Happy #TeaserTuesday!!
We have three more of these left before Frost (Midnight Ice Book One) goes on sale on Jan 26th, so I'm going to reveal one chapter a week until that date :) Hopefully this ramps up the excitement, because I need you all to GET ON MY LEVEL!! I CANNOT wait for you guys to fall in love with Pandora and I am seriously so freaking excited for this book to publish!
Here's a little book description refresher before you dive in...
Even the hottest love can turn a girl cold-blooded...
Life's tough for a vampire thief on the run--just ask Pandora Scott, she knows. Four years ago she ran away from home after everyone she loved betrayed her. But now her annoyingly grown up (and handsome) ex boyfriend is stalking her, begging her to return. A mysterious vamp with a particularly dangerous (and sexy) stare keeps popping unexpectedly into her life. The extremely powerful head vampire of New York is hunting her down because she may or may not have broken into his highly-secure, highly-secretive personal vault. And the fate she's been trying to outrun? Well, it's about to catch up. Because even a super-speedy vamp with the ability to disappear can't escape her own destiny.
Available for pre-order now :)
And...
Without further ado...
Check out the first chapter!!
~~~
Frost
(Midnight Ice Book One)
Chapter One
When
Pandora Scott woke on the morning of her twentieth birthday, she knew there’d
be no cake, no flickering candles waiting to be blown out with a wish, no
presents to rip open, no friendly voices teasing her in song, no cards waiting
in the mail slot downstairs.
Because
Pandora Scott didn’t have friends.
She
didn’t have family.
And even
though she was immortal, she didn’t have time for birthdays.
There
would, however, be other things she liked. Blood. Threats. Danger. And lots and
lots of money. An entire bathtub full. So much she could wipe her butt with the
stuff without giving a damn. Not that she’d keep it all, but…
The alarm
on her nightstand started beeping.
“I’m up,
I’m up,” she grumbled, speaking to herself as she slapped her hand down on the
plastic clock, annoyed to be pulled from such a glorious train of thought—on
her birthday, no less! But in her haste, she smashed the thing completely to
pieces.
Somehow,
the broken bits kept beeping.
“Oh, come
on.” She groaned, fangs sliding out with her frustration. After forming a fist,
she pounded the alarm to dust and then rolled over, opening her eyes just
enough to take in the world outside her window.
Two
months in New York, and it was the eighth clock she’d smashed.
This city
was definitely getting to her.
And yet…
Pandora
smiled, hand still covered in plastic shards as she closed her eyes, blissfully
listening to the hustle and bustle taking place outside. New York was loud and
busy, especially for a person with supernaturally enhanced hearing. Cars honked
every second of the day. Pigeons squawked. People spoke nonstop—in their
apartments, in restaurants, walking down the street. There was no peace and no
quiet, but Pandora loved it. Because there was so much room to pretend, so many
lives to lose herself in, so many places a girl could go to forget.
The
enclave had been different.
Isolated.
Highly
secure.
Inescapable.
She’d
grown up in the middle of the woods, far off the main roads, tucked in a valley
in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. But the enclave had needed to be hidden
to keep her people concealed from normal human life, to keep their secrets
safe. The ancient Greeks had first called them titans. The original gods. The
creators of all things.
They
weren't. Not even close. But the name had stuck.
Titans.
In the
ancient times, they'd wanted to be treated as gods among men. Almost every
culture referenced them in some way. The Greek god Zeus. The Aztec god
Camaxtli. The Roman goddess Minerva. The Celtic god Alator. The Egyptian god
Seth. The list went on. They had once been the kings and queens of wars and
hunts, of strength and immortality, of power. And they'd let themselves fade
into myth, into legend. Because they were never meant to be gods or celebrities
or saints. Thousands of years ago, they'd been given power beyond belief for
one purpose and one purpose alone—to protect mankind from the evils it didn't
even know existed.
Werefolk.
Witches.
Demons.
Fae.
And a
hundred other supernaturals whispered about in storybooks.
Pandora
had been born to protect mankind, raised to use her power for good, bred to
join the Order of Othrys—the titan police force that kept the peace all across
the globe, in every continent, every country. Not all supernaturals were evil,
but as the saying went, when they were good, they were very, very good, and when
they were bad, they were horrid. If any creature anywhere stepped out of line,
threatening people's safety, they'd face a titan soon enough. And they'd lose.
But I’m not a titan, not anymore, Pandora corrected with a frown, sliding her
tongue over the sharp canines that extended past her lip, hungry for the only
thing her body now craved—blood. She hadn’t been one of them for a long time.
