Page 72 of My Undead Love Life

The first leopard lowered its head slightly, and it made every hair on my body rise. It wasn’t looking at the roof anymore. It was looking at the front of the mall. The access point.

My throat went dry.

The second leopard took one slow step forward.

One of the undead near them groaned and staggered too close. The smaller leopard turned its head and lunged, crossing the distance in a blur of pale fur and blackened teeth. The zombie didn’t even have time to lift its arms before the leopard hit it, knocking it sideways into the snow. A wet crack carried faintly up to the roof as its jaws closed around the corpse’s neck.

The leopard shook once, and the head tore free.

I stopped breathing.

The larger leopard didn’t look away from me. The smaller one stepped away from the body like it had removed an inconvenience. Then, it looked up at me again.

My stomach twisted violently.

I sheathed the katana with fingers that had gone clumsy. I was safe up here. The roof was high. The snow leopards were across the lot. Even if they were infected and intelligent, they couldn’t get to me. Probably.

The larger one shifted its weight. Its gaze moved from me to the side of the mall, then down, then up again. Like it was looking for a route.

I stepped backward.

The icy patch under my boot betrayed me before I even realized I’d stepped on it.

“Shit!” I flung one arm out, but the katana was already sheathed and my balance was gone. My boot slipped across the frozen snow. My other foot caught on another frozen patch, and I fell backward hard.

Pain exploded through my shoulder as I slammed into one of the concrete ventilation structures on the roof.

“Fuck!” The word tore out of me as bright white pain shot down my arm. I sucked in sharp breaths through my teeth. The cold of the roof bit through my pants. Snow pressed wet against my hip, and my shoulder throbbed so hard my vision spotted at the edges.

Below, the infected leopard snarled.

I pushed myself up too fast and nearly blacked out from the pain. My hand flew to my shoulder, clutching it as if holding the joint in place would stop the burning ache spreading across my back.

The leopards were still there. Both of them. Still watching me. The smaller one had moved closer to the mall, but I didn’t see it move.

A minute ago, it had been near the dead zombie. Now, it stood beside a buried truck, angled toward the building. Its tail flicked once behind it. The larger one remained farther back, head tipped, milky eyes tracking me.

“Go away,” I whispered.

The smaller leopard stepped onto the hood of a car. Snow sloughed off beneath its paws, and its claws scraped the metal. The sound carried up faintly, but it still made goosebumps form over my arms.

I backed away from the ledge, my shoulder screaming with the movement.

The roof door creaked open behind me. I spun too fast and nearly slipped again.

“Spencer?” Mad stepped out onto the roof, axe in hand and golden eyes already scanning the area before they landed on me. His brow furrowed. “What happened?”

“I fell,” I muttered, still clutching my shoulder.

His gaze sharpened. “You fell?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re holding your shoulder like you dislocated it.”

“I hope I didn’t.” I bit my lip.

He crossed the distance between us carefully, testing each step before putting his full weight down so he didn’t fall, too. “Let me see.”