Shadow Light (Beautiful Beings #3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

worse.  Pungent and stinky.”
    “But you saw him.”
    “Of course I saw him, but you didn’t, did you?”  He held me at arms length and looked at me, his eyes full of concern.  “You were just staring blindly in front of you.  You were looking right through it.  What’s going on?”
    I pulled away and grabbed a stool to sit on.  “I don’t know.”  I was reluctant to share my fears with him.  “I smelled him.  At least there’s that, but I didn’t see him.  I didn’t see anything.”
    “I’m going to have to keep a closer eye on you.”
    I looked at him.  “I didn’t see anything in the locker room either,” I confessed. 
    “Has this ever happened before?”
    “Never.  I don’t understand.” 
    “Maybe you should have a word with Moore about it.”
    “I thought we were past that,” I snapped.
    “I’m not trying to start this whole thing with Moore again.  I’m serious.”
    “And why should I talk to Moore, then?”
    “Well…”  He hesitated and seemed embarrassed to go on.  “I think he knows a lot… about them.  He…”  He pulled up another stool and sat beside me.  “He came to see me after the whole Shayne thing.”
    “He did?”
    “He wanted to apologize for what she’d done.  He said he felt awful for the part she’d played in what happened to my parents and the curse I live with.”
    “I can’t believe he did that.  That’s so sweet of him.”
    “Yeah,” he muttered.  “That’s the reaction I was hoping for… he’s sweet.”
    I immediately regretted praising Moore so openly, but I was truly proud of him.  For him to be able to set aside his jealousy in order to personally apologize to Brax… it took a big man…
    “Anyway, he sure seemed to know a lot about demons and being cursed.  He told me quite a bit about what I was about to go through.  Tell you the truth, I was mad at him at first.  I was still in denial and didn’t want to believe any of it.  There was even a moment there where I wanted to smash his face in just for telling me about it all.”
    I cocked a brow, surprised by the ferocity of his words.
    “But I’ve since come to appreciate what he told me.  It helped me accept what’s happening to me and it’s given me a few tools to better deal with everything.”
    “Like what?  I want to be able to help you however I can.”
    Before answering, he got up and went to the sink where he filled two goblets of water and came back.  He handed me one of them and drank from the other. After a long series of gulps he looked at me.  “In a way, it’s all really simple.  He said I should cling to the good things in my life, that I should hold that up as the goal, as the reason for fighting this.  Every time I feel defeated and want to let go, I should think of all the things I hold dear… all the people I hold dear.”  His gaze softened as he looked at me.  “I’m sure it’s no surprise, but you're the reason I want to fight this so badly.  I know I’ll slip up from time to time, but I really do want to survive this.”
    “And I’ll do everything to make sure you do survive this, Brax, for me and for everyone else who cares about you.  But more than anything, you should consider doing this for you.”

 
     
    Chapter 3
     
    Hunger
     
    M oved by Moore’s visit to Brax, I decided to pay him a visit of my own.  I arrived at his impressive mansion with a chill of the few times I’d been there with Shayne.  She was gone, led to hades by Braxton’s parents and other demons, but I could still feel her presence, her sexuality and her desire permeating the entire mansion.
    When Moore opened the door to let me in, it was clear her disappearance had left a void in the big, luxurious house.
    “I haven’t seen you for a few days,” I said as I followed him to the back deck.  “How’re you coping?”
    “Fine.  Okay.  Great.”  He sat back in a teak lounge chair spread out by the pool.  Scratching his head, he gazed