Raven's Hell - Jenika Snow Page 0,11

of its prison of metal. She brought the knife up and plunged it right in the woman’s eye.

The body immediately slumped forward, and she scrambled back, trying to get away from the stench of death that the corpse emitted. Rebecca’s stomach churned painfully, and she turned away and threw up.

She might be able to kill these bastards, and she was usually hardened, but that didn’t mean there weren’t times, especially when she went head-to-head with these things, that it didn’t affect her.

7

One of the infected moved slowly past the vehicle he sat in, but Collin didn’t move, and the zombie didn’t notice him. He stared at the grocery store again, his bag beside him and filled with a bunch of shit he grabbed from the various little shops in this town, and then he noticed a corpse move into the store… right where his woman was. Yes, she was his; she just didn’t know it yet.

He stiffened as he watched the contaminated creature go farther into the building, but he couldn’t see the woman any longer. She was too far into the store for him to see her clearly through the broken glass.

Grabbing his bag and knife from the passenger seat, he climbed out of the car and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He silently, stealthily moved across the street, through the parking lot, and stopped when he reached the front of the building. He moved closer to the front doors, making sure the corpse was alone, and when he stepped inside, it was to see the woman had already taken out the infected.

The body was a gruesome mess of black blood and flesh on the ground, and his woman was in the corner, staring at it all.

Collin had to admit he was stunned and appreciative that this woman had taken out one of the infected. The sick, demented, and twisted part of him even got aroused over the fact that she could handle herself. He sheathed his knife and moved closer. The glass under his boots crunched, and she looked at him, her hand shaking as she held the knife high in the air.

“I am not afraid to kill you, so back the fuck off.” Her voice shook, and she now held the knife’s handle with both hands. “I mean it. Don’t come any closer. Just turn around and leave.”

Collin lifted his hands, showing her that he wouldn’t harm her. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly. “If I wanted to harm you, I could have done it ten times over by now.” He hoped she could see that if he really wanted to attack her, he could have done it before she even realized he was there. “I’m not a savage toward women.”

She didn’t move, didn’t respond, and still held the knife toward him. But she wasn’t screaming for him to leave, wasn’t getting crazy with that fucking shank, so at least that was a more positive note.

“Listen, I saw you in trouble, or thought you were at least, so I came to help,” he said in a neutral tone. The truth was Collin didn’t speak in a soft, coaxing manner, and he sure as hell didn’t try to woo a woman into liking him.

He was a bastard on all accounts, bad to his soul, and took whatever he wanted. He had done that with Sparrow all those months back, had planned on having her for himself, because he needed a woman in his life. This life was hard enough without having to be alone and not have a female to warm his bed and pleasure him.

He could be gentle with her when the time came for it, offer her comfort and protection, and in return, she’d be his. No one else would touch her, look at her, or even fucking think about taking her from him.

She would be tied to him until the day he died, and this little female would come to realize that, even if he had to throw her over his shoulder and go all caveman on her ass.

He held his hands out in surrender so she knew he didn’t mean her any harm. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

She opened her mouth, but before any words came out, her eyes widened and Collin heard the crunching of glass behind him. He ducked just as he felt the whoosh of air move over his head. He instantly took note that there were two men standing in the