Beloved LifeMate: Song of the Sídhí #1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

agonized roar.
    Darkness sucked me back under.
    I woke. It was still freezing. I curled my fingers in snow. I'd gone past agony and into a state that was beyond description. My entire body felt like a hundred knives were ripping into me, shredding me into little pieces over and over again, ripping through bone and muscle.
    Something warm gently touched my face.
    My eyes flickered open at the soft caress.
    I wished I'd kept them shut.
    Chi’Kehra hovered over me, his handsome face contorted. Whether it was rage that I didn't die or grief that I still lived, I didn't know.
    “LifeMate,” he snarled. For an elf, without the fangs of a vampire, he did a fairly good snarl.
    My eyes went black and I didn't need to worry about the hatred in eyes as he glared at me.
    ~ ~ ~
    Her eyes briefly fluttered open.
    He choked back a hiss of fury. Unable to kill the one person he wanted tortured and ripped into a thousand pieces, he ordered the healer closer.
    The petite healer hesitated and he bellowed his fury at her. He wanted to destroy everything in sight, but it wouldn't help matters.
    His guards tugged at his arms, urging him to back away, but he refused to budge.
    The healer dropped to her knees beside his mate, whose lifeblood soaked the snow red. The slender hands of the healer touched blood covered skin and she shook her head; regret twisted her face.
     

Chapter: Prisoner
     
    I woke-up warm. My fingertips brushed against soft sheets.
    Memories jumped randomly through my head: an elf, a gateway, blood, eerie music, green eyes... With no order to the bizarre mess of images and words, I struggled to string them all together.
    My body hurt. I dredged the memory from my mind and realized it wasn't the sharp screaming agony of before. It was an ache, like a twisted ankle that had been wrapped too tightly. I relaxed thankful the screaming agony was no more.
    I remembered a soft musical voice, floating through my mind, saying she healed me as much as possible and ordered me to rest. The memory didn't make sense. The healer at Trellick Castle was a man. The voice was definitely female.
    I sighed, trying to put all the jagged pieces together.
    The softness of the bed cushioned my body, giving me time to think. Slowly, like pulling a stubborn mule up a hill, I pulled my thoughts together.
    I smelled blood. The stench of my dried blood triggered my memories. Suddenly, everything fell into place. The Chi’Kehra kidnapped me then tried to kill me, more than one time. First with a sword and then he gave me to his pet monster.
    I struggled against the fog strangling my thoughts. My life depended on making my mind clear enough to port. I focused, aiming far away, but nothing happened.
    I slumped into the bed. I was either zapped out of strength or he chained me with silver. Other than standing next to a live gateway, binding me with silver was the one certain way to nullify my natural abilities; silver would force the synth crystal in my body to partly shut down and not work properly.
    I slowly opened my eyes, looking past swaths of a pearl colored satin I glimpsed a high sculptured ceiling. The edge of the canopy dripped with pearl teardrops. I turned my head, waiting for the pain to explode, but it remained at a dull throb.
    I had either been out for days and my body healed, which was not likely with the kind of wounds I had. I was too young to survive that much damage without falling into a month-long healing coma.
    A healer was the only other answer I could think of. I really couldn't believe he allowed me to be healed. A Sídhí healer, a person who healed by touch was rare and in high demand. Shock rippled through me at the thought of him allowing a healer near me. I had been on the very brink of death. Only an extremely strong and gifted healer could have kept me from dying.
    I looked around the bedroom. Other than the color scheme of cream, brown, and gold, it was nearly identical to the first room. Paintings and works of art were