Noah Read Online Free PDF

minimum of three hundred.
    “Well, that is different. She is an Enforcer.”
    “Yes, yes.” Corrine waved that off the way only an older sister could wave off a younger sister’s accomplishments. “Don’t make me accuse you of trying to change the subject again, Noah.”
    “Perish the thought,” he assured her, his eyes turning serious again only a heartbeat after his words had. This time, she allowed him the pair of minutes he took to order his heavy thoughts. “I have struggled with myself for quite some time about the matter of seeking you out, Corrine,” he began at last. The King paced away from her briefly, and then turned to look at her. Corrine watched as he rubbed his hands together, as if warding off a chill. The concept of a Fire Demon catching chill was preposterous. She bit her lip, held her tongue, and somehow managed not to overstep herself. “Since we found you and Isabella, we have only been able to find three other Druids. Can you tell me why? What do you think is the cause?”
    The question was pretty much out of left field, but if Noah was headed in the direction she suspected he was, it perhaps wasn’t so off topic.
    “I have only a theory,” she responded willingly. “No one knew Druids still existed. Every Demon thought Druids had been annihilated in the war a millennium ago.” Corrine knew he was familiar with the history, so she kept it brief. “But when Jacob met Bella, and the night Kane touched me for the first time, triggering the birth of our dormant Druidic DNA, we all learned differently.”
    “A hard lesson,” Noah observed.
    “Yes,” she agreed. She tilted her head down with a half smile on the corner of her lips, the expression seeming more ironic than amused. “As you know, once a Druid’s genetics are triggered, they must remain within relatively close proximity of that Demon who will become their perfect Imprinted mate. Since Kane and I were separated right after our first contact, I was deprived of his key energy and suffered for it.
    “With Bella, power acquisition was nearly instantaneous. With me, because of the energy starvation that Gideon likens to brain damage, it took a year or so before we even knew that my key talent was the ability to quest for the hidden Druid hybrids destined to be perfect mates for the Demons fate designed specifically for them.” She gave him a wry little smile. “So the first part of my answer is centered on the setbacks I suffered when I first became Druid, since there really is no other way to determine the unique Druidic dormancy that’s hidden amongst millions of humans.”
    Corrine exhaled a deep sigh.
    “The rest of the blame, however, lies at Demon doors,” she said. “I’m at full power now, Noah. I have been for the better part of a year. I’ve made no secret of what my main Druidic ability is. Still, I have to wait for your Demons to voluntarily come to me in search of their mates.” She flicked a frustrated glance over him as he stood there as the ultimate representation of his people. “They’ve been inexplicably recalcitrant. Why only three other Druids, you ask? Because there’s only been three Demons who have come to request my help. I can’t chase Demons down and force them to let me seek their mates. I need them open and willing in order to aid me in the success of my search. And those three Demons who did come to me? They reeked of the mental and physical desperation of Beltane and Samhain.
    “I’m convinced that they came to me only as a last-ditch effort at avoiding doing something rash that would attract the punishment of the Enforcers.” She exhaled a short, bitter-sounding laugh. “I suppose I’m looked on as the lesser of the two evils. Better to be saddled with a Druid mate than to find the Enforcers bearing down on you.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand it! In human culture, we spend our lifetime seeking and longing for the perfect soul mate, most of us never knowing anything