Eve of Destruction Read Online Free PDF

posture. Her long, dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her slender body was dressed in a black cotton tank top and khaki shorts. He reachedout to her, kneading her tense shoulder muscles. “Are you okay?”
    She nodded.
    “Liar,” he murmured.
    “Let’s just say I would prefer to go camping with a different crew, if I had a choice.”
    His hand wrapped around her nape and pulled her closer. He nuzzled his nose against hers. “I’ll miss you.”
    An impatient thumping upon Eve’s trunk shook the car and drew his attention to the rear window.
    “No place for muckin’ aboot!” a masculine voice shouted.
    Alec pushed up his sunglasses, noting that the heckler was one of a group of three people walking by. He was tanned, blond, and looked to be in his early thirties.
    “That’s Ken,” Eve said with laughter in her voice.
    Ken’s eyes darted between them, widening with horrified recognition. He quickly retreated, holding both hands up in a gesture of surrender. He had a duffel bag draped over one shoulder and teeth white enough to blind. “Sorry, Cain. I didnae ken it was you.”
    “Smooth move, arsehat,” one of his companions muttered, shoving him.
    “Ken, huh?” Alec grinned. “I was just thinking he looks like a Barbie doll.”
    “Don’t let that pretty-boy exterior fool you. He’s the best in the class.”
    Alec climbed out of the driver’s seat and roundedthe trunk. Opening the passenger door, he helped her out and asked, “What’s his nickname?”
    Eve had assigned names to all the Marks in her class. He thought he knew why. A nickname could serve two purposes: it could dehumanize a subject or it could personalize them. Alec suspected Eve’s use of nicknames was due to both reasons.
    “Just Ken,” she said, “since he does look like a Ken doll.”
    Catching her elbow, Alec led her toward the elevators.
    She shot him a wry glance. “You know, Gadara isn’t going to like me riding up to Monterey with you instead of with the others.”
    “Gadara could use one of his planes to transport you all up there. Since he doesn’t want to make life easy for you, we’re not going out of our way to make life easy for him.”
    “You keep breaking rules for me.”
    He shrugged it off.
    She looked at him in a way that made him want to take her back to bed. “The wolf in the bathroom told me you made a deal for my life. Then broke it.”
    “You believe everything an Infernal tells you?” He didn’t want her gratitude. Not when he was the reason she was marked to begin with, and certainly not when he was hoping she would learn to like being a Mark.
    “Thank you,” she said softly, killing him.
    They rode the elevator up to the atrium level.
    Eve’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the smell of so many Marks in one enclosed space.”
    “You have to admit, it’s more pleasant than the stench of rotting Infernal souls.”
    “Yeah, but it’s too much. Makes it hard to breathe.”
    The lush vegetation in the atrium planters created a humidity that intensified the sweet smell created when a hundred-plus Marks gathered. The effect was pleasant to Alec, as was the surge of power he felt whenever he was surrounded by Marks. Stepping into a firm was always a heady rush, no matter which firm he visited or where it was located. His blood thrummed with energy and his heart rate lurched into an elevated rhythm, as if the other Marks shared their energy with him. But Eve’s senses were still very sensitive. He wondered how long that would last. Since he’d never mentored before and had yet to be trained for the task, he had no benchmark to compare her to.
    They crossed the marble lobby to a recessed hallway where a private set of elevators would take them to the bowels of the building.
    “What do you know about this fort we’re going to?” Eve asked. “Anything?”
    “Fort McCroskey was closed in 1991. There are some services still available—a commissary and some family