Four
years ago, she’d left the enclave—she’d run away, not sparing even a second to
glance behind, because she’d never fit with the titans anyway. The Order of
Othrys was divided into twelve segments of power. There were trackers, hunters,
bolters, and other groups tasked with capturing any misbehaving supernaturals.
There were mindbenders and readers, groups responsible for making sure the
supernatural world remained totally secret and separate from the human realm.
There were others, like the alchemists, who could manipulate the natural world,
or the archivists, who could pass memories between generations to keep titan
secrets safe. And then, there was Pandora.
She’d
never belonged.
Her
powers had never fit into any titan category. And because they couldn’t make
her fit, they’d turned their backs on her instead—they’d abandoned her long
before she’d ever abandoned them. So when she turned sixteen, the official age
a titan was supposed to be initiated into the Order of Othrys, she’d done the
only thing she could—one final act of rebellion against a people who’d never
wanted her anyway. She became one of the very things that titans protected human
beings against.
A
vampire.
Let’s not think about home, she urged silently, blinking away her dark
thoughts, fighting to clear her mind. Only
happy things on my birthday, like the informant I’m about to meet, the money
I’m about to make, all the people I’m about to piss off. Happy, happy things.
With a
deep breath, she stood up, shaking her head, clearing it of all things from her
life before. This was her life now. And in this life no one cared that today
was her twentieth birthday, no one cared about her sob story, no one cared
about excuses. They cared about punctuality and results, which meant she had
somewhere she needed to be.
Because
Pandora wasn't just a vampire.
She was a
vampire thief.
A very
good, very in-demand, very infamous vampire thief… At least, she liked to think
so. And there was someone she was late to meet, someone who was paying her
quite a lot of money to do what she did best—piss a really powerful vampire
off.
Who would
she be pissing off this time?
Multiple
vamps, most likely. She'd only been in New York for about two months, but the
list of people who wanted to murder her was already pretty long. Not that it
mattered, of course. Plenty of people wanted her dead.
That's just what happens when you break into the
Oval Office, steal a painting from the president, and leave an IOU on his
personal stationery for the Secret Service to find.
Pandora
grinned as she pulled a white cotton T-shirt from where it had been hanging on
her bedpost and slid it over her slim ivory shoulders.
Worth it.
And it
had been.
Because
she'd stolen that painting for the head vampire of Washington, DC, in return for
protection against the head vampire of Los Angeles, who, well, wanted to kill
her for sneaking into his dungeons and freeing a handful of his prisoners. That
particular job had been pro bono, of course. Pandora had been following the LA jerk
for a few days, working on a different paid job to steal some ancient something
or other from his vault. But when she saw him corner a poor twelve-year-old
girl, feed on her, and put her in chains, she'd decided to ditch the paying gig
and focus on payback instead. Naturally.
Such an ass, Pandora sneered inwardly, annoyed by even the memory of that slimy vamp.
The poor girl had been lost and alone, without anyone to take care of her,
probably just another runaway like Pandora had once been, trying to survive in
an unforgiving world. Yeah, freeing her and everyone else in that prison had
felt good. And stealing from that vamp, taking him down a notch? That had felt
even better.
Of
course, when she saw the head vampire of DC do nearly the same thing to another
lonely soul, she couldn’t help but act accordingly.
Now, both
of them wanted to kill her.
Like
she'd said—long list.
And,
well, it was only a matter of time before the head vampire of New York,
Tatsuya, was added to it. Because two months in his city? That was more than
enough time to piss him off. And the job she was working on today? On the
outside, it was about stealing a very valuable sword from his private
collection. But to Pandora, it was about sizing up the competition. Because
just like the head vamp of LA and the head vamp of DC and every freaking head
vamp in the entire damn world, Tatsuya had a dungeon full of forgotten prisoners
somewhere in this city. And Pandora was determined to set each and every one of
those innocent people free, to make sure they understood that there was at
least one person who hadn’t abandoned them.
Word on
the street was that Tatsuya’s high lords were already discussing a coup, saying
he was losing his touch, and the time was right to strike. The fact that she'd
stolen some pretty jaw-dropping precious gems from one of Tatsuya's personal
vaults probably wasn't helping, but she'd needed to test run his security and,
well, announce her arrival to the city. Besides, pawning off her cut—a hefty
diamond bracelet—had been more than enough to pay for her rent indefinitely.
And, come on, New York was expensive—and that wasn’t even including tuition.
