Not Dead Enough: Zombie Paranormal Romance (Project Rebellion: SARA Book 1)

by Mina Carter

  “No heartbeat. At all.” Turning her around to the light, he looked deep into her eyes. “Fuck me. You’re a hybrid. Thank fuck…. If you’d been just a Blood, he’d have killed you like…like Kathy.”

  The mention of the dead woman chilled the mood for the moment, but nothing could chill her relief at being in his arms again.

  “I am?” She crowded closer and grazed her lips over his. Relief that he’d found her, that they’d survived the battle suddenly hit her, and she needed to touch him. Needed to know he was okay. “Tell me about that later. Right now, just kiss me.”

  He pulled her closer, his lips whispering against hers. “Your wish is my command, sweetpea. Forever. If you’ll have me.”

  She pulled back for a moment to look into his eyes. “Well, that depends. I’m a commitment sort of girl. Are you asking me to marry you?”

  His eyes didn’t leave hers, his expression didn’t flicker. “Sweetpea, if a church would have us, I’d marry you in a heartbeat. Today. Tomorrow. Now. Just say the word and I’m yours.”

  She reached up on tiptoes and pressed her lips against his, giving him her answer in the most definite way she knew how. He made a small growl in the back of his throat and hauled her closer, turning the soft brush into something harder and heavier. The heavy slam of his heart starting gave her a second’s warning before his cock pressed insistently against her stomach.

  “Oh, for fucks sake. Here? Seriously? There’s freaking blood and everything on the floor.”

  Dom’s voice broke through their sensual haze and she broke away to look over her shoulder. Dom grinned back at her. Which would have been a reassuring sight if his face and shoulder hadn’t been splattered in fresh, black blood.

  “Yeah, and bodies. We should have a word with housekeeping.” Brett chuckled, then his voice hardened. “McCoy?”

  “Evan went after him. Last I saw, the sneaky bastard had jumped out the window. Evan followed him. I went after a couple more, found the women.”

  The sudden flat tone made Julia still.

  “The women?” Brett asked.

  Dom gave a small shake of his head. “Got there too late. They had an exit plan. Think they took a couple, but the rest….” He trailed off, and suddenly Julia didn’t want to ask where the new blood had come from. “Damage was too great. Couldn’t save them.”

  “Fuck!” Brett reared back, letting go of her to run his hands through his close-cropped hair. His distress vibrated through the room. “What kind of fucking animals are they?”

  “They’re Bloods,” Dom said flatly, then flicked a glance at Julia. “No offense meant.”

  “None taken.” She shrugged. “Apparently I’m not a Blood anymore. Which suits me just fine. They’re all assholes anyway.”

  In that lightning fast movement they were all capable of, Dom was suddenly in front of her, but this time she could track his movement. He reached up to put a finger under her chin, but Brett’s low growl warned him off.

  “Okay, man.” Dom held his hands up and out in surrender. “Not touching, honest.”

  She lifted her head to meet his gaze, letting him look into her eyes. His quick intake of breath and the look of surprise that filtered over his features matched Brett’s earlier.

  “Hybrid. Shit.”

  She arched her eyebrow. “Is someone going to explain what a hybrid is and why it’s so bad?”

  “It’s not bad at all,” Fredericks said, moving out of the darkness further down the room. He was alone and bore new wounds. McCoy, or his body, was notably absent. He walked to stand next to Dom and studied her features. “You have a pale circle within the black of your eyes. It’s specific to a person infected with two types of virus. Doesn’t happen often; mostly being infected twice has no effect or kills the subject. If it doesn’t, then a hybrid is created.”

  Dom nodded. “Only ever seen Lycan/Blood crosses, and they’re scary enough. Never seen a SARA/Blood cross.” He nodded to the carnage around the bed. “But I’d say that makes you the scariest of them all.”

  Her lips quirked. “Mirror, mirror and all that.”

  Dom snorted in amusement, but his gaze strayed to Evan. “McCoy?”

  The SARA leader shook his head, irritation sparkling in his eyes. “Fucker got away. Car was there to pick him up. They’re definitely still with the Project.”

  “Still?” Brett moved to her side, tucking her protectively under his arm. Not that she needed the protection, not after what they’d just been through, but the little gesture warmed her heart.

  “So what was this? A backup plan if the base got hit?”

