Sought...Book 3 in the Brides of the Kindred series Read Online Free PDF Page A

the one. At last I have her. Ssshe isss mine.”

Chapter Four
     
    Kat was flying again but this time she
wasn’t looking down at herself. Instead she was hovering inside a
narrow stone tunnel. There was a faint light at one end that
illuminated the pinkish brown stones and she could hear footsteps
coming, echoing down the long enclosed corridor. Who’s coming?
Will they see me?
    Looking down, she realized she couldn’t see
herself. She was silent and invisible again, just as she had been
before. Maybe I really am dead and this is my funeral. But why
would they bury me in a cave? For some reason the thought held
no fear, only fascination. Then the echoing footsteps grew louder.
Kat pushed her morbid musings aside when she saw who was coming
down the tunnel.
    A massive male—she couldn’t really call him
a man because there was nothing human about him—was leading the
way. He had pinkish mottled skin and he was wearing a loincloth of
large, flat leaves. In his hand he carried a fiery silver whip that
snapped and crackled as though it was made of lightning.
    What the hell? The question was
driven out of her head when she saw someone familiar following the
huge male. Deep was shirtless, his muscular chest gleaming in the
light cast by the strange whip. Kat could see the silver light
reflected in the black pools of his eyes too, which were otherwise
completely impassive.
    “So this is the Stone Throat, eh?” he said
to the giant who only grunted noncommittally. “I’ve heard of this
place. Never thought I’d see it in person. Not that there’s much to
see.”
    The enormous male didn’t even grunt this
time. He just passed through the stone hallway, ducking his head to
avoid hitting the ceiling where Kat was still hovering in her
invisible form.
    For some reason, she felt a stab of fear. What’s going on? What are they going to do? Without making a
conscious decision to do it, she found herself gliding noiselessly
after them down the stone corridor until they came to a thick green
wooden door. Deep’s guide grasped the tarnished silver ring in its
center and pulled it open easily though it looked immensely heavy
to Kat.
    The door swung to one side revealing a vast,
round room made of the same brownish-pink stone as the corridor.
The ceiling curved up but instead of forming a perfect arch, it
elongated into a tall stone chimney far above. From that small
opening, a perfectly round spot of sunlight streamed down to rest
on the floor at the exact center of the room. It illuminated a
rough obelisk of white stone streaked with reddish-brown mineral
deposits.
    The obelisk was at least ten feet tall and
it pointed up toward the chimney like a jagged, accusing finger.
Kat saw that someone had affixed two thick, rusty rings in its
center. A feeling of cold dread filled her when she saw the thick
chain running through the rings. What went on in this room? Why
would anyone need to be chained to the strange white obelisk? She
was horribly afraid but she didn’t want to let herself acknowledge
it.
    “Will you be chained or will you stand?” The
huge male’s voice was high and almost effeminate but it echoed
eerily in the vast chamber.
    “I’ll stand.” Deep went to the obelisk
without hesitation. Facing it, he gripped one of the rusty rings in
each hand. His broad, muscular back presented the perfect target.
“I’m ready.”
    Ready for what? Oh dear God, please
no! Kat didn’t particularly like Deep—in fact, she thought he
was kind of a jerk. He made her more uncomfortable than anyone else
she’d ever met in her life. But no one deserved to be whipped with
that hissing, crackling silver whip. There were freaking spikes on the end of it, for God’s sake. Was it some kind of
punishment Deep was about to be subjected to? But what had he done?
And who had decided he had to be punished?
    “Ready yourself,” the other male advised,
raising the whip.
    “I said I was ready.” Deep’s voice
held not a trace of