She’d been looking into maybe taking a few classes at NYU. If, of course, she
managed to stay alive for an entire semester.
Not easy.
But I do play the part of a college student well, she thought, looking into the mirror as she
tugged an NYU sweatshirt over her head and threw on a pair of grungy jeans. The
school year didn’t officially start until next week, but she already had a set
of colorful pens and two blank notebooks stuffed into a messenger bag in her
closet—just in case.
It was a
pipe dream, obviously.
She’d had
the same set of pens and notebooks for two years, and they were still blank,
still unused. A life on the run wasn’t exactly conducive to higher education
or, well, normalcy. Not that her life had ever been normal, with the titans and
the enclave and the secret society...
Ugh. Freaking birthdays, she chided, shaking her head, clearing it of all
thoughts of home. Three hundred and sixty-four days out of the year, she could
pretend everything was all right. But her birthday was the one day when all
those darn memories tried to revolt. Which was exactly why she’d planned the
meeting with her informant for this morning—she needed a distraction, fast.
And yet,
when she opened the closet to pull out a pair of Converse sneakers, completing
the stereotypical college ensemble and removing all inklings of her true
vampire self, the absolute last thing she needed at that moment happened. A
distraction, all right, but the worst one possible.
A picture
tumbled out with the shoes.
A picture
she’d tried many times to burn but always ended up shoving in the back of her
closet instead. Because even though she hadn’t seen him in four years and never
planned to see him again, she couldn’t destroy the last little bit of him she
had left.
Jax.
Jackson
Rodriguez.
Her best
friend. The only boy she'd ever loved.
The one
who’d hurt her the most.
I wonder what he looks like now, she thought, unable to pull her gaze away from
the photo resting upside down on the floor. Even from this angle, his seafoam
eyes jumped out of the frame, capturing her gaze, not letting go. And that
smile, the one that used to make her melt, it still made her cold, dead vampire
body warm just a little. He’d been scrawny and tall, long limbs with scraps of
muscles, a boy still growing into a man. But a lot could change in four years.
Against
her better judgment, Pandora kneeled down and scooped the photo off the floor.
Gently, she ran her fingers over the glass, still able to recall the smooth
touch of his skin, hot and simmering with vibrant energy, so electric his mere
presence made her nerves tingle to life. But that was how he’d always made her
feel—alive, seen, noticed in a way she’d never been before.
Pandora
had been a shy, meek little girl without any friends, but what else was to be
expected with strange powers that didn’t fit, a mother who’d killed herself,
and a father who treated her as less than dirt, focused only on work, only on
the titan mission, instead of on raising a child. During the summer of her
eighth birthday, Jax and his family had moved to the enclave, and the first
night they met was still burned into her brain—a single, brief moment in time
that changed everything.
Jax was
playing guitar in his bedroom, softly plucking at strings, searching for notes
he didn’t yet understand. And she'd turned her lights off to stare at him under
cover of darkness, nose pressed against her bedroom window, mesmerized by the
way his fingers moved. After half an hour, he put the instrument down gently.
She'd thought he was going to bed, but instead, he reached over to his window
and slid it open. Pandora had dropped to the ground, heart skipping wildly in
her chest, cursing herself for not going invisible when she'd had the chance—that
was her power, of course. The irony of ironies, her gift was knowing how to
disappear. And normally, she was very good at it. But not that night.
"I
know you're there," Jax had said into the empty space between their
houses. "I'm a tracker. I can sense you."
She'd
lifted her head just enough to look across the short space between their
windows, meeting his saltwater eyes. And even though she'd heard people say
there was no such thing as love at first sight, she felt her soul find a match
in the depth of his irises. Even at eight, barely a girl, let alone a woman,
she’d fallen for the boy next door. Hard.
"What's
your name?" he'd asked. "I'm Jax."
She slid
her window open a little farther, hesitant and scared, nervous as always.
"Pandora," she murmured.
But he
heard, and he smiled, nodding as though he enjoyed the sound of it. “So, you
know I’m a tracker. Which of the twelve are you?"
Her
breath had caught, because in their world, that question was as normal as
breathing but her answer wasn’t. Everyone in the enclave fit into one of the
twelve sections of the Order of Othrys, everyone except for her.
"I
don't know," she'd whispered, shrugging self-consciously.
But
instead of rejecting her like everyone else, instead of shying away from her
otherness, Jax leaned forward. His bright eyes widened. "Really? I thought
everyone knew. What can you do?"
“Um.” She
paused, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth, not wanting to ruin the moment.