  Fredericks nodded, holding out the laptop he was carrying to Dom. “Looks like it. I managed to get this off McCoy before the cavalry arrived. Given he was hugging it like it was his first-born, I’d say there’s something in there we can use to track them down.”

  Dom took the laptop, turning it over in his big hands and opening it. His expression was serious, professional. “Not a problem. If there’s anything on here, I’ll find it.”

  “Good. I presume Jared already left?” Evan asked quietly.

  “Yes.” This time it was Julia who spoke. “He needed time to look after Kathy. He’ll be back when he’s ready.”

  “Very good. I’m sure he will.” Evan didn’t argue with her, instead looking around their small group. “Well, gentlemen, and lady. How about we get our asses out of here. Places to see, Bloods to track down and all that. Shall we?”

  As they walked out, Julia looked around the room with its gore and sighed in… happiness? No, contentment. This was her world now, and she felt a sense of rightness, of fitting in, that she’d never felt anywhere else. She snuck a glance up at Brett. Her life had definitely not been a fairy-story, but it had been hers and it was unique.

  She’d been kidnapped. Turned into a vampire. Then something else.

  Figured her Prince Charming would be a zombie.

  And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Epilogue

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Brett asked. Ducking down to look out the window of the car, his gaze swept over the large building they’d parked in front of.

  The windows were dark, the only illumination coming from two lights on either side of the front door. The double front doors. It wasn’t a house, it was a frigging mansion. The one her ex had set up home in with his airhead secretary.

  “Oh, yes. Wouldn’t miss this for the world.” She gave Brett a tight smile before sliding from the car.

  The whole mess at the old school was a couple of days behind them. Dom was still working on the laptop, which had turned out to be encrypted. With no information to go on yet, the team had a little downtime, which meant that she could clear up a few loose ends here in Greenwood.

  It wouldn’t take her long to take care of what she needed to. Her footsteps, which would have once rung out against the flagstones, were silent as she approached the house. She wasn’t particularly trying to be stealthy, but now that every movement caused a vibration she could hear, she’d learned quickly to be as silent as possible.

  Her lip curled back from her teeth as she slipped past one of the darkened windows. She didn’t need a torch to spot the opulent furniture within. It was way too garish for her taste. Expensive, yes, but money couldn’t buy class. For Buddy though, money was the answer to everything. Like getting his disappeared wife declared dead within a week of her disappearance. How he’d managed that one, death certificate and all, she had no clue. But thanks to Dom, she’d seen the evidence with her own eyes.

  To Buddy and the town of Greenwood, Julia Collier was dead. Kidnapped, killed and buried somewhere by unknown assailants. An evil grin stretched her lips, and she slipped into the shadows at the side of the house. They thought she was dead. She could work with that.

  The high fence around the corner posed no problem for her. With a light hop, she shifted her center of gravity and climbed gracefully up the wall. She had no idea of the science behind
the changes in her body, or how she could wander up the wall as easily as a path. It all seemed as natural as breathing. Which she had to remember to do half the time now.

  There was a light on in one of the rooms at the back of the house, spilling over into the expansive garden. Julia perched on the corner of the building, hidden in the darkness, and reached out with her senses. Someone was moving around in the room on the other side of the wall. Someone male, and drunk by the sounds of the muttering.

  She scooted backwards, to a dark window, and with a few swift movements took it off the latch and slid inside. The scents of a recent shower and the citrus shower gel Buddy preferred wrapped around her like a blanket. She wrinkled her nose. Once that smell would have reminded her of home. Now it just clung inside her nostrils and irritated her.

  “Fucking bitch spending again.”

  She followed the sound of complaint and leaned in the doorway. Buddy, resplendent in a silk dressing gown, monogrammed of course, and matching PJ pants, sat behind his desk, glaring at what appeared to be a statement.

  “Four hundred dollars for a bag. What? Does the bitch think I’m made of money?” He slammed the now-empty whiskey glass down on the desk. Julia hid her wince as the sound assaulted her eardrums.

  “Hello, Buddy.”

  At the sound of her voice, his head whipped up. The face she’d once found handsome was slack-jawed in surprise. He blinked and snapped his mouth shut.

  “Julia? B... but you’re supposed to be dead.”

  She smiled, revealing her fangs.

  “Sorry, Buddy.… Not dead enough.”

  The End

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  About the Author

  Mina Carter is a USA Today bestselling author of romance in many genres. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and a bossy cat.

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  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2920063.Mina_Carter