The Curse Read Online Free PDF

made an mm-mm sound. A female operative at VIPER once described his voice as a night wind sneaking through the backwoods of Louisiana. Devon wore his sun-streaked golden hair pulled taut in a ponytail, but a wavy strand had escaped and dangled over his forehead. The perpetual shadow on his cheeks and strong jaw gave him a devil-may-care appeal … for a woman who welcomed trouble.
    He sent a sly look at Evalle and said, “Another Kincaid massacre. You’ve been on a tear this week.”
    “Hey!” She regretted trying to yell at him, swallowed and said, “I didn’t do all of this.” She had been taking her frustration out on a few gangers and trolls, but just like tonight’s carnage, she’d only inflicted injuries as a result of self-defense. “Is everything under control? Any of ours hurt?”
    Devon wiped sweat off the side of his face. “No, our people are good. We had the humans contained when Tzader sent us this way to set up an ambush for the Rías. Most of the gangers ran. I put some Cajun mojo on the others to keep them in La La Land until cleanup gets here to wipe their minds.”
    Not sure what power or majik Devon possessed, Evalle just nodded, glad the Beladors hadn’t been injured while linked to her. “Who killed the Rías?”
    “That would be me, my dear,” Quinn admitted with a hint of disappointment in his voice. “None of us was going to reach you in time, so I …”
    “Used your mind lock … and blew up his head?” she finished, hating that he’d had to use extreme force for her. Quinn had an unusual ability to mind lock with other beings, and could damage or destroy a mind, but he kept his power under a tight tether and had never before physically exploded a head that she knew of. Plus, he couldn’t use deadly force through his mind lock unless he received prior approval or was under mortal threat himself.
    “That’s a graphic way of stating it,” Quinn said. “But basically, yes. Tzader authorized the kill. I tried to stop the beast by taking control of his mind, but he didn’t drop fast enough, so I used kinetics to assure he didn’t touch you.”
    Tzader snorted. “Think I remember it more as an order than authorization.”
    Evalle cocked her head at Tzader. “Thought only Brina, or Macha, could give that approval.”
    Tzader shifted, lowering his voice. “With the threat hovering over Brina, Macha gave me clearance to give the order if I saw fit.” Tzader and Quinn could be over-protective to the point of aggravating, but she appreciated them more than they’d ever know. They were the closest she’d ever come to having brothers, or any family.
    She cast a quick glance at the dead Rías and winced. The beast had shifted back into a human form, so now she had to look at a headless, naked human body.
    In the face of a threat, Quinn could kill an enemy without hesitation or remorse, but he still suffered when forced to destroy the mind of any living thing, even a dangerous beast. But he would do whatever it took to protect those he cared for, and that’s what Evalle kept telling herself—he did care about her.
    That’s why she’d suffered this sick ball of guilt in the pit of her stomach for the past three weeks.
    She hated the seed of doubt that Kizira—a Medb witch priestess Quinn had history with—had planted in Evalle’s mind about him. How could she question one of her two best friends in the world?
    Her heart knew better than to believe a lying Medb, the most dangerous enemy of the Beladors, but Kizira had produced evidence that Evalle couldn’t easily dismiss.
    With bodies scattered across the landscape, that conversation with Quinn would have to wait. She told him, “Thanks.”
    Tzader issued orders, pointing at several Beladors as he did. “You five form a perimeter around this area to keep any other humans from coming in while we wait on additional VIPER assets to arrive for cleanup.” He turned to three more, nodding toward the battlefield. “Get a head