Eternal Embrace Read Online Free

alarm freaked her out. The night a man had tried to drag her into an alley came back, along with the image of Jax diving in to knock the man on his butt. The guy had carried a knife too, a big, long, deadly-looking blade, but Jaxon had hauled the guy off her as if he weighed nothing. She’d never seen a man jump to her rescue before—heck, she’d never needed one until Jax had swooped in like Superman—but he’d saved her with such complete lack of fear and such easy strength that his reaction now scared her. He looked scared. Jax scared wasn’t good. Not good at all.
    “Joey,” he murmured, sounding so sincere, she dug her nails into her palm to keep from crying. He ducked his head and of all things, rested his forehead on her shoulder. As if for support. From me?
    “Jaxon…you’re freaking me out.”
    “Just hear me out. I tried to help,” he said, lifting up to meet her eyes with such sincerity she felt tears rush her eyes.
    “Jax, you’re really scaring me.”
    He grimaced, but the intensity didn’t leave his face. “I tried to keep this from you. Can you trust me? Now, after what I did?”
    She swallowed past the dryness in her throat. This was bad. Very bad. This went beyond him sneaking out on her. This went beyond her seeing him with those bozos. This was…bad. Jaxon had never spoken so gently. He was arrogant, self-confident in the extreme and intelligent in a sharp, quick way that thrilled her, but gentle, soft-spoken? Not the Jax she knew. Even the night he’d finally made love to her, he’d been in charge, confident and so hot she’d thought at times that she could feel him surrounding her and filling all her empty places.
    “Joey, this is serious.”
    A sharp, unexpected stab of pain pulsed under her ribs, like a cramp heading straight for her heart.
    “What the hell?” She grabbed hold of him, and shuddered as another unexpected bout of pain shot from her toes all the way to the top of her head. All of a sudden, she felt sick to her stomach. Her cheeks grew wet in that way that meant she was going to hurl, and she shoved out of Jaxon’s arms.
    “Oh, God, oh God, I’m going to be sick,” she groaned, fighting the instinctual need to gag. If she was going to cast up, she wasn’t doing it on his lap. The pain in her chest hit again and her knees gave out. Jax grabbed her in his arms, stopping her fall.
    “I got you. I have you, just breathe.”
    She barely comprehended Jaxon’s rough curse, followed by his surprisingly gentle arms and hard, solid chest against her cheek.
    “Just hold on for me, okay? Hold on to me, okay?” he demanded.
    Another shot of agony proved that the ones before had only been teasers. This one left her panting. Sweat covered her body, making her shiver from the air touching her skin.
    “I think we agree on something finally,” she whispered.
    His dark eyebrows lowered and his blue eyes filled with worry.
    “This is pretty serious,” she managed.
    Another flush of heat swelled along her stomach and she swallowed, abruptly aware she wasn’t going to be able to hold back from spewing. She managed to swing her head away from Jaxon, but couldn’t do more, as everything she’d ever eaten in her life chose that moment to forcibly exit her body.

Chapter Two
    “This is so not good,” Joey whispered brokenly.
    Jaxon held her as tightly as he dared. Inside he was a wreck. She shouldn’t shift to a vampire—not without the blood exchange from her maker. But she was shifting and he had less than a minute now to explain to her what was happening.
    “Joey, darlin’, I’ve been trying to tell you that you were attacked. I found you at the club, but you weren’t alone, you were unconscious, near death and I…I got you out of there, and thought—” He stalled like a Cadillac. How could he tell her this? She looked at him then, her hazel eyes so full of pain he wanted to howl. Would she turn evil?
    He shut that thought down. He’d make sure she never turned