My Wicked Enemy Read Online Free PDF Page A

Kynan saw her first, and the moment his attention locked on her, her spine turned to ice.
    “Magellan doesn’t mess around, does he?” Nikodemus said. “He sicced the big dogs on you.” He pointed to a glass door with a heavy push bar across the middle and the words “Fire Exit” in big black letters on the upper pane. “That way.”
    Tibold shouted when she and Nikodemus headed for the exit. Tibold slammed into the waitress, and they both reeled back. A bowl of rice went airborne. Kynan jumped onto a table and launched himself. He seemed to stay in the air an inhumanly long time.
    Customers shouted and dove for cover from flying food and broken glass and plates. Nikodemus upended their table and kicked it toward the leaping man. Then, hand clamped around hers, he hauled ass out the fire exit with her stumbling behind him, trying to keep her balance. They exited onto a narrow street closed to traffic, the alarm blaring.
    “Magellan sent them,” she said. She was shaking again, worse than before. Thinking about what Kynan would do to her if he caught her made her sick. “They’re going to kill me.”
    “You’re a fucking genius,” Nikodemus said. He shot a glance at either end of the street, then back to the exit door. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t move. The hair on the back of Carson’s neck stood up. Goose bumps prickled along her forearms.
    The alarm cut off.
    Light seared her eyes, just once, like a camera flash going off. Kynan, by far the larger of the two, reached the fire exit on the run. He put out his hand to press the crash bar and nothing happened. He punched the handle again, but the door didn’t budge. Tibold joined him. His sunglasses were gone. Kynan stared through the glass and connected with Carson. She took a step back. Kynan’s mouth contorted in rage. He redoubled his assault on the door.
    Nikodemus laughed like he’d known the door was going to jam and was enjoying the hell out of watching the two men bang away on it. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the cross street. Carson ran to keep up.
    Behind them, something exploded. She stumbled as the air around them concussed. He grabbed her, spun her around to put her back to the brick wall, and flattened himself against her, his torso trapping her with her head toward the restaurant side where the fire-exit door had exploded. She breathed in his scent, a desert-dry heat that rose from him and enveloped her. At least her head stopped pounding. She could feel the hum of his breath in and out of his lungs. Glass, bits of masonry, and metal rained down.
    “Kynan’s coming for me,” she whispered. Magellan had taken Kynan off his leash and sent him after her. She shook because she’d always known there was something fundamentally wrong with Kynan.
    “Breathe,” Nikodemus said, stroking a hand along the outside of her arm. “Don’t panic on me. You’re just picking up their emotion, that’s all. A couple of mageheld fiends, Carson. Nothing I can’t handle.” She realized she’d been chanting her fears out loud. He’s coming to kill me. He’s coming to kill me. He’s coming to kill me. His body pressed against hers. “Do you need me to take control, Carson?”
    That got her attention. Her head cleared, and so did some of her terror. This whole situation was just insane. Completely insane. She wanted to be far away from here. Her muscles twitched with the urge to run. She needed to be away from the nightmare her life had become.
    He pushed off the wall as Kynan and Tibold charged into the alley. The light hit their eyes just right and turned their pupils shiny orange. She was seeing things now, because people’s eyes didn’t change color. No way. Tibold jerked back like he’d been hit. With a grunt of surprise, he fell hard on the pavement. Kynan never missed stride. Tibold sat on the ground, hands pressed to his chest, gasping like he couldn’t breathe while Kynan charged on, staring at her the whole time.
    What