Marked by Hades Read Online Free

and not known it.
    But damn, it was sexy.
    Wait. Had he seen her kill that guy?
    She inched to the side, prepping to escape. Analyzing her, the guy crossed his bulky arms over his brawny chest. Dark shaggy hair dusted the tops of his shoulders. He wore a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and black combat boots. Her instincts screamed amazing sex, but she shook the thought off. No, she needed to focus and find a way out of this if he’d seen something.
    He stood, feet shoulder-width apart, staring as if waiting for her to talk.
    Screw that. She turned and ran. Pumping her arms as hard and as fast as she could, she sped down the sidewalk toward her hotel.
    A quick turn into the park she’d been found in, and she hurdled the first set of bushes she saw. Squatting behind the foliage, she clamped her hand over her mouth to mask her heavy breathing.
    The guy stampeded past her, and after she was sure he was gone, she finally let out her breath. That was too close .
    She stood and headed in the opposite direction. He’d seen what she’d done, and there was no telling what he might do to her if he caught up with her again.
    Time to bolt.

Chapter Five
    “Justin. Come home,” Theo said. “We have a lead.”
    Justin switched the phone to his other side and propped it between his ear and his shoulder as he locked the hotel door. “Can’t leave yet. Need to check out what I saw the other night.”
    “She wasn’t demon? You’re positive?” Theo asked.
    “No, actually, in over nine centuries of demon fighting, I’m still not sure how to tell demons from humans.” After replaying the scene in his mind nonstop, he hadn’t misunderstood what he’d seen. That chick dusted a human by touching him. And even worse, she’d given Justin the slip for three days.
    And for those days, he’d been consumed with finding her. Hell, he’d dreamed of nibbling on that lip ring she mercilessly toyed with as she’d stared him down the other night. Even now he ventured out into the darkness hoping to track down this mysterious woman.
    He had to know what she was, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was attracted to her, or that the leather hugging her kick-ass body completely turned him on.
    Nothing at all.
    The Great One had many creatures roaming the earth for various reasons, but Justin had never seen anything like this woman. From what he could tell, she wasn’t vampire, and he was sure she wasn’t a demon. She didn’t have wings or Hunter markings—
    “Justin!” Theo’s voice rattled the phone.
    “Yeah. Here.” He stomped down the sidewalk to the bar where he’d first seen the girl. Maybe she’d return there, not that she had the previous nights he’d been staking the place out. “What’s your lead?”
    “Sadie and I grabbed a demon last night and prodded him for info on the so-called cave that’s holding the Artifacts.”
    “What’d he say?”
    “That it was in France, near Rouen.”
    “Halena’s territory.” Great. While Justin respected Halena as a Gatekeeper, her personality left plenty to be desired.
    “But that coincides with what the demon you and I hammered said, since there’s a gate to Hades in Rouen.”
    So the bastard wasn’t lying after all.
    “Sadie and I are splicing there immediately to start investigating. I wanted you along, but it seems a female has caught your attention.”
    “Suck it, Theophilus .”
    Theo growled.
    “I just need to know what she is and how she did what she did.”
    “And it has nothing to do with your Mate or anything.”
    “Don’t start that shit again. I’m not taking a Mate.” Although he had said the same words thousands of times over the centuries, they didn’t feel so true this time, and that scared the shit out of him. No way did he want the emotional baggage of a Mate or the idea of being tied to one woman.
    “You don’t have a choice about taking a Mate, Justin. One’s been chosen for you already; The Great One just needs to awaken the Mark.