Read Tempt (Ava Delaney #3) for Free Online Page A

after blood, any blood. She’s not picky. She drinks
from as many people as she can, night after night. It’s all she
wants. There’s no talking, no persuading, no hesitating. She’s all
about the blood, all of the time.”
    “ So, she’s stocking up?”
    He
pulled over and turned in his seat. “Stocking up?”
    “ You know, for hibernation. Or another mutation.” She touched
the cross Peter had given her with a thoughtful look on her
face.
    “ Wait. What now?” I interrupted.
    Esther
looked back at me. “Blood’s her only food source, and it’s coming
up on summer. Hibernation time for the nightwalkers.”
    I
glanced at Peter for confirmation.
    He
shrugged. “Back in the day, vampires buried themselves in the dirt
during the summer months, after overdosing on blood for weeks.
Maybe some vampires still hibernate, but most just go abroad during
the summer months. The rest stay put and deal with the shorter
night hours, especially because they would have to officially apply
to the Council to up their quota pre-hibernation.”
    “ How did I not know this? Wait, you said mutation as well.”
    Esther
nodded. “She’s already mutated once. Maybe she’s due for another.
Some kinds of shifters need to drink blood before they change, but
they’re the type who stay in their animal forms for a couple of
days at a time. Not quite the same.”
    Something in her voice triggered my suspicion. “You know
something I don’t, Esther?”
    Her face
remained blank as she shook her head. I didn’t believe her, and I
definitely didn’t trust the Council. Thoughts of what had happened
to the leftover formula and the human candidate who had been
arrested still bugged me.
    Peter
cleared his throat. “We’re close to the last place she was spotted.
Ava can work her magic and figure out where to go from there. And
Esther, don’t get in Ava’s way.”
    Esther
looked as surprised as I felt, but she nodded. I half-expected her
to ask about working magic, but she kept quiet. The focus on her
face was a far cry from the giddy girly persona she gave off most
of the time. Maybe I had underestimated her, too.
    We all
got out of the car and stood in a circle, their eyes directly on
me. The air was taut with tension and filled with the nauseating
scent of anticipation. Trying to ignore them, I focused on seeing
that other plane. My skin tingled… but nothing happened.
    Esther
hovering there made me more nervous than usual. Tracking Becca
while people watched always felt awkward. They seemed to expect
fireworks and flying unicorns, not me staring into
space.
    I tried
again.
    Nothing.
    “ What’s taking so long?” Esther blurted.
    I glared
at her. “Just wait in the car.”
    Peter
led a reluctant Esther back to the car. I sighed heavily as soon as
I heard the car doors close. Their expectations crippled me, and
Esther’s excitement was stifling. How was I supposed to relax when
everyone else’s emotions ramped up my own? Eddie had mentioned
finding another empath to help me control it, but being out of
control was almost preferable to asking him for a
favour.
    I took a
minute to calm down. I seemed to need to do that more often lately.
Pretty much everything about me was frayed, unravelling. That made
me think about the ‘not yet matured’ bull. A conversation with Carl
about the things he had learned with his research might have been
overdue. I had already wasted too much time in the dark.
    Sniffing
the air, I tried to make out Becca’s scent on the wind. For weeks,
I had regularly woken with that scent under my nose, so obsessed
with it had I been. Tracking her was hard because she literally
vanished during the day. We were left with me chasing her scent at
night and hoping she would come into the scope of my senses in
order to see her essence. Not exactly convenient.
    Before
long, I resigned myself to the fact I wasn’t going to find a fresh
trail. Obviously, Becca had already moved on to another
spot.
    The
problem with