Kenyon, Sherrilyn - Dark Hunter 06 - Phantom Lover Read Online Free PDF Page A

question. It was personal and none of Wink's business.
    "Judging by the look on your face, I'll take that as a yes."
    V'Aidan growled at his great-uncle and sought to change the subject. "Anyway, something happened."
    "Something?"
    "It changed me somehow."
    Wink snorted. "That's just stupid. If sleeping with a mortal changed a god, there's no telling what I'd be now. As for Zeus ... perish the thought."
    V'Aidan ignored his words. The worst part of all was this incessant need he felt to see Erin again. To feel her hands on him.
    He craved her tenderness.
    Craved her warmth.
    He had to have her.
    "V'Aidan!"
    Wink paled at the sound of Hypnos's voice. Hypnos was the one god who held dominion over all the gods of sleep. Sooner or later, all of them answered to him.
    "Uh-oh," Wink whispered. "He looks mad." Wink vanished, leaving V'Aidan alone to face the old god's wrath.
    V'Aidan looked up over his head to see the old man's angry scowl. But since he'd never seen any other look on Hypnos's face, he couldn't judge it. "He looks the same to me."
    "V'Aidan," Hypnos growled. "Don't make me come down there to get you."
    V'Aidan snorted in response. If Hypnos thought to scare him, he'd have to try something new. V'Aidan had learned a long time ago not to care.
    Rising up to the cliffs above, he went to meet the god who made Skoti and Oneroi alike quiver in fear. He alone could give them real emotion.
    V'Aidan felt nothing as he approached the old man.
    "You seduced a mortal in her sleep."
    The accusation hung between them as V'Aidan stared at him.
    "What have you to say for yourself?"
    V'Aidan said nothing. What could he say? He had committed a forbidden act. Other gods could take humans as they wanted, but not his kind.
    He wasn't the first one of his kindred to violate that mandate. However, he wasn't foolish enough to think for one minute Hypnos would be merciful toward him.
    He wasn't a favored son.
    "You know our code," Hypnos said. "Why did you break it?"
    Because I wanted to be held. Just once.
    For one moment in eternity, I wanted to pretend someone cared.
    The truth tore through him. Regardless of what Hypnos did to him as punishment, it had been worth it.
    He would never forget that one precious moment when he'd held Erin in his arms and she had slept peacefully on top of him. Her breath tickling his chest, she had done something no one had ever done before. She had trusted him.
    Her warmth had seeped into him, and for the first time since he'd been born, if not love, he had known tenderness. And it had been enough.
    Hypnos looked at him as if he were disgusting. Vile. But then, V'Aidan was used to that, too.
    "Take him," the old god said, shoving him into the hands of his punishers. "Strip the human taint from his flesh and make sure that he will never forget the pain of it."
    CHAPTER 3
    IT was after midnight before Erin finally found the courage to go to sleep. She was terrified of what her dreams might bring and yet she wanted to see V'Aidan again.
    How stupid was that?
    He wasn't real and there was no guarantee she'd ever have another dream with him in it.
    Still, she wanted a small miracle.
    Surrendering herself to the domain of Morpheus, she let her exhaustion take her.
    Instead of the falling sensation she'd learned to expect from her dreams, she felt as if she were flying high above the world. For the first time in weeks, she had normal, happy dreams.
    No one chased her. No one scared her.
    It was heaven, except for the absence of one particular phantom lover.
    Sighing in her sleep, Erin saw herself dressed in jeans and a tank top, sitting outside on the porch swing that used to hang on the patio at her Aunt Mae's house. The day was perfect, bright and pleasantly warm with fragrant air laced with honeysuckle and pine. She'd spent so many youthful summers here on this farm in the California mountains.
    How she had missed it.
    "What is this place?"
    She started at the deep, accented voice behind her.
    Turning around, she