Guardian Demon (GUARDIAN SERIES) Read Online Free PDF Page A

that a dragon’s heart was like a furnace. Apparently Michael’s was, too.
    His big hand folded over the top of the gun, engulfing the weapon in his grip. A sharp talon scraped her forefinger. Shuddering, Taylor let go and jerked her hands back—then immediately wished she hadn’t. Without her arms extended and braced, nothing separated them.
    But after she imagined flattening her palms against his scaly chest to hold him in place, she kept her hands where they were.
    “I can’t die here.” He dropped the pistol to the sand. “Even if you cut off my head or slash through my heart.”
    The only ways to kill a Guardian . . . or a dragon. Taylor swallowed hard. “Okay. Since you’re invincible, maybe you should go kill Lucifer, then.”
    Maybe he should go
right now
.
    “I will.”
    “You haven’t yet.”
    “The coward hides from me. But you do not.”
    Another panicked laugh bubbled up. Lucifer obviously had more brains than she did. “And what will you do after you kill him? Rule over all of Hell?”
    “I have no desire to rule. Only to burn every demon to ash.”
    Taylor could get behind that idea. “That sounds great. But before you do that, we need to talk about getting you out of my—”
    His head dipped toward hers. Taylor choked, turned her face away. There was nowhere to go—but this wasn’t what she’d thought. He wasn’t aiming for her lips. He bent lower. Polished horn pressed against her jaw. Her body shaking, she remained absolutely still, his heat warming her chest like an oven.
    With his mouth hovering an inch from the curve of her neck, he inhaled. Smelling her? His eyelids drifted closed, as if he were savoring the scent.
    Did she smell like food? An image of those sharpened teeth flashed through her mind and a terrified whimper built in her throat. She desperately needed to think of something else. What had they been talking about?
    Demons.
“So you’ll burn them all.” It emerged trembling and faint. “Then eat them?”
    “Some. But the hunger never ceases.”
    Oh, God. She shouldn’t have asked. “Killing them all is a good plan, though.”
    Where was Khavi with
her
plan?
    “With one vulnerability.” Michael’s head lifted, and he looked down at her with unreadable obsidian eyes. A sharp talon skimmed down her cheek. “Give the body to me.”
    She’d feared he might say that
she
was his weak spot. But giving his body back, no problem. That was why she was here—to dump it from her hammerspace and be free of him.
    Yet she hesitated. This wasn’t the Michael she knew. “What will you do with it?”
    “Consume it.”
    She forced herself not to shudder when his claw traced the shape of her mouth. “You couldn’t return to Earth if you did.”
    “But I could destroy all of Hell.”
    Like a dragon would. Consuming, destroying. Khavi had said the torture of the frozen field had stripped away Michael’s humanity. Was this all that remained? Was this what lay at his core?
    She prayed that wasn’t true. “And if Lucifer reaches Chaos first?”
    “I don’t care.”
    That dark, hollow voice. Taylor closed her eyes, shook her head. This was not Michael. Not Michael at all. He’d sacrificed his life to stop Lucifer from doing that very thing
because he cared
.
    His talons curled under her chin, pricking the soft skin. “You want to be rid of me, Andromeda.”
    Yes. She couldn’t lie about that. But she didn’t want Michael dead or trapped in this realm for eternity. That was why she’d put up with him in her head, why she’d carried his body around all this time. Not many Guardians were left. There weren’t enough of them to fight if Lucifer escaped from Hell. Every single Guardian mattered, and Michael was the strongest of them.
    They needed him back. So why wasn’t Khavi here to finish this? Michael had come.
    “Because it’s in my nature,” he said.
    That terrifying smile stretched his lips again. His hand fell to the front of her shirt. Shocked, Taylor grabbed