Her throat had been so clogged, so tight she couldn’t speak. So instead, she
showed him—she disappeared. To Pandora, not much had changed, but Jax’s jaw
dropped open, and his eyes popped wide as he stared at what he saw as
completely empty space. Instantly too nervous to focus, Pandora lost her hold
on her invisibility. She dropped her gaze to the floor, too afraid to gauge his
reaction.
But Jax
hadn’t responded with fear the way everyone else in her life had, nor disgust,
nor totally weirded out silence. He hadn’t backed away or closed his window or
been told by an adult to leave her alone. The second she reappeared, he’d leaned
closer and said this, “That is so cool!”
“Really?”
Pandora asked, eyes flicking up as she smiled for the barest moment.
“Just
think of all the trouble we can get into,” he’d said, hardly noticing her tepid
response. “You’ll never get caught. Dory—oh, can I call you Dory?” Pandora
nodded eagerly. A nickname! “Well, Dory, I think this is the beginning of a
beautiful friendship. Don’t you?”
One
word—friendship.
One
moment.
But it
had been everything.
Because
it was the first moment she'd ever felt even an ounce of belonging.
The
moment he'd become her best friend.
So
sudden.
So
undeniable.
Until
everything changed the summer he turned sixteen.
The summer I decided to stay fifteen forever.
Pandora
grimaced, shoving the picture frame back into the farthest corner of her closet,
where it had been hidden.
Freaking Jax!
Freaking birthday!
But
really, she only had herself to blame. And when she stood up, Pandora paused,
eyes caught by the sight of her own reflection. Same blonde hair. Same long
legs. Same youthful expression. Not a thing about her appearance had changed.
That was
part of the deal, after all.
Eternal
youth.
But other
things were unrecognizable. Her spirit, for one. Her attitude, for another. Pandora
had once been a meek, soft-spoken girl, one who ached to please, who wanted
nothing more than to belong, who would have given anything to feel loved.
But that
girl was gone.
She'd died
four years ago.
And she
was never coming back.
Good riddance, Pandora thought, tearing herself away from the mirror. It was almost
noon. And she had somewhere she needed to be—meeting with the vampire who was
paying her a lot of money to steal from Tatsuya, getting back to her real life
and all the concrete plans she’d made.
Not
giving herself another second to think, Pandora crossed the small space of her
studio apartment and flung open the door. She stepped outside before closing it
resolutely behind her. The hallway was empty, so she took the opportunity to do
her favorite thing—disappear.
Taking a
deep breath, Pandora called on the shadows. The world around her dimmed as she
pulled the darkness closer, fading away from the light, as though she was looking
through a black veil, slipping into a void. She had been able to retreat into
the shadows, to vanish from sight, for as long as she could remember. And
becoming a vampire hadn’t taken the power away—it had enhanced it. Because now,
she was faster, quieter, and far more lethal.
And in
her own little private sanctuary, Pandora was more than ready to leave the
world behind. Surrounded in the shadows, protected by them, she was finally
able to shrug off the memories and give in to the present, finally able to
forget her birthday and focus on the task at hand.
Glancing
toward the camera in the corner of the hall, Pandora smirked, noting the red
light was still dark. In an effort to keep the existence of vampires and all
things supernatural a secret from her human neighbors, she’d dealt with the
security in her building a while ago. And luckily for her, the apartment manager
was too cheap to replace all the cameras she’d destroyed. The only footage he'd
ever caught of her speed was video of the front door opening and closing on its
own. But she was always out so fast it looked like little more than a strong
breeze and an insecure lock.
Today
would be no different.
In a
flash, Pandora launched into hyperspeed, racing down the emergency steps and
out the front door, grinning wildly. After a deep breath of late summer air,
she let the vampire take over. A wave of adrenaline pumped through her body,
the high of invincibility and freedom. Running in New York felt like a video
game—jump this way, dodge those pedestrians, leap over that illegally turning
taxicab. Every second amped her up. Every moment brought an exalted glow to her
eyes, sending her energy into overdrive. By the time she arrived at the Central
Park Zoo, her skin was practically buzzing.
I'm in the zone, she thought, slowing her racing steps, returning
to a normal speed.
But when
she stepped through the front gate of the zoo, her gaze fell on the sea lion
exhibit, and all reason for being there fell away. Pandora shifted through
pedestrians, giving herself one little birthday present, one little moment of
joy. The tank was in the public portion of the zoo, right at the front and
extremely crowded, but she found a free spot to rest her forearms against the
rail. Leaning over, she watched as a sea lion zipped by beneath the water. It
surfaced for a moment before diving like a torpedo back into the blue. Another
one chased behind, playing a game of tag, curving and swerving its pliable
body, leaping over the rock bridge the zookeepers used for feedings to follow
its friend around the tank.
