Damaged Billionaire Daddy Bear - Leela Ash Page 0,5

she thought. “I am heading to a place called Exotic Rescue. Maybe you’ve heard of it. I’m a scientist and on an exchange program from Oklahoma.”

Roy continued to stare at her in silence. Was it her imagination or had his expression changed ever-so-slightly to one of displeasure?

“D-Do you know of it?” she stuttered, increasingly uncomfortable beneath his unwavering gaze.

Why did she suddenly feel as though she were in danger? All the hairs on the back of her neck started to rise, and she had to check herself to keep from taking several steps backward.

Roy’s gaze was direct as he stared straight at her and, for a minute there, his pupils changed color until they were a pure molten silver. He was unconsciously spinning his ruby ring as he looked at her in a whole new way. She didn’t care for it at all.

She wasn’t imagining anything, she thought, her breath catching in her throat. The sudden wave of antagonism rolling off him was so tangible that she felt she could reach out and touch it.

“Everyone in these parts knows about ole’ Teddy and what he’s been up to in that rescue of his!” He practically spat the last few words. “Sure is cryin’ shame that a purty little thin’ like you is mixed up in all that,” Roy finished coldly.

His face was once more suffused with an angry red color. A strange light glinted in his eyes, and he started to take a step toward her at the exact same moment Kal poked his head out the back window of her car and called, “Thanks for fixing our car, Mister. And thanks for letting me help!”

Roy’s gaze cut to the little boy and his sister, who were smiling up at both of them with childish innocence. Then, he snarled at her, the sound low in his throat and somehow otherworldly. In that moment, Jessica could have sworn she saw one tooth pop out from behind his lips. Was that a fang?

Her hand gripped her chest region in fear, trying to calm her erratic heartbeat as she unconsciously blinked her eyes to clear her vision – because obviously, she was starting to see things.

And then, before anything stranger could happen, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the strange man was back in his truck and continuing on his way.

As he drove off in a cloud of dust, Jessica could hear her heart hammering loudly in her chest. Was it her imagination or had Old Roy’s faded blue eyes suddenly changed to pure silver for a split second? And had she really seen a fang? It was hard to tell in the fading light of day. Maybe she was just exhausted.

Of all the —

Dang it, Jess. Either, your imagination is off kilter or you need to get your eyesight checked, she thought, wiping a weary hand down her face.

The nagging thought stayed with her, though, as she pulled back onto the road and continued the rest of the drive into town. Who was he? Why had he become so aggressive just before he left? Let’s face it, he gave off a very dark vibe, to say the least. How had he moved so fast to the car? And that fang? She had already chalked that later things up to her exhaustion, at least that was the story she was trying to sell herself. But what sort of town was this? Was there something else going on in Angel Springs?

This wasn’t how she had envisioned getting started in a new place, but it was probably nothing to worry about. Every town had its fair share of outlaws and odd people. Maybe he was one of those and that was the weird vibe she’d picked up.

Too bad; Roy had seemed like such a sweet old man ─ right before he turned out to be such a douche.

Chapter 3

Jessica quickly discovered that Roy wasn’t the only one who stiffened up whenever she mentioned her new boss, Theodore Cooper, or his animal sanctuary, Exotic Rescue. The chirpy gas attendant lost his choirboy grin when he flushed the information out of her that she was new in town and here to work for Theodore. The baker who handed over the sponge cake Arizona was coveting wasn’t so friendly once she heard the words, ‘Exotic Rescue’, and the chatty cashier at the grocery store immediately switched to monosyllables when Jessica asked for directions to the animal rescue.

Something was going on, all right, but what it was she