Moon Shifter 02 - Primal Possession

really faint, which means they’re likely buried nearby. Not deep enough, though.”
    December started to say something when the soundof multiple engines silenced her. They all moved back toward the trees and watched.
    Two men and an ethereal-looking blond woman drove up on sleek black snowmobiles. When they turned them off and headed for the barn, Aiden motioned to her. “Stay put. If anything happens to us, turn on your phone and call the cops,” he whispered.
    Nodding, she crouched down behind one of the trees and withdrew her gun. In her other hand, she held on to her cell phone. She’d kept it off like they’d instructed, but at the first sign of trouble she was ready to take action.
    Kat heard the distant sound of engines but kept her eyes closed. She’d feigned being passed out a while ago just to make the pain stop. Somehow she tried to think of what her captor had done to her in detached terms. The colder she got, the easier it was. And she
knew
she was dying.
    Knew it bone deep. It wouldn’t be much longer. When blood had trickled out of her mouth and nose, it hadn’t been hard to guess she had internal bleeding. With no one here to help, it was only a matter of time.
    Only a vague sense of triumph remained. After all his abuse the bastard hadn’t been able to get it up, so at least he hadn’t raped her. As she tried to take another ragged breath, she closed her mind off. She wasn’t here and she couldn’t give him any more power. When she died, she wasn’t going to be thinking of him. No, she’d be focused on something much more pleasant.
    She was in Miami. On the beach. The warm Atlantic water lapped around her feet as she dug her toes into the white sand. Jayce was next to her, holding her hand, telling her all the things she’d ever wanted to hear from him but he’d never said.
    The sound of the large exterior door rolling open jerked her out of her thoughts. More tormentors arriving? She almost dry heaved at the thought. Her heart clenched on a fresh wave of terror as she tried not to stir or alert them to her consciousness.
    “Oh my God! What the hell have you done?” a female voice shrieked.
    Kat decided to open her eyes. Everything was hazy, but she spotted two new men and a woman entering the building.
    The petite blond woman glowed supernaturally. The humans wouldn’t be able to see it, but thanks to her seer abilities, Kat could. The female wasn’t human, but she couldn’t tell exactly what she was. Not a vampire and not a shifter, that was for sure. There was no underlying animal at the blonde’s surface. She was unique in a way Kat had never seen. The thought was clear in her head. But what was she? And why was she with these men? Her mind briefly struggled to put together what she was seeing, but just as quickly she gave up even worrying about it. Didn’t matter. Kat was dead anyway.
    Deep down she didn’t want to die, but she didn’t want to live if this pain was all that was left for her. If they were going to keep torturing her pointlessly,
then
she’d rather be dead. She wanted to cry but it was too painful, especially since she could barely breathe. The tape was so restrictive it only added to her misery.
    “I was trying to get information out of her,” Greg, her tormentor, said casually.
    “Then why is her mouth taped shut?” a man with a scarred face asked. “If you’re going to torture someone, you have to do it right. Don’t fucking lie to me. She’s our ticket to bringing down the enforcer, but if she’s dead, she won’t be of any use to us.”
    “You’re all monsters,” the blond woman breathed out, horror lacing every word.
    The man with the scar turned and backhanded her. The sound of the blow ricocheted around the small space. “This is a war. If you can’t handle this, then leave.” As if she meant nothing to him, he turned from her and back toward the men.
    “Listen, I didn’t sign up for this shit. I thought we were just holding her hostage. No one said anything about…
this
.”
    “Shut up, Joseph. You’re such a fucking pussy,” Greg, her tormentor, said, his voice full of venom.
    The three males continued to argue. The man with the scarred face was angry because Greg had beaten her so thoroughly. He made it clear he couldn’t use her as a bargaining chip if she was dead. Apparently enough time had passed and she’d been missing long enough that the scarred man—Kat guessed he was the boss—was ready to contact the enforcer