Pandora
smiled, laughing softly to herself as she watched. And then she stiffened,
frowning as she shook her head. A vampire
who likes animals? With a sigh, she pushed herself off the rail, standing
tall. I’m pathetic.
Why had
she chosen the Central Park Zoo as the meeting point? It'd been months since
she'd let herself come to one of these places, let herself reminisce about old
dreams that had no hope of ever coming true. Animals used to calm her, used to
intrigue her. Back when she thought escaping the supernatural web of her life
was possible, she'd dreamed of becoming a vet—and not just for dogs and cats,
but for all sorts of exotic animals too. That's why she was always signing up
for classes, trying to enroll in a university. That’s why a bag of untouched
pens and notebooks sat idle in her closet. That little spark of hope that some
dreams were still within grasp was hard to snuff.
Really,
really hard.
But her
life was vampires and heists and danger. She’d come too far to turn back now,
run too far and too fast to ever stop. Besides, there were people depending on
her, people the rest of the world had forgotten.
And she
had to remember that.
Pandora
slid her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the time. Almost noon. She'd
wasted too many precious minutes. Now she'd have to rush. Her contact for the
job was probably already at the meeting spot, waiting for her.
Still
wrapped in the shadows, completely out of sight, she wove through the crowd,
making her way to the building where they housed the tropical animals. When she
pushed the door open, the air temperature rose about ten degrees, and the
humidity stuck to her skin. Of course, the added heat did nothing to warm her.
The chill she lived with was bone deep—the icy grasp of living death.
Glancing
to the side, Pandora saw a mother with a stroller. Her toddler was running
ahead with his gaze focused on a tank in the distance. The little boy pressed
his forehead against the glass, eyes going wide, inhaling sharply. His heart
sped faster, blood pumping, the inherent reaction of excitement and fear
intermixing.
A snake, it's got to be a snake, she thought, trying to distract herself.
But
against her will, Pandora's stomach tightened as her teeth pressed to the surface,
aching for a bite. Innocent blood always smelled better for some reason, but in
all her time as a vampire, she'd never lost control enough to bite a child. The
very idea repulsed her.
Hovering
just inside the entrance, she listened for more steps, more heartbeats. There
were none. There was, however, the stench of stolen blood wafting in from the
other end of the hall where it bent to the right, disappearing around a corner.
Her mark, it had to be, and luckily, the rest of the exhibit was empty.
Glancing
at the family one more time, Pandora stepped purposefully forward. She was
careful not to breathe in the scent of the sleeping baby as she walked past the
stroller, not even sparing a glance at the still-awestruck little boy.
Hopefully, she'd be out before they'd even moved on to the next tank.
She
rounded the corner, pausing briefly to take in the vampire waiting by the bat
cage at the far side of the room—exactly where she'd told him to be.
A little
ironic, sure.
But even
vampires had a sense of humor.
Well,
some anyway.
Pandora
stepped behind him, still hidden in her own private world, cloaked by the
darkness. And then she reached her hand up, clasping his neck, so her very
sharp fingernails pressed into his supernaturally tough skin, deep enough to
nearly draw blood, but not quite.
He didn't
even flinch.
He did,
however, swallow very slowly.
Pandora
grinned, not releasing her grip, holding steady. Vampires only spoke one
language—power. And right now, she had it.
"Do
you have what I asked for?" she whispered, changing the sound of her voice
so he wouldn’t recognize it in the future.
The vamp
slid a bag off his shoulder and handed it back to her without attempting to
turn around. "One third of the payment, as you asked. It’s all there in
cash, and the rest will be delivered when we receive the item you were hired to
procure—the katana sword from
Tatsuya’s private collection. My employer is very eager to see the deal
done."
"So
am I," she said with a growl, fusing ice and iron into her voice. Rumor
was, the sword was being auctioned off at Tatsuya’s charity ball tomorrow
night, and Pandora was more than ready to finally come face-to-face with the
head vamp, to finally stare into his evil eyes and know he wouldn’t be so cocky
for too much longer. “If everything goes according to plan, I’ll have the sword
for you by tomorrow night. Meet me here on Sunday, same time, same rules. Only
one vamp, and if I smell any hint of backup, the sword and I will be gone
before you have time to blink.”
