Rebel's Desire (Iron Portal Paranormal Romance Series) (Iron Portal Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

whiskey.
    Verla looked up at him over the rims of her glasses. “You doing okay, hon? Want to take a short break?”
    “Yeah, that would be great,” he said, sounding relieved. “Need to hit the john, make a couple of phone calls.”
    According to the girl at the front desk, Verla had been working on the guy’s intricate sleeve pattern for over an hour.
    “Right on,” Verla said, setting down the needle and stripping off her black latex gloves. “Meet you back here in ten?”
    “Sure.” The man pushed himself up from the chair with grunt and headed toward the bathrooms.
    For the past two days, Keely had sent countless texts to Becca, but all of them had gone unanswered. Up until now, she’d spent every waking moment in the bookstore, sitting near the front door. She only left her post if she had a customer. Whenever a car turned down the street, she jumped, straining to see if it was Mr. Reaux’s limo bringing Becca home.
    “It was all a terrible misunderstanding,” he would say. “I did not mean to worry you. Please, accept my apologies...”
    But of course that never happened. Becca was still gone, and Keely had no idea what to do to get her back. She hoped her sister was still in the Circus District somewhere. No doubt she was scared. Terrified, even. Had that bastard hurt her? Was she calling out for help but there was no one to hear her?
    Keely pressed a hand to her forehead to quell the rising panic. When they were kids, they used to pretend they could communicate with their thoughts, giving each other hard stares from across the room in an attempt to transmit what they were thinking. If only that was her Talent. She’d know where her sister was and could come in with guns blazing and rescue her. If she had a gun. Okay, maybe a knife then. She could get a knife, a thin little switchblade that would fit in her pocket, then go there and stab that sonofabitch.
    She sighed. Being a Shield-Talent—a crappy one whose abilities to ward off other Talents were limited and sporadic—would not cut it. She was only kick-ass and tough in her imagination.
    Becca, on the other hand, was good at what she did. With a simple touch, she was able to project various thoughts and feelings to another person, get them to believe all sorts of outlandish things—a Talent that came in handy when selling fortunes . If Becca had been able to use it to get away from her captors, she would have done it already. Or prevented herself from being taken in the first place. The thing was, Mr. Reaux knew the people he extorted money from were Talents. He probably knew how to prevent—
    Hell, maybe he was a Shield-Talent and immune to anything Becca could dish out. Just like Keely.
    If only she and Becca weren’t Talents. Then she’d call the authorities and let them handle this. But that wasn’t the case, and she was Becca’s only hope. The buck stopped at her.
    For a fleeting moment in the alley, she’d almost confided in Toryn when he demanded to know what was going on. He was so insistent that she nearly caved. But no matter how safe she felt in his presence, she couldn’t risk telling him the truth. There was too much at stake.
    Panic and worry clawed up her spine again at what Becca must be going through. She didn’t want to think about it. She just wanted her sister back.
    After Verla covered her workstation, Keely followed her out the back service door, where her friend lit up a cigarette. Harvey, the owner of Freak Ink, was out having a smoke, too. (It sounded like free kink when you said it fast, which was how Harvey wanted it pronounced when someone answered the phone.)
    “I know you’re worried, Keely,” Verla said. “I’m sure it’s just one of Reaux’s scare tactics. You’ll see.”
    “What’s going on?” Harvey asked, frowning.
    Keely explained to him what had happened as she absently picked at the label on the bottle of water she’d grabbed on the way out. The lump in her throat that she’d been trying