Marked by Hades Read Online Free Page B

trigger deep down inside him. He spun her around and leaned into her, burying his face in her neck.
    Able fingers groped for the zipper of his jeans. Yes. They wouldn’t make it to the hotel. He was too far-gone already.
    A blinding white light flashed before his closed eyes. His body tensed, and his heart stopped with such a force it knocked the breath out of him.
    He pushed away from the woman. She continued to work his jeans apart, not even noticing he’d pulled away.
    An ache deep in his chest ignited, followed by a sizzling hot line roping around his heart. It tightened like a vise. Thunder clapped in his mind, and like a switch flipped, his body shut off.
    All the lust storming through him vaporized.
    His breathing calmed. His pulse slowed.
    Anna looked up, eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”
    Justin stayed her hand. “Wait.”
    She slouched. “You lost it. What—I—”
    He stepped away and reassembled his jeans. Wiping Anna’s essence from his mouth, he trained his focus on her again. She was beautiful. Perfect. Everything he’d wanted—and had countless times over the centuries—yet he felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.
    Oh, shit. He clutched his chest. His Ahavah— no!
    Shaking his head, he reached for Anna. “Sorry, thought…I heard something.”
    She launched herself at him again, but her body did nothing for him. More so, she tasted off, as if she were a smoker who’d tried to cover it with a chemical mouthwash.
    He dislodged himself and stepped back. This was not happening.
    Looking around the dark parking lot, he didn’t see—or feel—any demons. Didn’t feel any danger, and there weren’t any humans around.
    Shit.
    His Ahavah just received her Mark.

Chapter Six
    Yvonne scratched at her shoulder as she hurried toward her room. She must have brushed up against some thorny bushes during her day-labor job today. But she didn’t care, because her efforts had earned her enough money for a warm bed.
    The hotel demanded cash in advance, which left none for food, but at least she wasn’t on the park bench again. It was cold out.
    She jammed the key into the lock and cranked. The door squeaked open, and she stepped into the dark, quiet room.
    Always dark. Always quiet. Always alone.
    She flicked on the light, and four steps brought her to the bathroom on the other side of the small room. The thick, stale air held a scent of old food and some other things that were better left unnamed.
    Leaning toward the mirror to see her shoulder, she found an intricate bundle of black lines forming some type of shape etched into her skin. The symbols were connected, inverted or something. It resembled an ancient glyph she’d seen in the library while paging through some book, trying to figure out what she was.
    She grabbed a cloth from the towel rack and turned on the water. Once the cloth was damp, she dabbed at the mark.
    It didn’t wash off. Nothing changed.
    Fear and confusion lumped in her stomach like a lead weight. And then her gut churned. Her head spun. She turned and lost everything in her stomach. Sweat beaded along her neck, and gooseflesh prickled her arms. Even beneath the leather gloves.
    She ripped them off and cupped her face. It steamed, her cheeks flushed. What was happening?
    Easing down the wall beside the tub, she closed her eyes. Help me .
    Images of a body moving with hers flashed. Tender kisses along her neck and nibbles on her ear flash-heated her core.
    She rested her head against the tile wall as if to expose more of her neck for the imaginary man to graze on. Gentle pressure along the curve of her shoulder trailed up to behind her ear. It was like a sizzling whisper along her skin. What was happening?
    Didn’t matter. She closed her eyes and fell into the dream. Even if it wasn’t reality, she dived in, needing the connection.
    On her back now, lying on a beautiful bed, surrounded by red silk sheets, she tried to see the man’s face. He didn’t look up from her neck, but she