Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(115)

been good at the job.

They had finished eating salad when the doorbell rang. Mrs. Conner stood up. “I hate it when my dinner parties are interrupted. But it’s

probably another Girl Scout selling cookies. And I can’t say no.” She grabbed her purse on the way out of the kitchen.

Voices came from the other room. Perry couldn’t distinguish what was being said.

Mr. Conner suddenly dropped his fork and shot out of his chair. He hadn’t gotten around the table when he stopped and gasped.

Perry looked up. His breath caught, and he gripped the edge of the table. Caleb had Mrs. Conner and was shoving her into the kitchen. He didn’

t hold a weapon, but with his arm around her neck and a hand on the opposite side of her head, it was evident how he planned to kill her. One

jerk could break the elderly woman’s neck.

“Fancy seeing you here.” Caleb tightened his arm around Mrs. Conner’s neck. Her face reddened from the lack of air flow.

“What do you want?” Perry asked, feeling his pulse thump against his tonsils.

“To prove to Jax that he’s wrong about you and that ass of a father you’ve got. And now I’ve got the proof. He’ll make me his top man. And

he’ll make you … dead.”

Perry wasn’t sure what proof Caleb meant, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that. It wasn’t even himself he was concerned about, it was

Mrs. Conner.

Mr. Conner leered at the man, his gaze bright orange.

Perry stood up, slowly. “Let her go,” he seethed. “She’s not part of whatever proof you need. Let’s you and I go outside and play.”

“But it’s dinnertime.” Caleb’s eyes zeroed in on Perry as he pushed Mrs. Conner to move in a few more feet.

Fear filled Perry. Caleb was going to kill her. Kill her right in front of Perry. No.

He hadn’t decided his next move, when Mrs. Conner extended her hand out, snagged a knife from the counter, and drove it into Caleb’s stomach.

She cleared her throat, yanked the blade out, then glared up at Caleb now leaning against the wall. “No one interrupts my dinner parties!

Except Girl Scouts.”

Hatred filled Caleb’s eyes. An iridescent bubble floated up.

“Back up!” Perry flew across the table. Knowing he had only a fraction of a second to strike—the word “strike” giving him the idea—he

morphed into a red spitting cobra.

The venom hit Caleb’s face. Blinded, he shifted slower. Perry sank his teeth into the man’s arm, but too late to stop the morph. Caleb in Big

Foot form rose to eight feet.

Perry, knowing the stab wound and venom would at the least slow the beast down, tried to strike again. The beast dodged him, then, accepting

his weakened state, turned and shot out the door.

Perry gave chase, slithering through the living room at top speed.

Caleb crashed through the closed door, sending wood splintering, but wavered as he ran. The venom must have done more damage than Perry

realized.

Darting forward, Perry hoped to bring the beast down with another bite, but the damn creature leapt off the porch. Perry slithered after him.

Caleb made it to the road, then reached for …

Not Burnett’s Mustang!

Too late. Caleb picked up the car and tossed it. Perry raced through the grass, barely escaping the car. The sound of metal crunching rang loud

as the car rolled forward and landed upside down.

Caleb turned to run. Perry rose up and threw himself, hoping to sink his fangs into the beast’s shoulder. Right before he made contact, Caleb

swung around and caught Perry around his upper body. The beast squeezed, his fat fingers sinking, damaging the snake’s vital internal organs.

The beast won. Perry could morph back to human, unharmed, but that would be when Caleb would come in for the real kill. Perry would die.

Knowing he had seconds of snake life left, he lunged his head forward and sank his fangs into Caleb’s neck, sending venom into his carotid

artery.

The beast dropped to his knees. Bubbles started popping off of him.

Perry clung to stay alive, the pain almost unbearable, hoping he had enough venom to stop Caleb if he came out of the shift unharmed.

One, two seconds later, the beast disappeared and Caleb lay there. His breathing was shallow, his eyes closed. Blood oozed from his gut where

he’d been knifed.

Perry, unable to hold back any longer, shifted. The pain in his ribs made breathing impossible, but he managed to grab his phone and dial

Burnett.

*

Two hours later, Perry sat in Holiday’s office across from Burnett. Help had been sent to try and save Caleb. He died as they rushed him to

Dr. Whitman’s office. Dr. Whitman concluded the cause of death had been the snake bite—the one Perry had given right before Caleb had

shifted.

“Maybe we should reinstate Mrs. Conner,” Burnett said.

Perry forced a grin. He knew what he’d done was right. Caleb would’ve killed him and the Conners, and he’d already killed Bell. Still,

knowing he’d taken a life didn’t sit well on his empty stomach.

He gripped his hands in his lap. “My dad said Caleb had wanted to follow me to have a reason to turn me over to Jax. He must have followed me