Hunter Betrayed Read Online Free PDF Page A

around the tipped wheelchair. Harley forced her gaze from the
dark stain spreading out from the chair to the body slumped over the armrest.
    Bea’s tongue-less mouth hung open and the pinkie of her
right hand was gone. A gash cut across her thick throat while more slashes
decorated her arms and legs. Eyes wide, she stared vacantly, but Harley felt
the weight of her empty gaze. The accusation in it cut at her, left her with
yet another sin to carry and another memory to haunt her dreams. She accepted
it, exactly as she had the last time she’d seen a similar corpse and the one
before that. Each and every murder Raul committed was her fault.
    He followed and tormented her by killing those close to
her—friends, neighbors, people who’d said hello to her.
    She hated the fact that she endangered everyone around her,
hated the bastards who sought her and hated herself. She’d welcome death, but
she couldn’t embrace it.
    Words had power and she’d promised to live, no matter what.
    * * * * *
    “Wake up, lady.”
    Someone shook her. Harley stifled a scream and automatically
reached for her blade. She froze with her fingers wrapped around the hilt and
blinked hard against the bright sun. Confused brown eyes focused on her.
Awareness returned. The cabbie. She slid the dagger back into her boot.
    “Hey, sorry to startle you, but we’re here.”
    “Yes, yes, thank you.” She glanced out the window. The
Callahan estate loomed before her, the place where her living hell had begun
and the one she’d avoided for nine years.
    She glanced away before the sight of the mansion sent her
into a panic attack. In an effort to delay the inevitable, she adjusted the
beanie she wore, shoving the strands of her hair that had slipped free back
under the knit fabric. More spilled out. She cursed, yanked the cap off and
dropped it in her lap. With trembling hands she twisted the length of her hair
and carefully stretched the hat over her piled tresses, hiding the platinum
curls that always drew looks from men and women alike. She clutched her
backpack and slipped out of the cab.
    Her gaze drifted to the house. Memories pushed at her, ones
she wanted to keep buried.
    “No.” She shook her head to dislodge them. Coming here
was a mistake.
    She turned to get back into the cab. It peeled away, kicking
dust in her face. She choked on the gritty air and faced the empty mansion.
    “Guess I’m staying.”
    She made her way to the entrance. For a long moment, she
stood there, contemplating how long it would take to walk back down the
mountain.
    “Dammit, stop being a coward. You promised Ian you’d come to
the wedding. Suck it up.”
    She slipped the key into the lock. The click resounded in
her ears and a screech accompanied her push of the heavy oak door. Dust and
stale air whooshed around her. She blinked rapidly to clear her blurry vision
and swept her gaze over the entryway. Empty. She let her nonhuman senses flare.
Only the sounds of scurrying mice reached her ears. A sigh escaped. She
shuffled inside and headed toward the living room. If she didn’t sit soon,
she’d collapse.
    The chiming of the grandfather clock stopped her. The memories
she’d hoped to keep buried rushed back with the clang, ding, clang of the
pendulum. She squeezed her eyelids shut and fought them, but they came anyway.
    A slideshow of monsters and death flashed through her mind.
The screams of her family mixed with the roars and grunts of the sluaghs who’d
killed them. Overshadowing it all was the one image that still haunted her—the
blue eyes of her ghost man.
    Harley tugged at her hair. “No, dammit, no!”
    She didn’t want to think about him. He stirred too many
emotions within her—longing, fear, anger. He’d saved her but the promise he’d
coerced from her had destroyed her life and her sanity. She couldn’t let him
go. It was as if she still carried a piece of him.
    “You’re alive.”
    The low, gravelly voice of her ghost man caressed her