Heart of Stone Read Online Free PDF Page B

precision.
    Corinne shrieked, tears spilling from her eyes as she struggled beneath him. He released her, reaching for his cane and getting to his feet as she convulsed on the floor. She tore at her hair, curling away from him, sobbing, screaming, ripping at her clothes, lost in the labyrinth of irrational rage into which he had led her.
    He cut his connection. As his mind cleared, he realized the floor was vibrating, the jewelry around him rattling in its display cases. The song that had lured him here no longer whispered only in his mind; he could hear it audibly now, and it was coming from Faith.
    The huge guy who’d shoved him—Erok—had Faith cornered against the cash register. But when he tried to grab her, his hand bounced back as if he’d hit a wall. Erok’s frustration struck Darius in waves as the Warrior shot his fist toward her over and over again, each time looking as if he would succeed in striking her. But her defenses held, and each blow ricocheted back.
    The bitter taste of Corinne’s fury still lingered, and his own temper sparked as he started forward. “Hey, leave her alone.”
    The Warrior spared him a glance. “Back off.”
    â€œCan’t do that.” Darius smiled as Erok glared. “Pick on someone your own size.”
    The Warrior looked Darius up and down. He shook his head and smirked as he turned back to Faith. “Let me know if you see anyone who fits that description.”
    Please, Faith said into his mind, just go before he realizes what you are. I can hold him .
    Don’t worry, he sent back, and fired off a quick, telepathic SOS to Adrian Gray.
    He awkwardly picked his way past the debris on the floor until he stood in front of the counter. “In case you haven’t noticed, King Kong, you’re flying solo here.” He gestured toward Corinne. “Your partner took a powder.”
    Erok frowned at Corinne, still curled in a ball and alternately raging and weeping. “Corinne! Quit your bawling and get up.”
    The woman remained on the floor, lost in her private torment.
    â€œYou won’t reach her,” Darius said. “She’s done.”
    The Warrior snarled and leaped over the counter with one bound, landing in front of Darius with the grace of a cat. Darius tilted his head back to keep eye contact. The guy had to be six five if he was an inch, and bloodlust exuded from his pores like potent perfume. Darius clenched his fingers around his cane, hard enough for his nails to dig into his palm. Primitive emotions like bloodlust tapped the most basic drives of the body, and for the empath who succumbed to those instincts, the urge to commit mayhem could be nearly impossible to control.
    Pain helped, but Faith’s song seemed to augment his ability to absorb emotion somehow, making it harder to resist the bloodlust. He shook his head to clear it, to focus.
    Erok grabbed Darius by the shirtfront and jerked him off the floor so their eyes were level. “What did you do to her?”
    The discomfort of his shirt pinching under his arms helped Darius resist the urge of his primitive side. Erok wanted to be feared, so he responded with insolence. “She was tense. I helped her out.”
    Erok roared and lifted him higher. “Tell me the truth! What did you do?”
    Erok’s murderous urges spiked, and Darius grabbed hold of them, twisting them and blocking their escalation. He knew it wouldn’t hold for long, and killing rage was not something he wanted to send back to this guy.
    He reached for Gray . Hey, where the heck are you? I’ve got a homicidal Warrior here .
    Almost there, Gray responded. Had to do some crowd control .
    Erok shoved his face close to Darius. “Answer me!”
    The haunting music stopped.
    â€œErok,” Faith said. “I told Corinne, and I’ll tell you: I’m not going. Now get out of here before someone calls the cops.”
    â€œLet them.” Erok