Devon Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 5] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Read Online Free Page B

cold.
    The tattered red robe he wore parted down the center and fell open, revealing that he was nude below. One glance at his body told Devon he was a thrall. His body was lightly muscled but utterly hairless. Determined not to stare at him and thereby take further advantage of him, Devon turned his gaze up to the man’s face.
    Tears had tracked down through the dirt on his cheeks. Somewhere under all that dust was a terribly handsome young man. With his platinum-blond hair and bright blue eyes, he must have been a highly sought after thrall. That thought drew Devon’s gaze down to his neck.
    “Zooks.” A pink collar encircled his neck, but it was clear someone, or several someones, had struggled to remove it. Bloody fingerprints and ragged bite marks covered the portion of pink leather that Devon could see. But that wasn’t what caused him to gasp out a swear. Ragged scars from bite marks made a horrible ring around his neck. If not for the protective collar, Devon feared they would have bitten him to death. Dreading what he would see, he looked down along his body. At first, all he saw was beautiful pale skin, but the longer he looked, the more he saw faint bruises in the shape of hands. The only saving grace Devon was able to see was that they hadn’t bitten all over his form. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
    And then the worst thought he’d ever had made Devon swallow hard. What if they hadn’t been content just to drink his blood? Devon didn’t want to know almost as much as he did. In order to inspect his body, he was going to need to get the manacles off his legs. One quick look told him the only way they were going to come off without the key was to use powerful tools.
    Lifting his gaze, he realized the same was true for his hands. There was no way for Devon to free him or even to get him up onto his mount, not without injuring him. Given how weakly he was drawing breath, Devon didn’t think he could take much more. Sadly, he might not even make it back to the big house. If Devon had an implant, he could call back for help, but he didn’t. Only gentrymen had the communication units. Still, if Devon didn’t return, they’d eventually send someone else out. Or so he hoped. Because one thing Devon knew for certain was that he wasn’t going to injure him by trying to put him on the dressiter , but there was also no way in hell he was going to leave him out here to die alone.

Chapter 3
     
    Karsten Jones felt like he was floating. Up he went into the hot sun. Eventually, he’d be close enough to touch it, and it would burn him to a cinder. More than anything in the world, he wanted to be vaporized back into nothing but his elements. After what had happened, he never wanted to walk the Earth again or even open his eyes.
    But the pull of gravity was so much stronger than that of the sun. Karsten felt himself being sucked back down and slammed into his body. Pain hit, making him cry out, but his throat was so dry all that emerged was a weak cackling breath. Bright sunlight made his eyelids glow red, giving him a vision of a blood-coated existence. Soon, he’d run out of blood and the vicious men would leave him be so he could slowly die.
    A shadow passed over his face, offering him slim comfort against the heat and light that beat down on him. After a great struggle, Karsten opened his eyes. Above him was a man with extremely short black hair and unusual aquamarine eyes. Surely, Karsten was hallucinating. No way would his savior be the most handsome man he’d ever seen. But maybe after all the abuse he’d suffered, the gods were being kind to him. Or maybe not. Karsten didn’t believe in any gods, so he couldn’t understand why any of them would be interested in his fate one way or the other. This man, whoever he was, if he was real or not, was just another blood drinker who would scrabble at his neck looking for a place to bite. In their haste, they hadn’t tried tools to remove his locked