Lifebound Read Online Free

they can feel what I might do to them. And no paranormal will get within five feet. It is only with my own people that I feel free to touch and be touched.”
    And her own people had practically disowned her.
    “All I want is for you to help me control this so I can exist in the world without a host. I do not want to hurt anyone else.”
    “I am not sure you can exist without a host.” Cemil frowned a little. “Very few lamia have ever been able to do without the give and take of energy to survive. If you wish to try, we will need you to move to one of the isolated cabins on the island, but none are available at the moment.”
    “Then I will manage in my room. I will not leave it.”
    “That might be for the best.” Cemil rose from the table. “Enjoy your dinner. We will talk again tomorrow.”
    Adriana sighed and picked up her fork to finish her meal, but every bite tasted like paper on her tongue.
    She couldn’t help but notice how the lights in the building dimmed and brightened in her presence, almost with her pulse. Even the elevator struggled to keep moving as she headed to her room on the second floor.
    Inside the room, she lay down on her bed and wondered about the man at dinner. Josh. Josh Trenton. The name sounded familiar. Why had he come to her table? What did he want?

    Josh slept and dreamed.
    He dreamed he lay beside her, his fingers running through the rippling silk of her hair. Her hair like birch leaves. He caressed the soft outline of her cheek and traced the incredible pink of her lips. She felt like a rose petal, soft and velvety.
    He kissed her, and she tasted sweet and real like homemade wine. He could get drunk off that intoxicating kiss. He was drunk already. He pushed his hand underneath her camisole across the silk of her skin to reach her breast. It fit his hand perfectly with its warm, rounded smoothness. Her nipple brushed against his palm, rising against him.
    He wanted this so badly. He needed to be beside her, inside her, so that her warm softness could wrap around him completely. Without her, he was so cold.
    With a start, he woke up. He was standing at the window of his room, the cool night air blowing in through the open casement. What was he doing? How long had he been standing there?
    His injured hip ached with the exertion and the coolness of the room. He began to shiver.
    A knock at his door stirred him from his spot, and he limped over to open it.
    Rekkus filled the doorway. “You okay in here, Josh?” the big man asked. “Thought I heard something.”
    “I’m fine. I was just going out for a walk.”
    “It’s two in the morning,” Rekkus said. “How about you take your walk when it’s closer to daylight?”
    “Yeah, whatever.” Josh shut the door and then shut the window. He lay back down to sleep, but kept thinking about her, about how it would feel to be next to her. He didn’t even know her name.

    “What have you done to him?” Sarka asked Adriana the next morning in her office. “Rekkus said he nearly jumped out of the window last night.”
    “I haven’t done anything,” Adriana said for what felt like the hundredth time. “I went to bed and went to sleep. That’s all.”
    Adriana refrained from mentioning the fact that her dreams had been anything but peaceful. In fact, she’d woken up orgasmic at least three times. Or that her energies were far more balanced that morning than they’d been in weeks. Because they were dreams. Only dreams.
    “We have never had a death on the island.” Sarka’s voice was so firm that the air in the room had grown a little heavy and the shadows had gotten much darker.
    Adriana recalled that Sarka was a very powerful enchantress and one she would do well to respect. “I am no threat to anyone here. I will stay far away from him and everyone else. I just want to rest.”
    Sarka stared at her silently for several more seconds and then dismissed her with a wave of her hand.
    Adriana left the office feeling troubled.