Darkness Unbound Read Online Free PDF Page A

transmit it to him, Get him cleared from your life. And move on.
    His deep voice registered in her brain on their shared mental pathway. Astrid?
    Chills tickled her thighs. Don’t you dare go weak , she told herself . So what if his molasses-slow drawl of her name in that accented, deep timbre implied in two syllables how this alpha male could fulfill her every sexual craving. That is exactly why she’d not allowed a portal opening to face him until now. Come on, girl. You chase dangerous criminals for a living, she thought to herself. He’s no different. He’s a psychopath who’s getting into your psyche. Again.
    And all it took was one word.
    Refusing to acknowledge the intimacy of speaking mentally she said aloud, “That’s right, your attempt to kill me failed.”
    Air hissed through Zannis’s teeth. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but his gaze drifted over her shoulder and narrowed.
    “What’s going on? Astrid?” The question boomed behind her.
    She jumped at the intrusion. Khyan and Christian both gaped at the magikal doorway. Christian gripped her forearm and tugged her a few steps away from the doorway.
    Astrid wobbled and pulled for freedom without success. Her gaze darted back to Zannis, who now stared at Christian’s hand where it wrapped around her forearm. The grind of Zannis’s jealousy and aggression flooded her brain.
    She swallowed her gut need to deny Zannis’s misunderstanding that she and Christian were an item and forced her best life-is-great smile. “I’ve got some new friends. I’m about to start a new job. So I hope you rot in hell.”
    I am already there, rouhi.
    Her eyes burned with the pain of unshed tears. That endearment activated long-repressed memories. She forced out, “Good. Then at least someone knows where you belong.”
    She backed away from the doorway and stumbled when her legs tangled with a chair. Christian caught her.
    “Ready to dance?” she asked Christian and ran a hand up his arm, suggestive.
    Zannis growled.
    She waved. “Bye-bye.” And thought to him, We won’t see each other again.
    The portal snapped shut. Her mind howled denial to be cut off from him. Yet, the rational side of her brain congratulated herself for being tough. Why, then, was her gut clenched tight with panic at the thought of never seeing him? She replayed his murder attempt in her mind. The pain. The loss. Devastation roared in her brain. Then, she shut off all thoughts of him.
    She pulled her arm out of Christian’s grip. “Well, that felt great. Thanks. I needed this. If my new life is going to be this fun, then I’m in.”
    “The hell you just put me between you and…whatever thatguy was,” Christian said.
    “No worries.” She shrugged.
    “That motherfucker gave off super bad juju vibes. I can hold my own, but what the hell was he?” Christian’s wide eyes suggested high level alarm.
    “He’s just a guy.” She shrugged.
    “Who tried to kill you in the past?” Khyan asked softly as he moved in beside Astrid to touch the now solid wall. “How’d you open that doorway-thing? I watched you run through that power-kill warded wall three days ago to save Cy. That should’ve nixed any special abilities you had.”
    She stared at the now normal wall, her mind churning with adrenaline, alcohol, and heartache. “I had hoped it would. Maybe there was no warded wall, and you were full of deluded crap.”
    “Do you know who that was?” Khyan asked, knowledge swirling in his eyes.
    “Who was that?” Christian demanded.
    “I haven’t seen him in a very long time. That’s Draggon,” Khyan said.
    “That’s not his name.” Astrid slid into a chair. She gripped her forehead between both hands, hoping to stop the room’s eerie alcohol-induced swaying.
    Khyan whispered, “He told you his real name?”
    She glanced up. The world shifted, and she swallowed the bile tickling the back of her throat. A chill of dread slithered through her mind. “He’s history. Now that