On the Prowl by Kate Rudolph

20

The band was supposedto be on her bus all the way until the hotel, but Em banished them to the other bus and led Andre all the way back to the largest bunk, sitting him down with a firm press on his uninjured shoulder.

"Stay here," she commanded. She didn't want questions about how he was injured or what had happened. Her mind was whirling with thoughts that the beast had chased them out of the last city, and she only hoped it didn't attack anyone else on her crew. It shouldn't. It hadn't hurt anyone but Andre so far, and she suspected it was only because Andre had fought it.

Why had it gone straight through her? How?

Her hands were shaking as she pulled out her phone and texted Melinda that she would be on the bus alone with Andre and everyone else needed to be on the second bus. That would be a tight fit, but Em refused to feel guilty about it. It would be much worse if someone saw her alone.

There was a pounding on the door, and for a crazy second Em wished that the bus driver would ignore it, but he answered, and she could hear the murmur of voices. Was that Vi? The closer she listened, the more sure she was.

"Jerry wanted me to come get his cell phone, he says he left it here," Vi told the bus driver.

The bus driver’s voice was muffled, but a moment later Em heard steps coming down the hallway. She shrank back into the shadow of the small bathroom where she could mostly watch Vi without risk of being seen. True to her word, Vi reached into the cushions of the seat that Jerry had been sitting on and grabbed a cell phone that had fallen by the wayside. She stuck it into her pocket and turned right back around to leave. And it wasn't long after that that the bus door closed and they started up, heading toward their hotel.

Em grabbed the first aid kit and headed back to the bunk. Andre had taken off his shirt and there was a trail of blood leading down his shoulder to his chest.

But it wasn't as bad as it should have been. Already most of the blood had stopped seeping out of the wound.

Werewolf healing was no joke.

"I'm all right," Andre assured her. He held out a hand for the first aid kit.

But just like the night before, Em felt compelled to help him. That thing had hurt him while trying to come for her. She was responsible for this. She wiped some of the blood away, revealing his newly healed skin, and then she threw away the gauze bandage that she’d used. There was nothing more for her to do.

She was useless when it came to dealing with the shadow beast.

"It wasn't just a crazed fan." She was starting to shake hard as the reality of the situation washed over her. She’d really hoped that they had left their problems behind at the last venue. That was the first place the monster had manifested. But apparently not the last. And there weren't any fans traveling with them.

Well, maybe there was a fan or two at the truck stop, but she didn't think anyone had followed their buses all this way.

"It's a crew member, isn't it?" She looked up at Andre, begging him with her eyes to tell her otherwise.

And Andre's gaze was soft, sympathetic. "That's likely," he confirmed.

She hunched in on herself as if struck. She couldn't exactly call the crew her friends, but they were good people. They seemed to get along. Why would any of them want to hurt her?

Is that what they wanted to do?

"It went right through me." She didn't seem to have much control over what she was saying. Words were just coming out. "It was like a ghost."

"What did it feel like?" he asked.

Em shivered at the memory. "Like static electricity. All my hair stood up on end. I didn't like it."

He reached out an arm and put it around her, tugging her into a hug. Em surrendered to it. She needed contact. Safety. And Andre was the only one who understood what was really going on. He was the only one who had any chance of protecting her at this moment.

"How do we stop it?" she asked. She didn't want any of the crew or her staff getting hurt. For now the beast was fixated on her, but there was no guarantee that it would stay that way forever. What if it turned on them? She knew the damage those claws could do. She had seen it on her clothes, and her bed, and Andre's skin. She shuddered. A human wouldn't be able to heal from that.

"We find out who's controlling it, or what," Andre said with more confidence that he could possibly be feeling. "Then we go from there."

"You think someone’s controlling it?" She’d figured someone had conjured it, but control was a whole other level.

"They must be, right?"

That thought sat uncomfortably in her mind. "Do you think it was really lightning out there?" he asked.

"Lightning?" Her mind was scrambled and reeling, and she had no clue what he was talking about.

"There was a bright flash before it went away."

Em had no idea. She was so far out of her depth she felt like she was free falling. She just wanted this to be over. She didn't want monsters or ghosts or magic interfering with her life.

Slowly some of the fear started to fade away as she sank into Andre's embrace. He propped himself up against a wall, and it was more comfortable sitting against him than it was sitting on the couch. And after several minutes, she found her fingers wandering. He hadn't bothered to put a shirt back on, so she could feel the glorious expanse of naked skin under her fingers.

As she traced the edges of his muscles, Andre let out a contented hum. This wasn't like the night before. He didn't seem eager to get away from her. In fact, he shifted even closer.

She still wanted him. Nothing about the desire had abated since he had appeared. And maybe it should have frightened her, but of all the things that were frightening her now, Andre wasn't one of them.

"Will you let me kiss you this time?" she asked. Maybe he needed a different, gentler, approach. She never would've guessed it of him, but given the way he sucked in a ragged breath, this was what he needed.

"You don't know what you're doing to me," he warned.

"You don't think I feel the same?" It was crazy. Primal. But she no longer wanted to resist.

Andre pulled her close and covered her mouth with his own. The angle was awkward, and Em shifted around until she found herself straddling his legs again and letting him devour her.

The kiss was just as fervent as it had been the night before, but now she knew the difference. Now she had Andre's eager participation. The way he kissed her was almost frightening. But she wasn't going to let go.

Now she had a taste of him. A real, willing taste. And no matter what happened next, she wasn't letting him get away.