Stealing Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

saw. She’d rather take her chances hitchhiking than with Lucian dragging her and Dad back.
    When the road finally appeared in the distance, Ella let out a pent-up breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. “We’re almost there, Dad.”
    They took three more steps before Dad fell to the ground, screaming and clutching his head. “Ahhhhh!”
    “Dad, what’s wrong?” She tried to pull him up, but he curled into the fetal position as his cries got even louder.
    The sharp sound in the still night had Ella keeping her eyes on the horizon. If Lucian was looking for them, surely he would’ve heard that.
    He broke away from her and scrambled deeper into the woods and away from the road. When he was fifteen yards from where he’d collapsed, he leaned against a tree, exhausted eyes falling shut. “They won’t let me leave,” he moaned.
    “We’re leaving. It doesn’t matter what they ‘let’ you do. I’m getting you the hell out of here.”
    Ella grabbed at his arm and pulled him toward the road, but he held his ground, shaking his head at her efforts.
    “You’re going to kill him.” The rumbling voice came from behind her.
    To her credit, she didn’t jump. She’d been half expecting him to materialize out of the darkness this entire time.
    She bit her bottom lip to keep her defeat from showing as she faced him. “You son of a bitch.”
    Lucian cocked his head at the insult. “You’re probably right. I didn’t know my mother all that well.”
    Dad pushed himself away from the tree. “Leave her alone! I’ll go back with you. I’ll do whatever you want.”
    Ella’s eyes widened as Dad tried to throw himself at Lucian’s feet. She narrowly managed to snag a piece of his shirt and hold him next to her.
    Lucian dispassionately considered the offer. “I think I know your secret, old man. This is what you’ve been hiding.”
    Dad shook his head and tears escaped his eyes. “Please, no.”
    Ella nervously gulped. She’d never seen Dad cry. Not once.
    “Just let us go. The road is right there. We won’t tell anyone about this. I promise.”
    Lucian turned his glacial gaze on her, the blue of his eyes almost black in the darkness. “You can go,” he offered. “There’s nothing stopping you.”
    She stared him down for a moment, waiting for him to rescind the offer or to attack. For all she knew, Cade was hiding in the shadows.
    When he said nothing, she pulled on Dad’s shirt. “Let’s go,” she whispered.
    Lucian stepped forward. “I wouldn’t do that.”
    She knew it. “But you just said...”
    “I said you could go. Your father can’t.”
    Ella shook her head in denial. The tears she’d been fighting finally made their way past her defenses and trickled down her cheeks. “Please let him go. What has he ever done to you?”
    He cocked his head at her again. It was such an animalistic gesture. Just another reminder of his predatory nature she’d sensed since the moment they met. “I don’t intend to hurt him. I need him and he refuses to help me. I’m desperate and he might be the only person who can save my people. You expect me to let him waltz off into the sunset because you start crying and asking nicely?”
    Ella looked to Dad, gauging his reaction.
    “You have to leave.” He sounded so hopeless and desperate. How could she leave him?
    “Please,” she breathed. She couldn’t just abandon Dad, to be thrown back in that prison cell.
    Lucian took a step toward her. She wanted to retreat but refused to put her father between Lucian and her.
    “You need to understand. Your father will die if he goes to that road, and I won’t be the one killing him. Not directly anyway. I have a barrier spell around my property. Humans cannot enter without one of my people moving them past the spell.”
    It all made so much sense now. Lucian was bat-shit crazy. “Of course humans can cross. I did.”
    The corners of his mouth curved in a wicked grin and Dad moaned again.
    “Ella, run!”