Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) Emma Hamm (the beginning after the end read novel .TXT) 📖

around him as he tried to turn. “Does it matter? I’m Lyra.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” She pouted. “That’s all I get?”

“I don’t know you.”

“But you could?”

He almost made it past her. She hadn’t thought he would try to escape from her presence. That wasn’t normal behavior. She usually could wrap men around her tiny little fingers.

Lyra reached out to grab onto the edge of his shirt but missed. Somehow, her movement was enough for him to throw himself backwards. He was trapped once more, and she was now curious as to why he hadn’t wanted her to catch his sleeve.

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Do you usually touch strangers?” he snapped at her.

“Sometimes.” She shrugged in response. Touch was healthy. It connected people that wouldn’t normally and made her happy.

“Please don’t touch me.”

Well she couldn’t ignore that one. Putting her hands up in the air, she stepped aside. “Fine. Wow. Random stranger is giving me just as much shit as non random non strangers.”

He was backing away from her, but the expression on his face now held a hint of curiosity. “Do you speak English?”

“I’m speaking English right now.” She didn’t add the word dummy to the sentence. It was implied.

“And yet I’m having difficulty understanding you.”

He stopped moving away from her. She was once more distracted by the beauty of his eyes. They weren’t right. He wasn’t right. No one with odd eyes like that was normal. But, still, there was something compelling about the flint and steel look he was giving her.

He didn’t like her. In fact, she thought that he might despise her as he stared down at her. Lyra didn’t like it when people didn’t like her. It was just as distracting as pretty things. A Siren should always be liked.

“Do you want to understand me?” she asked him.

He seemed conflicted. Did he not want to answer the question? Lyra wouldn’t be surprised if he turned around and walked away from her. Truthfully, she would be all the more intrigued by the strange man. It would seem to be true to his character to simply waltz away.

“I don’t know,” he murmured in response.

Now that was something she could work with.

“Won’t know until you try.” She winked at him.

“Again, I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

“You live under a log, don’t you?”

He flinched back again. Had she hit a nerve with that one? She hoped that he didn’t actually live under a log, because that would be a problem. She’d have to invite him back to Haven, and that was only bound to cause trouble.

Jasper would likely want to grill him until the man popped. Jasper hated having any man around her. The big brother syndrome made his blood boil a little too hot when it came to Lyra.

She tsked. “Nevermind. Didn’t know you’d be so sensitive, big boy.”

Once more, he stepped back from her. Maybe she was going about this in an entirely wrong way. Lyra wasn’t used to having to convince men that she was worthy of their attention. And suddenly she was coming on a little too strong.

“I mean.” She planted her hands firmly on her hips and sighed. “Look, I don’t do this. I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I think you’ve made it fairly clear you do this often. I want nothing from you.”

“I’m not used to men trying to get away from me. You scared of me or something? I haven’t even said I was going to fight you.”

“Fight me?” At this he did seem slightly amused. “You’re a little small for that.”

“Wow. That’s the thing that gets you acting like a normal person? I can assure you that I’m capable of handling myself.”

“Taking care of yourself.”

“Excuse me?”

“The term is ‘taking care of yourself’. Not ‘handling yourself’.”

Lyra squinted at him. “I’m pretty sure it’s both.”

Now she was completely confused. They were both speaking English, but they obviously weren’t capable of understanding each other. Who was this man who acted as though he was from a different time?

“Lyra!” She could hear Jasper shouting from the shop. “You minx! Back here, now.”

The man in front of her arched an eyebrow. “Your keeper?”

“Something like that,” she grumbled. “Look, I think we got off to a bad start. Can I make it up to you with a coffee sometime?”

“No.”

He turned on his heel and started walking away from her. Lyra was shocked. It was the first time anyone had ever said “no” to her. She didn’t think she liked this feeling in the slightest.

Jasper was still yelling behind her. Logically, Lyra knew she should just give up and go back to her own little world. But those mismatched eyes had said something very different from his words. She had seen the way he had looked her up and down. She knew when a man was interested.

He was just refusing to see that he was interested.

Was that a little self indulgent? Probably.

She limped down the street after him. The heel really wasn’t comfortable when she didn’t have a shoe on the other foot. “Hey!” she shouted after him. “Wait!”

He started walking faster.

“What’s your name?” Lyra wasn’t going to give up this easily.

When he didn’t pause, she yelled at him again. “You’re going to have to talk to me eventually! I will not stop following you!”

His shoulders tensed, and he paused in the middle of the street. People were staring at them. They were staring at her because she was clearly unstable. They were staring at him because they didn’t know what he had done to merit such a punishment.

Lyra caught up to him fairly quickly at the expense of her feet. She could already feel the blisters burning through her skin. But she hopped around him easily enough until she could look up into those burning eyes.

“What’s your name?” She was out of breath.

“Wolfgang.”

The word sounded like the wind. It brushed against her ears as though she were listening to the whispers of a seashell. Wolfgang. The name suited the strange man far more than she had