Embrace (The Gryphon Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

my sweet baby!”  She scooped up the little dog and showered her with kisses.  Demon pup happily licked her face and wriggled in her arms, as the woman shot us the stink eye and sauntered away.  “What did those mean people do to you?  Are you okay, my sweet girl?  Don’t you ever run off like that again!  You scared Mama!  Yes, you did!  Yes, you did!”
    “Nice dog!  Did the breeder mention it’s a minion of the anti-Christ ?”  I hollered after her as she loaded her evil tiny canine into her giant SUV.
    She made reference to a certain inappropriate—and physically impossible—act I could do to myself, then drove off.
    “ It would seem canines and middle-aged soccer mums aren’t members of your fan club.” Blondie smirked. 
    I soothed down rogue strands of my hair that had broken free of my ponytail as I ran.  “I make friends and influence people everywhere I go.”  I deadpanned.  “It’s a gift.”
    “ One of the many, I’m sure.”  He said with a throaty chuckle, as he extended his hand to me.  “The name’s Rowan.”
    “Celeste.” 
    As soon as our palms touched a prickling sensation tracked up my arm and down my spine.  I dropped his hand and took a step back.  With a roll of my shoulder, I allowed the strap of my purse to slide down my arm.  The bag thumped to the ground and I brought my arms up in a defensive stance. 
    A lazy smile spread across Rowan’s handsome face.  “You’re perceptive, I’ll give ya that.  But if you believe it’ll always be that easy to tell, you’re mistaken.”
    “Tell what?”  My voice more growl than conversational.  “What are you?”
    He cocked his head to the side.  “Haven’t ya figured it out, poppet?  I’m a member of the Dark Army.”  I didn’t think, but reacted.  Spinning around, I brought my fist up level with his throat.  A millisecond before I could deliver a crushing blow to his trachea, he caught my hand.  Then waved a finger, chastising me like a naughty child.  “Now, now.  I didn’t come to fight.  No need for senseless violence, aye?”
    I ripped my hand out of his grasp and glared at him through narrowed eyes.   “Senseless violence is what your kind does best.”
    He had the nerve to look hurt by that declaration.  “My kind?  You’ve met a select few.  That seems a rash judgment, doesn’t it?”
    “Your team goal is to kill me.  So, no.  I don’t think that’s a rash judgment at all.”
    “We don’t all want to kill ya. ”  He held his hands up in a gesture of truce.  “If you drop your hands and stop trying to hit me, we can talk about it.  Savy?”
      “ Savy? Poppet? Aye?  Are you purposely trying to sound like an animatronic pirate on a Disney World ride?”
    His grin border ed on mocking, which made me itch to swing at him again.  “The Army has spanned the globe to do its recruiting.  I don’t pretend to be anything.  Pirate blood indeed runs through me veins.”
    My gaze raked over him.  Maybe I’d seen one too many movies, but without a scarf tied around his head, a sword on his hip, and his shirt blowing open in the wind, he didn’t look like a pirate.  If anything he looked like an Abercrombie and Fitch ad in his faded jeans, tight T-shirt, and a green khaki jacket.    
    I f he wanted to make believe he was a pirate that was his business.  “Whatever you say, dude.  Just tell me why you’re here. ” 
    Rowan crammed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and peered down at me with an expression that had suddenly gone sober.  “I’m here to be the voice of the people, as it were.”
    “People?”  I scoffed, but relaxed my battle ready posture.  “Don’t you mean demons?”
    “Aye.”  He nodded.  “But they’re not demons by choice.  Not all of them, anyway.”
    “What?”
    As the evening sky darkened, so did Rowan’s eyes.  I guessed it was from our current topic of discussion.  “For centuries the Army has kidnapped humans—men,