“Nice to meet you,” I said, nodded back.
Dax nodded again. “Follow me,” he said, turning to walk toward the end of the porch.
Actually, it was more of lumber than a walk. His steps seemed to vibrate the boards with each strike of his heel. I realized then that he was even heavier than I thought because the potted plants that line the front trembled as he walked by.
I couldn’t help myself any longer.
“What is this place?” I whispered as we followed Dax around the edge of the building.
“A sort of resort-slash-convention center for those who aren’t quite human,” he murmured.
Okay, so that wasn’t as ominous as I thought.
“You might see some things that make you uncomfortable,” he continued. “Vampires with humans or creatures that don’t look quite human. Do not react.”
Vampires with humans? Creatures that didn’t look human? Now, I was a little scared again.
“It’ll be fine.”
Yeah, right. Famous last words.
Dax led us to another large log cabin. Based on the number of vehicles surrounding it, this was a building used for conferences and meetings.
As we approached, I could hear some sort of ruckus happening inside. A few steps from the door, a roar sounded from inside.
“Stay here on the porch,” Daniel said, picking up the pace to catch up with Dax.
The two men entered the building, leaving the door open behind them.
I wrapped my jacket tighter around my body and walked over to one of the windows. As unsettling as the sound of breaking furniture and that roar were, I wanted to know what was going on.
The windows were covered by white blinds. I leaned forward and tried to peek between the slats from the outside, but it was no use.
I tiptoed to the door and peeked inside. What I saw couldn’t be real.
A man with a lion’s head and human body, opened his mouth and roared, shoving a group of men away. With the door open, the sound was like a punch to the gut.
I froze, watching as the lion man flipped one of the huge conference tables. Wood screamed and splintered as the heavy table broke in half.
Holy shitballs.
“Dammit, Leo!” Dax yelled. “You’re paying for that damn table. It cost thousands of dollars!”
The lion man’s name was Leo. I wanted to laugh, but I was too paralyzed by the violence he was exhibiting.
As though he could hear my thoughts, Leo the Lion Man turned toward me, and we locked gazes. His mouth curled up in a snarl. The sound that he made was chilling. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood on end.
Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
I took a shaky step back. I really wanted to run, but the muscles in my legs didn’t cooperate.
Before I could do more than squeak, the lion man charged me. I backpedaled out the door and around the corner. Just like the day before, my heel caught a board on the porch.
I managed to sprawl onto my side instead of hitting my head as I had yesterday. I also had a split-second thought that I must be jinxed.
The lion man was nearly on top of me when a blur passed between us, and he flew against the side of the log building with a dull thud.
My mouth fell open when I saw that he was pinned to the wall by his throat. And the person doing the pinning was Daniel Ayres. And he was doing it with one hand.
