Roman's Vow (Riley's Pride #4) - Sandra R Neeley Page 0,60

corner of his mouth.

“I’m a pissed off shifter,” Lazarus said. Lazarus turned his gaze to first Brett then the man sitting on the other side of Frederick. “See, nobody knows we’re real. And since no one other than you three get to see us, if you tell anyone, they’re going to think you’re insane and lock you away. So, I’m pretty confident in letting you see me as my real self,” Lazarus said as he stood before them, half-shifted. His eyes, ears and nose were that of his Panther. His fangs were on display, and his shaven head had become an unruly hodgepodge of human hair and Panther fur. His body had grown enough that it had torn his teeshirt, giving them a clear view of the muscles and striations of his chest. His arms were covered in fur and his hands, while still human, were now elongated and fur-covered with long, lethal claws protruding from their tips.

All three men watched him with terrified expressions.

“You think I’m scary?” Lazarus asked. “He’s a Bear. He makes me look like a kitty cat.”

All three turned their faces up to look behind themselves at Lucas. Lucas had allowed his animal to peek through, giving him a sprinkling of fur and elongating his face with the massive snout of his bear. “I’d blow you a kiss, but, like this, it’s kinda difficult. Eat your liver, though… no problem.”

“What do you want?” Brett asked, his voice quivering as he forced his gaze back to Lazarus.

“I want you to tell the truth,” Lazarus said simply.

“Sure, fine. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just let me go,” Brett promised.

“Here’s the thing, even if I let you go, I have your wallets here. I have your cell phones right here, too. I know where all your friends and your families are located. And, I bet at least one of you is fucking stupid enough to have your maps app on so all I have to do is go back through your histories to find everywhere you hang out.”

Brett’s eyes widened when he realized he did indeed use his maps app all the time.

“You add in the fact that we have powers you can’t even dream of, and there is no doubt we can find you any time, any place we want to.

“Like what?” Frederick dared to ask.

Lucas punched him from behind, contacting the already broken jaw and shattering it the rest of the way. The blood started to pour from his busted lip and Lucas reached out and swiped his middle finger through it. Then he stuck his forefinger in his mouth and made a show of sucking it clean, giving the illusion that he’d just sucked Frederick’s blood into his mouth. Then he repeated the action with the cuts on both Brett’s and the other guy’s cheek bones. “Like the fact that I just tasted your blood. Know what that means? That means that I can track your every fucking move now. Wanna test me? I’ll let you go and I’ll give you a ten minute head start. Only thing is, when I catch up, I get to choose what part I’m going to eat first.”

“Probably be a leg,” Lazarus said. “He prefers legs,” he said to Brett as though confiding a secret to a friend.

“I’m not running. I know you can find me. I’ll give you anything you want,” Brett sobbed.

Chapter 14

“Who killed the man Frederick’s ex-wife is taking the fall for?” Lazarus asked.

Both Brett and his friend answered simultaneously. “He did!” they both said, pointing at Frederick seated between them. “We were there when he came running in the house with the dude chasing him,” Brett said.

Lazarus laughed evilly. “Seems they’ve given you up.”

Frederick just sat there, glaring at Lazarus through glazed eyes as he deliriously cupped his completely useless jaw with one hand and his balls with the other.

“Now what I want to know is which one of you is going to be first to march your happy little asses down to the police station and give your eyewitness testimony as to what you saw?” Lazarus asked.

Brett’s eyes grew wide. “We can’t do that! His mother will have us killed.”

“No, she can’t do that,” Lazarus answered.

“You’re going to protect us?” the friend asked.

“Nope. I’m going to kill you myself. Slowly, painfully, over the course of days and days and days. But first I’m going to go to your families. And I’m going to let you watch as I kill each one of