DX Read Online Free PDF Page A

muscled thighs and a fantastic butt. He wore a crisp white shirt, and he had the greenest eyes she’d ever seen. The werewolf danced with a nervous energy that suggested he was stronger than he looked. He shimmied close to one of the dancers, as sinuous as his partners.
    The maitre’d, in an ivory caftan, a brown fez and a sheathed dagger on a thong around his neck, hurried toward them. He did a double take when he saw Jaden. No wonder. Jaden had that close to the bone look a man got when he was more than fit, the flat belly that made the waist of his black cargo pants hit below his navel. Just now, the icy set to his mouth suited him. His Ray-Bans added to the intentional machismo. He looked scary.
    “Welcome to Mimouza,” the Maitre’d said. He bowed low but glanced over his shoulder at the still dancing Elijah. “This way, please, please.”
    The werewolf saw her. His gaze slid to Jaden and then back to her before he held out a hand, gesturing to her to join him and the belly dancers. Hell looked to Jaden for some clue to what he expected her to do. He didn’t move. Not a twitch. She shrugged and walked across the rugs.
    The music vibrated in her when Elijah clasped her hand and whirled her into the dance. She went in close, her head beating with the drums. Her ears pounded, her blood throbbed in her veins. Her balance was off because she fell against Elijah’s broad chest. Her head whirled, and she stopped dancing.
    Her breath caught in her throat. Someone— Something was pushing her aside, in her head. A presence pulsed inside her, in her body. She shouted, but no sound came out. She moved away, stumbling. The presence went with her, encircled her, drew the area in which she perceived the world into an ever-shrinking circle. Sound blared in her ears, words that made no sense. Feelings that weren’t hers rocketed through her. Triumph. Joy.
    Helen Marshall. You are mine now .
    The floor jumped at her, pulsing until she felt sick to her stomach. How had she fallen without feeling it? She fought the sensation in her head, but whatever had her clamped down, compressed her until all she could do was huddle in a tiny corner of her mind.
    Another presence slithered inside her, darker, more dangerous and more malevolent than the first. Her head exploded in pain and she screamed in the vortex, a whirling, teetering ripping away from herself. With a physical rebound that felt like a punch, sound and sensation returned to normal. Except the darkest presence remained. Her stomach curdled at the taint of evil. She shuddered, a full body shiver. Elijah stood arm’s length from her and Hell knew this wasn’t the same man she’d seen when they came in. Someone else was looking at her through Elijah’s green eyes. The DX, she thought. The DX had Elijah.
    “Move!” Jaden yelled. The dark presence in her jumped and goaded her. It hoped for a fight. It wanted to kill and rend and maim. “Now!”
    She had control of her limbs again. Hell turned for the door, but not before a flash of light blinded her. Behind them, someone shouted. Jaden pushed her down with a hand to the back of her head. Her knees slammed into the floor hard enough that she felt the concrete underneath the rug. Something sizzled in the air above her, and ozone and smoke filled her lungs. Jaden hauled her to her feet, pushing her toward the exit. She kept low and headed for the door. Outside, he grabbed her around the waist and, with her leaning against him, still reeling from whatever had happened to her in the restaurant, they ran. She was more clear-headed by the minute. Across the street where he’d parked was nothing but empty space. An animal howled inside Mimouza. The front window exploded outward in a spray of glass and splintered wood.
    They took off running. Street lights dimmed and went out. A transformer popped, and she smelled smoke and burnt wires. Far away, she heard an explosion and sirens. Two blocks from the restaurant, the eerily quiet