The Hunted (The Chronicles of the Hunter Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

small shadows around the lounge furniture and the areas that contained foliage. Heat radiated from the ground, distorting the view slightly. She should probably go sit beside the pool. Find some shade.
    And she would.
    In a minute.
    This just felt so damned sinful. Decadent. She yawned, and then shook herself. She daren’t fall asleep! A slight bit of tan was one thing. A full-fledged sunburn something else. Her fingers trailed through the water as if she did this every day. And then an odd buzzing sound caught her attention. LeeAnn looked up, lifted a hand to shade her eyes, and checked. There were two small airborne things just above the palm-tree line. They flew side-by-side. Like little helicopters. And that was just cute.
    Somebody played with remote-controlled toys around here?
    “LeeAnn! Dive!”
    What might be Kane came sprinting from the house. LeeAnn’s jaw dropped. He was wearing sunglasses. His hair wasn’t bound. It was straight and glossy and black. About mid-back length. She’d guessed he was fit, but she’d been way off. The guy was unbelievably ripped. And wearing way too little. She didn’t even know the names of some of the muscles rippling beneath his tanned skin as he raced toward her.
    “Get in the water!”
    If he wanted to make sense, he needed to put some clothing on. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t even take it all in. LeeAnn sat up, drenching her butt and thighs as the raft thing bowed in the center. Kane wasn’t paying any attention to her. He had a gun in one hand and was shooting toward the toy-things. While running?
    The water started jumping as it got pebbled with projectiles. The float took a hit. Started whistling as air escaped. And that’s when she knew what was happening. Someone was shooting at her!
    With real bullets!
    Shock made her clumsy. Shaky. None of which helped in a life-or-death situation. LeeAnn rolled off the deflating float while the water continually erupted about her. One of the helicopters exploded overhead. And then she watched, with wide, unblinking eyes, as Kane launched through the air in a distance-spanning dive.
    LeeAnn sucked in a breath just before he slammed into her. His arrival shoved her several feet under the water, beneath the burst of bubbles at his entrance, down to where all kinds of white lines of foam were splicing through water. They were the bullet paths as they lost momentum in the water. For the span of a heartbeat, she watched the scene, recognizing that this looked exactly like what she’d seen in movies.
    And then adrenaline kicked in.
    She’d been above a deep section. It didn’t feel deep enough. LeeAnn dove, steadily swimming down, not stopping until she reached the pool bottom. Kane hadn’t followed. His legs were kicking from what looked like a long way above her as he maintained a position. What was he? Returning fire? That was ridiculous. Guns didn’t fire underwater.
    Did they?
    The white foam lines stopped. Disappeared. LeeAnn let an air bubble out. Another followed. She swallowed next, holding air in, trying for time. Her ears popped. Her lungs were starting to burn. She knew she couldn’t stay here much longer. And then Kane loomed out of the space at one side, grabbed her, and shot upward. Toward the surface.
      And air. Sunlight. Life.         
    He lifted her above the waterline, and held her there so she could pull in air. As adrenaline waned, weakness took its place. Her arms and legs felt like limp spinach, and emotion sapped what was left of her strength. Oh. Crap. She refused to cry. There had to be a better emotion available. Easily grabbed. And there was. Red hot. Heated. Completely illogical.
    Anger.
    Kane surfaced beside her, sending a wake of water. Wet. Big. Black hair framed his face and shoulders. He was actually still wearing his sunglasses. And that was just full-out ridiculous.
    “You okay?”
    “No! I am not okay!” 
    He swam to the side, hauling her along. He might have been gentle. It