Taken at Dusk by C C Hunter, now you can read online.
Chapter One
They were here. Really here.
Kylie Galen stepped out of the crowded dining hall into the bright sunlight. She looked over at the Shadow Falls office. Gone was the chatter of the other campers. Birds chirped in the distance and a rush of wind rustled the trees. Mostly she heard the sound of her own heart thudding in her chest.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
They were here.
Her pulse raced at the thought of meeting the Brightens, the couple who had adopted and raised her real father. A father she'd never known in life but had grown to love in his short visits from the afterlife.
She took one step and then another, unsure of the emotional storm brewing inside her.
Excitement.
Curiosity.
Fear. Yes, a lot of fear.
But of what?
A drip of sweat, more from nerves than Texas's mid-August heat index, rolled down her brow.
Go and uncover your past so you may discover your destiny. The death angels' mystical words replayed in her head. She took another step forward, then stopped. Even as her heart ached to solve the mystery of who her father was-of who she was and, hopefully, what she was-her instincts screamed for her to run and hide.
Was this what she feared? Learning the truth?
Before coming to Shadow Falls a few months ago, she'd been certain she was just a confused teen, that her feelings of being different were normal. Now she knew better.
She wasn't normal.
She wasn't even human. At least not all human.
And figuring out her nonhuman side was a puzzle.
A puzzle the Brightens could help her solve.
She took another step. The wind, as if it were as eager to escape as she was, whisked past. It picked up a few wayward strands of her blond hair and scattered them across her face.
She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, the brightness of the sun had evaporated. Glancing up, she saw a huge, angry-looking cloud hanging directly overhead. It cast a shadow around her and the woodsy terrain. Unsure if this was an omen or just a summer storm, she froze, her heart dancing faster. Taking a deep breath that smelled of rain, she was poised to move when a hand clasped her elbow. Memories of another hand grabbing her sent panic shooting through her veins.
She swung around.
"Whoa. You okay?" Lucas lightened his clasp around her arm.
Kylie caught her breath and stared up at the werewolf's blue eyes. "Yeah. You just ... surprised me. You always surprise me. You need to whistle when you come up on me." She shoved down the memories of Mario and his rogue vampire grandson, Red.
"Sorry." He grinned and his thumb moved in soft little circles over the crease in her elbow. Somehow that light brush of his thumb felt ... intimate. How did he make a simple touch feel like a sweet sin? A gust of wind, now smelling like a storm, stirred his black hair and tossed it over his brow.
He continued to stare at her, his blue eyes warming her and chasing away her darkest fears. "You don't look okay. What's wrong?" He reached up and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her right ear.
She looked away from him to the cabin that housed the office. "My grandparents ... the adopted parents of my real dad are here."
He must have picked up on her reluctance to be here. "I thought you wanted to meet them. That's why you asked them to come, right?"
"I do. I'm just..."
"Scared?" he finished for her.