Shadow's Awakening: The Shadow Warder Series, Book One (An Urban Fantasy Romance Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the metal pole, Hannah took aim at the man’s temple.
    Hitting a moving target isn’t easy, but Hannah swung in a fluid curve, sending everything she had inside her into the arc of the metal pole. She struck her target dead on. With a sharp crack, the pole connected with the man’s skull and he dropped to the floor, shaking every piece of furniture in the room. Hannah stared for a moment, shocked by her success. A shout echoed below her.
    Hannah flew through the open door of her room, down the first flight of stairs. One of her captors was already on the way up. The timid one. Hannah braced her arms on the handrails and swung her feet into his chest. At impact, he flipped backward, feet flying over his head. Hannah laughed in giddy triumph as she raced down the remaining flight of stairs, hand outstretched for the front door. The knob turned under her fingers. She wrenched it open. A wide lawn stretched before her, bisected by the long gravel drive that led to the road and to her freedom. Hannah lunged through the door, almost escaping the fingers that closed around the back of her neck.
    She screamed in despair and rage as she felt her body yanked backward, away from the clean, sweet air outside and back into the dark, stale prison of a farmhouse. Her momentum shifted and she slammed headfirst into the door frame. The hand on her neck held her body upright as she rebounded off the hard wood. Stars exploded in her eyes, bright against the darkness crowding out the view of the lawn and road.
    Again, she was thrown forward into the door frame. A crack echoed between her ears. Her skull or the door frame? Hannah fought to remain conscious. The hand on the back of her neck was a steel manacle. Pain and disorientation sucked the strength from her muscles. She didn’t resist as her body flipped and swung upside down, a hard shoulder jammed into her stomach. Glenn. Even through her fading vision, she recognized the sweater as one her mother had given him for Christmas three years ago. Royal blue merino wool. His favorite.
    Hannah struggled, arms and legs moving slowly, fighting the weakness stealing through her body. This close to him, that odd electrical hum grated against her, draining her strength. The dark red of his aura shaded her skin the color of dried blood. Head pulsing in sharp stabs of pain, the roar of static in her ears had gotten so bad she could barely think. Any adrenaline that fueled her through her escape attempt was gone, sucked out of her body the second Glenn’s hand had gripped her neck. Hannah hung limp over his back, head throbbing in time to his feet striking the stairs, the buzzing in her brain deafening.
    Glenn returned her to her room and threw her on the bed. Gripping two of her hands in one of his, he drew her wrists to the metal headboard and pulled free the handcuffs he kept for special occasions. In seconds Hannah was secured.
    Glenn left her side to check on the man she’d hit and grunted in annoyance. From the corner of her eye, Hannah watched him jog down the stairs. Checking on the man she’d kicked? He was back seconds later, his face dark with anger.
    “You stupid bitch. I told you not to try this again. You managed to injure both of them. They’ll be useless for days. Goddamn it,” Glenn swore.
    He drew back his arm and punched her in the jaw. Still tender from the day before, pain flooded her face in a scalding wave. Hannah’s brain felt like it rattled in her skull. Her vision grayed out.
    “Broke that idiot’s skull and tore up his brain. The other moron has a broken neck from falling down the stairs. Like a bunch of old women. Can’t handle one sick girl. Motherfucker.”
    Glenn hit her again, three times in rapid succession. Eye, eye, nose. A crunch of bone in her nose and she knew he’d broken it. In a day or two she would look like he’d never touched her, but that wasn’t much consolation when his fists rained down on her unprotected face. Feet scraped in the doorway.