Black and Blue Read Online Free PDF Page B

before he once again lost consciousness. There was a good chance he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon.
    No one playing for the Invaders knew of his other job. Only Michael, John, and Solo did—no, that wasn’t true. Evie knew.
    Would she help?
    Would he harm her when she irritated him? Because she would definitely irritate him. If he lost control of his abilities . . .
    No other choice.
    Blue labored to his feet, moaning as the agony became too much.
    He heard a startled gasp. “Who’s in there?” Pagan called, sounding worried.
    Without a word, he climbed through the window into the daylight.

Three

    E VIE STOMPED INTO HER bedroom and threw her purse in the general direction of her closet. Key to the basement, that’s what she needed. But where had she put the bloody thing?
    “Light on,” she said, the darkness instantly chased away by the overhead lamp. She—
    Screamed, and reached for the blade she always tucked inside her pocket.
    A hideous creature sprawled on her lovely king-size bed. Whatever it was, it was male, and big. Really big, both wide and long, its feet hanging past the edge of the mattress. Its skin was red and black—no . . . that wasn’t skin. That was blood and charred flesh. Its body was sliced to ribbons, and it was missing a hand. Several bones stuck out in the wrong places.
    The scent of smoke wafted through the air, stinging her nostrils.
    “Evie,” the creature said on a moan. “Blue.”
    Shock slammed through her. He spoke with Blue’s voice, and even mentioned his name. And . . . and . . . he was peering at her with Blue’s eyes. That gorgeous lavender, usually framed by long black lashes thatmade him look as though he always wore eyeliner.
    “Blue?” she gasped out. No way. Just no way.
    “Didn’t know . . . where else . . . to go.”
    Hesitant, she approached the side of the bed. He watched her every movement, reminding her of a predator getting ready to attack. What would he do when she was within reach? Because it was him, she decided. Same height, same body mass. Same crackle of power so unique to the football playboy. A crackle that had rendered her blind to anything but lust for a few seconds of their first meeting.
    “I must say, Mr. Blue, you’ve looked better.”
    He might have snorted. Hard to tell while he was gurgling blood.
    “How did you get in here?” An alarm should be screeching right now.
    “Window. Disabled . . . security. Inside and out. Sorry.”
    She craned her neck, zeroing in on the interior ID box. Sure enough, the lid had been pulled from the wall and the wires exposed, obviously cut and realigned. “That’s going to cost a fortune to fix.” But only because she would be doing the labor, and her time was mega money, and oh, wow, she really needed a moment to process what was going on.
    “Bill . . . me,” he gritted. “First . . . help me.”
    “Sure, sure,” she said. “I’ll ring the Arcadian chief of medicine at St. Anthony. Nice guy. Usually a three-month waiting time to see him, but for me he’ll make a house call. You will, of course, be responsible for your bill, as well as owe me a huge favor.” Stop babbling.
    “No. You.”
    She got what he was trying to tell her, but wished she hadn’t. For a year straight, this man had screwed with her anytime they were forced to work together. Nothing overt, and nothing that would compromise the end result of the work—his work, that is. He’d left her behind. Told her wrong places to meet, stuck her with all kinds of paperwork. Worst of all, he’d always written a review of her performance.
    The gist of every review? Miss Black stinks like arse.
    She’d seen him a few times since Claire was killed, when she’d acted as an asset. He’d always ignored her, as if she were unworthy of his attention, and made a big deal of making out with his date. Whoever that happened to be.
    The suckwad treatment cut to the quick, even though she hated the guy. Like she