in full mass. He leveled Katsumi at the human.
Frightened, the man scuttled back.
“Kind sir, I appreciate your concern for your neighbor, but approaching me
on this affair is not very wise. I am extremely irrational and unstable at the
moment,” he warned sternly. “If you value your life and want to keep it, I suggest
you return to your home and leave me be.”
479
Rayne pushed off the wall, spun into the doorway and opened fire. The wolf
leaped back from the carcass and jumped on the wall. Flying bullets made a
glowing silver and blue trail behind him as he sprinted across the wall toward her.
He pounced on her, knocking her down. Her head smashed against the hard wood
floor.
The creature snarled and snapped at her. Using one gun to smash him in the
head, she squeezed the trigger on the next. Three bullets caught him in the chest.
He yowled, leapt off, then bolted down the hallway.
Sluggishly, she pushed up from the floor and shook her head. She tried to
will away the vertigo and severe cramping in her stomach. She touched the back of
her head and brought back silver tinted blood. A renewed sense of rage bubbled up
within her at the sight.
“Oh hell to the naw.”
Forcing herself not to glance at what used to be Troy, she swiped up her
semi-autos and rushed down the hall, following the fresh droplets of the wolf"s
blood. Near the kitchen entrance, she paused. A huge paw lashed out, only inches
from her face. She skipped back. He sprung out of the kitchen into the living room
in a furry brown blur.
Fleetly, she rounded the corner and started spraying gun-fire in a wide
spread. Six shots and the clips were empty. Shit!
480
He released a furious growl, rose up on his hind legs and rushed her. She
threw a gun at him. It smashed him in the snout, and then she threw the next one
and struck him in the eye. Yelping loudly, he rattled his head then covered his nose
and eye with his paws.
She scurried backward into the kitchen. Ignoring the sting of glass biting
into the soles of her feet, she went for two more firearms. Before she could lock her
hands around the handle of the weapons, she was slammed hard on the side her
head. She tumbled back onto the island, knocking her knife set down as she hit the
floor.
A whirling sensation consumed her. She stared blurry-eyed up at the beast
growling at her, preparing to attack again. He lunged forward. She swung her leg
up and the heel of her foot cocked him right in the nose. Whimpering in agony, he
crashed to the floor.
She rolled over, got on all fours. Just out of her reach, she eyed one of the
knives. She willed her weak limbs to move toward the shiny, silver kitchen blade.
<
br /> Inches from it, his huge paw came down on her back. Her intended weapon
skittered across the tiles as she was pinned to the floor. She struggled under his
hold, reaching desperately for the knife, which was now several feet from her.
Swallowing back the scream threatening to rip from her throat, she withstood the
pain of the wolf"s claws digging in her flesh.
481
Her strength was fading fast. Her vision became blurrier by the moment, but
giving up and allowing this beast to kill her wasn"t an option.
Realizing her struggles were doing more harm than good, she stopped
fighting and just laid there, staring at the knife. A sense of desperation spiraled up
through her chest, shot through her arm and with the thought, the knife filled her
hand.
Yes!
Rayne gripped the handle and aimed it up over her head to stab him in the
eye. The creature reared back. She slid from beneath him and scrambled to her feet.
Yowling wildly, he pawed at the knife, clumsily trying to remove it from his eye.
Then he lost his footing in a puddle of blood, fell back onto the stove and to the
floor.
Three small gaping holes in his chest oozed silver, but he was still alive.
Aim for the head, was Sota"s instruction. She remembered that much.
Hopefully, it"d be easier now that he was distracted by the knife in his eye.
She hurried to retrieve the gun when the stabbing cramps returned full
blast. Breathing heavily, she backed into the wall and clutched at her heaving
stomach. The distressed beast squirmed on the ground like a fish out of water and
gradually drew the knife from his eye.
482
Damn, why wouldn"t this thing die?
Another wave of pain crashed into her. She dropped to one knee. The
increasing thrust of the gut-wrenching ache traveled through her limbs, making it
hard to breathe. Her shoulder blades burned painfully, drawing out a throaty cry.
This was excruciating pain. She squeezed her eyes shut, and willed away the
suffering for only seconds at a time just to have it attack her again.
“God, please!” she screamed out.
A distant voice calling her name entered her mind. She tilted her head and
Black Rayne Silent Screams Page 37