The vamp
twisted his head an inch to the side. She dug her fingers into his throat even
deeper, this time drawing a thin line of blood. The only things tough enough to
break through vampire skin were the teeth or nails of another vamp—and she
intended to make sure he understood exactly what she was. And that she wasn’t
playing around.
He
stopped trying to peek over his shoulder. "Is there anything else you
require?"
"Yeah,"
she retorted. "Get out of here fast, and don't stop running until you're a
mile away. Because if I see you lingering around outside, trying to figure out
who I am, you and your employer will find out just how sharp my nails really
are."
Pandora
released the vamp and shoved him away.
But he
was bigger, stronger, most likely a lot older than her four years of being
undead. He didn't go very far. Half a second later he spun, hissing, revealing
sharp fangs and hungry blue eyes. Vampires didn’t really like being
threatened…which was probably why she did it so often. But come on, she
couldn't help herself.
Even now,
Pandora grinned instead of cringing in fear. If he could see her, maybe she'd
be worried. Probably not, but maybe. Now? She couldn't help but laugh silently
to herself as he retracted his teeth. His eyes flashed with annoyance as they
took in nothing but open space and empty air. He tilted his head, stretching
out with his senses, trying to locate her, but the effort was futile. When she
was wrapped in the shadows, there wasn't a single thing about her he could
trace. So, she stepped brazenly closer, leaned in, and whispered a single word
into his ear.
"Go."
His arm
snapped out faster than lightning, but Pandora expected it, ducking easily
under his bicep and skipping away. He searched the space one more time,
frustration mounting. But the creak of a wheel distracted him. The family was
turning the corner, entering the second half of the exhibit. And the vampire
finally heeded Pandora's advice. It was time to go.
He walked
calmly out the door at the end of the hall. Pandora listened to his footsteps
disappear as he transferred to hyperspeed the second he was outside, running as
far away as she had told him to. Hopefully farther.
She
glanced at the little boy one more time. He was tugging on his mother's hand,
urging her to push the stroller faster, smiling freely, practically hopping up
and down with so much eagerness to see more and to see it faster.
Have I ever looked so carefree?
Once,
maybe, with Jax.
But that
was a long time ago—a time she would never get back.
Pandora
fled the memories and the family, sneaking through the door, not releasing the
shadows until she was huddled in a bathroom stall behind a locked door.
Immediately, she reached into the bag the vamp had dropped at her feet. She'd
smelled the money well enough to know it was there—cotton fibers mixed with
ink, crisp and fresh. She'd expected it was newly printed and pristine, but
when she zipped open the bag, her throat still stuck. Staring at over three
hundred thousand dollars in bills was a little overwhelming, after all—even for
the most experienced vampire thief.
Pandora
brushed her fingers over the tightly packed stacks. If she'd had a heartbeat,
it would be pounding. Instead, all she felt was hungry, euphoric, and in need
of blood. But she swallowed the feeling down, fighting the high as she lifted a
wad of hundred-dollar bills and fanned herself with it, smirking.
All about the Benjamins, baby, she thought, grinning.
Hey, she
might be a vampire, but she was still a child of the new millennium. So she
couldn't help but laugh a little as the image of tossing a wad of cash into the
air filtered into her mind.
Make it rain!
Except,
she was in a dirty New York bathroom, and to be honest, her super-strong
vampire senses weren't doing her any favors in here.
So gross.
Refocusing,
Pandora counted the money, then grabbed one hundred thousand for herself before
opening her backpack to reveal the donation envelopes she'd stolen from the
front entrance of the zoo a few days ago. Taking each stack one by one, she
stuffed the envelopes and wrote anonymous
across the form. Maybe she'd keep a little more of the next payment, but for
now, her cold, dead heart was thinking of the sea lions in their inescapable tank,
forever circling without anywhere to go, and she thought they needed it more.
Before
she could change her mind, she lifted her hood and slinked her backpack over
one shoulder, then rushed back to the fresh air. A few minutes later, she was
standing at the donation drop box, filling it with envelopes, smiling a little
more each time she heard one fall like a brick to the bottom.
She
should have smelled him.
She
should have felt his presence.
But she
was too wrapped up in her own pride to notice.
"Becoming
a vampire seems to be a pretty lucrative decision these days," a deep voice
purred the second the final envelope slipped through her fingers.
Pandora
froze, body jerking upright.
Jax
was here.
~~~
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter :) Check out chapter two here!
And in the meantime, Frost is available for pre-order!
YAY!!
