A Shock to Your System (Dangerous Creatures #2) (23 page)
Read A Shock to Your System (Dangerous Creatures #2) Online
Authors: Mandy Rosko
She shuddered to think of it. Ethan had no
power. He was human. Jessica was human too, but that wasn't the way
a lot of people in government saw her. Well, whatever, Ethan was
the classic definition of human, at any rate. A homosapien born
without any extra gifts or powers.
He was so boringly normal that she hated him
for it sometimes.
But they would still lock him up with the
other people who weren't normal if they caught him.
If the other hunters caught him and brought
him in, questioned him, and he said the wrong thin, even gave off a
small hint that he'd known his sister was an illegal paranormal,
then he could go to prison for that.
For the rest of his life. Jessica knew
perfectly well that people in power didn't take kindly to being
embarrassed, and having one hunter who turned out to be a
paranormal, hiding right under their very noses was bad enough, but
to have the possibility of two? Or even just the one while the
other had been covering for her?
No way.
Jessica sighed. She sat in the corner of her
cell, hiding beneath the two way mirror that let any number of
people watch her at any given time. There was a camera in the room,
but the two way mirror was worse somehow, and she wasn’t even sure
why.
The steel frame bed, which was bolted to the
stone floor, didn't interest her much. Not only was the mattress
laughably thin and barely worth sleeping on, she'd killed a man on
it a couple of days ago.
She eyed the thing, like it was some evil
force that wanted to grab her when she wasn't looking. It hadn't
been her fault. Another angry paranormal got shoved into her cell
with her. He'd recognized her. Jessica recognized him.
Not only was he a paranormal, but he was one
of the men that Jessica had captured, stuck in a box, and brought
in herself.
To be fair, the guy had been a criminal.
Even in the regular sense of the word. Using his power to break
into people's homes, terrorizing them, and then stealing from them
before leaving.
The paranormals who had criminal records
that involved more than just existing were always worth more for a
hunter to bring in. The bounty on that guy had been particularly
big, even though he'd never actually killed anyone. He was just a
thief who liked to threaten and scare.
Which was why it saddened her when she had
to kill him.
He'd seen her, rushed at her, and got a good
hard punch to her stomach before grabbing her hair. Her clothes
were ripped from where he'd yanked on them in his frantic attempt
to scratch at her.
The guy was normally a werewolf. Not the
kind who only changed on the full moon, but who could shift any
time he wanted. He couldn't change his body then, thanks to the
spelled shackles on his wrists and ankles, but that didn't stop him
from clawing at her, from trying to bite her and maul her.
So, she'd killed him. Jessica had sucked up
all the moisture in the air, and even a lot from her own body, and
like the man with his two hands, she'd encased this one in a block
of ice.
The problem was that she'd stuck his entire
body in that ice, ice that was so thick and heavy that, even though
his eyes were still frantic inside of that uneven mound of ice,
when Jessica had called for help and tried to get him out of it,
she'd accidentally pushed the man's body off of the bed.
Again, flimsy mattress, held up by only a
few bits of wire. It wasn't her fault. She knew that.
The crack of the ice wasn't anything overly
dramatic. The man's body didn't shatter. He wasn't that frozen, and
the ice wasn't that thick around him.
But apparently, but spine did snap under the
pressure. She only found that out when one of the Handlers came in
the next day, after she was properly drugged and shackled.
He'd told her about it, but he didn't give
her too many other details. If he had, then Jessica couldn't really
remember them.
She probably only got that
small amount of information because a lot of the people who worked
in this building knew her. Jessica was usually calm and reserved,
but she smiled at the woman at the reception desk, had
conversations with the Hunters and Handlers who came and went. Even
her brother was known to be
the
donut
guy since he often brought over a
box and flirted with anything that had two eyes and two
legs.
Now she didn’t know where he was, and though
she tried to keep herself from doing it, she couldn’t help but
start to feel sorry for herself for being in this position.
Which was fine. It was a normal emotion to
be feeling, but she was glad when it left, left and replaced itself
with anger, and all the little plans that fantasized in her head of
doing to the people who had once tried to be friends with her.
Jessica had turned her back on her own kind, brought them in and
left them here to be locked up or studied, all in the hopes of
hiding for just another day, of living a somewhat normal life.
The second she got the chance, she was going
to make the lot of them pay. She put her hand over each and every
one of their hearts and send a blast of cold so deep into them it
would make their lungs stop. She’d do it for herself, the people
she’d been forced to kill while they tried to figure out how
powerful her ice really was, and for all the innocent paranormals
she couldn’t save, couldn’t hide, and couldn’t speak up for.
The light above the only door that led into
her room flashed green, letting her know that someone was about to
come in. She sighed and pushed herself to her feet, keeping her
hands relaxed and at either side of her body. If she put them
behind her, it gave off the impression that she was trying to hide
something, and that never worked out well in her favor.
The door opened, and Charles Mallary walked
in, a tall blond man with a widows peak which just made his
receding hairline look that much worse. He had a clipboard in his
hands, and he looked down at it as if this was just another day in
paradise, not even caring that Jessica didn’t have on her
shackles.
Soren Birgir followed behind him. A man who
was taller than Mallary by a good five inches, had better, thicker
hair, but the he was thin. Definitely thinner than the last time
Jessica had seen him. There were blueish looking bags under his
eyes, suggesting he hadn’t been sleeping much. Eating much either,
apparently, if the way the white coat hung off him was anything to
go by. His stubble was also a tiny bit longer than it had been
yesterday, which meant he hadn’t shaved either.
He’d spent another night sleeping at his
desk. Didn’t he ever go home?
A pair of fingers snapped in front of her
face, and Jessica blinked and looked to the side. Charles wasn’t
exactly glaring at her, but he didn’t look happy, either, even as
he finished slumping the iron shackles onto her wrists.
With the round spectacles, he looked like a
grown up Draco Malfoy who’d stolen Harry Potter’s glasses.
“
I asked you if you were
ready?”
Jessica waited. When no explanation came,
she struggled to hold her patience. “Ready for what?”
Soren answered for her. “Your solitary
confinement if over, for now. It’s been decided that you will be
safe enough to spend time with the other test subjects.”
About Mandy Rosko
USA Today Bestselling and Award Winning
Author Mandy Rosko lives as a hermit with her scared of everything
dog, and she works in Ottawa, Ontario. Every once in a while she
peels herself away from writing and Internet surfing to socialize
with real people. She loves videogames, Sailor Moon, Hatsune Miku,
and her dog.
Other Paranormal Romances by Mandy Rosko
that you might enjoy:
Things in the Night Series:
The Vampire's Curse
Book 1
The Legend of the
Werewolf
Book 2
The Dragon and the
Wolf
M/M Novella
The Shepard's Agony
Book 3
Dangerous Creatures Series:
Burns Like Fire
Book 1
A Shock To Your
System
Book 2 M/M
As Cold As Ice
Book 3
Gonna Make You Howl
A Novella
Available
Now!
Let Me Play a Trick on You
A Novella
Coming Soon!
Others:
The Princess' Dragon Lord
The Lady And The Dragon’s Holiday
Sold To The Enemy
My Angel Lover, Have Mercy on Me M/M
Mate of the Wolf
Bite Me (A Woodland Creek Novella)
Night and Day Series:
Night and Day Book
M/M
Book 1
The Calm Before the Storm
M/M
Book 2
All Hell Breaking Loose
M/M
Book 3
Book 4 Coming Soon!
Medieval Romances
by
Rizzo Rosko:
Lady Thief
Book 1
Lady Deception
Book 2
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Mandy
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