Bethany's Rite Read Online Free PDF

conversation.
    He could smell her? Harvesting? And what the hell did Wyc mean
when he said she was matched ? She didn’t like the sound of any of it,
and wondered if both these guys weren’t flying high on whatever was their
chosen poison. She hadn’t gotten that impression from Wyc when he was sitting
across the table from her, but he could have been hiding it.
    Maybe he was simply humoring the wackjob in front of him.
Making things up to go along with the guy’s insane comments to distract him.
Whatever, she wasn’t going to stick around to find out.
    Pressing her shoulders back into the wall until she was
certain that the bricks would leave permanent marks in her skin, she waited for
the first opportunity to flee.
* * * * *
    Wyc glanced down the alley. No one else was in sight, but
that wasn’t likely to be the case for long. Especially since the asshole in
front of him probably hadn’t been very polite as he followed them through the
kitchen. It was a good bet the police had been called and were on their way.
    He didn’t have time for cops. If the Predator had tracked
Bethany to this place, the Sleht’s bred destroyers weren’t far behind. If
Enath’s retrieval was unsuccessful, Slayers would be set loose on Bethany’s
scent. And their brutality and thoroughness made the Predators’ threat look as
dangerous as newborn puppies.
    As the time drew near for the Ilyrian prophecy to be
fulfilled, the Sleht were desperate to keep the promised sons from being born.
For centuries, they had stalked Ilyrian women of Mystic descent through the
different worlds and times where they were hidden.
    In the past, Predators would take them back to the rebels
and they would be used to breed bastards in an effort to mix Sleht blood with
the powers passed down through the women. Once found, if a woman couldn’t be
retrieved or was already fully matched, she had not been left alive to continue
the Ilyrian lineage. If they were now taking matched women, then the rumors
were true. The images that filled his mind at the thought made his stomach turn
in revulsion.
    Enath took a step forward. “So what’s it gonna be? Are you
going to step aside, or are we going to play? I just hope you’re a better
fighter than your brothers. At least I’d get to enjoy grinding you to dust
before I take your woman.”
    Primitive, brutal fury tore through Wyc’s veins. The
commitment and need to avenge his younger brothers’ deaths nearly blinding in
its intensity. Wyc had known a Sleht Predator killed his brothers. Even knew it
was one of three.
    Until this moment, he had never known which of the three was
ultimately responsible. Not that he wouldn’t have taken out each one. Simply
existing as a Predator was reason enough to die. But he wanted to know who had
murdered his twin brothers. Wanted to have that knowledge when, by his hands,
the one who took his brothers’ lives was forced to surrender his own. The time
had come. At long last.
    He stepped forward and took a deep breath. Bethany’s scent
filled his nostrils. With a hard jolt, her presence brought him back to reason.
She was in mortal danger. His woman. His future and the future of his people.
His first priority was to protect her. Even at the cost of delaying personal
vengeance.
    He watched the scum before him shift his feet further apart
in anticipation of attack. Mottled skin pulled too tightly over eyes and nose
stretched even more grotesquely in an expression Wyc supposed was meant to be a
smile. With such an ugly face, who could tell? He had the Sleht beat in height
by several inches, but Enath was built like a solid block of cement. If he ever
had a neck, it had been swallowed by his shoulders ages ago.
    There was only one thing Wyc wanted more than to see Enath’s
lifeblood pouring out into this garbage-filled alley, and that was to get
Bethany to safety. He felt her rising panic and didn’t want her to do something
stupid that could cause her harm.
    The back door to the