Page 4 of Devil’s Snare

Her odd behavior intrigued me.

To see this woman, flanked by the wicked shadows of the forest and silvery moonbeams, her blonde hair in a wild disarray as it crowned her head, sent my blood racing in my veins. My cock stirred as a brief wave of desire crashed through me.

A lone howl filled the silence in the cemetery, and I smiled. It wasn’t long before I felt a nudge against my thigh. Reaching down, I scratched behind a set of velvety soft ears. “Hey, boy.”

He whimpered as I lifted my hand and stopped petting him.

“Not now. We’ve got a visitor.”

A low growl vibrated in his throat until he found the young woman beside the freshly dug grave. I would have thought he had already noticed her, but he probably got distracted by my scent and the overwhelming odor of decaying flesh. It was always the ripest after a funeral.

But then a weird sort of wail echoed across the cemetery. A tremor slid through my body as I realized the beast at my side was reacting to the woman. No, not reacting. Recognizing. Remembering.

“Isn’t that interesting?” I muttered, focusing on the woman as she scrambled to her knees, with wide, fearful eyes scanning the headstones and surrounding graves, and acting as if she heard my companion.

Wait. Did she hear him?

Just as she began to rise to her feet, that revelation was confirmed when the beast at my side lunged in her direction. He galloped along the ground, sending quakes across the earth with every thud of his big, hairy paws. He slammed into the woman with enthusiasm, knocking her to the ground. But he didn’t stop there, pinning her as she tried to get up.

The odd part?

She couldn’t fucking see him. Hell, his breed was only visible to specific types of individuals. Like me.

I frowned as the traitor leaned down and sniffed her hair before licking the side of her face. He never licked anyone but me. What the fuck?

Well, there was no choice but to leave the shadows now. I leaned against the tree closest to the grave, allowing the moonlight to illuminate my presence. Amused, I watched the woman as she tried to push against the invisible shield in front of her. “He likes you.”

She startled, her gaze shooting to mine.

The second she did so, my hairy companion wagged his barbed tail and whimpered because her attention moved from him to me. Jealous fucker.

The woman blinked. She appeared dazed. Confused. Like she didn’t trust what her eyes couldn’t see, but she already knew to be true.

“You’re not dreaming,” I informed her. “Not quite sure how, but you charmed a grim.”

She pinched her arm and winced at the slight pain.

I held back a laugh. “Believe me now?”

“Get it together, Gwen,” she whispered. “Don’t have a nervous breakdown now.”

She was adorably clueless. Her reaction was too fucking sweet. My lips twitched with a grin when I realized she revealed something about herself that she probably didn’t intend. At least, not yet.

Her name. Gwen.

My forgotten companion howled.

Gwen gasped in response, wiggling but not able to gain her freedom.

Wow. She really could hear him.

“Did something spook you?” I asked to clarify.

“This can’t be real.” Her panicked gaze locked onto mine. “Something invisible is holding me down and licking me.” She sounded incredulous but also confused. “It licked me,” she repeated before a sudden rush of tears filled her eyes.

Shit.

“He won’t hurt you. Trust me. If he wanted to harm you, you’d already be dead.”