Seduced by Danger Read Online Free Page A

fine.”
    Cara heard Sal sigh then he clopped over to Cara’s side and placed his hand on her bare back. A sense of calm flowed over her, not enough to completely displace the grinding fear but enough to allow her to stop crying and to focus her arus on her hands clasped around Michael’s.
    Hinthial remained still as stone for several minutes, her hands locked in place over Michael’s chest. Cara couldn’t even tell if she was breathing but her hands… Her hands glowed with a pale blue light, almost like the flame of a blowtorch.
    The light waxed and waned as she watched, slowly expanding to encompass the goddess’s arms.
    And still Michael didn’t move.
    No . She refused to lose him a second time.
    Cara closed her eyes and concentrated on her arus , letting it warm and grow in her body. She built it up like she’d build a fire, adding fuel to it bit by bit until it bubbled in her blood like lava. Then she let it flow into her hands, into Michael’s hand, cementing the link between them.
    Please, love. Come back to me.
    “Cara,” Hinthial said, her tone sharp. “Continue to call to him. Make him listen.”
    I love you, Michael. I miss you. Aron misses you. Don’t leave us. We need you.
    Cara’s eyes flew open as Michael’s hand clenched around hers then released.
    “Cara,” the goddess commanded. “Continue. Do it.”
    Michael, please—
    Hinthial fell away from the bed with a cry, curling her hands against her body. Sal ran for the goddess as Michael began to thrash on the bed, though not with convulsions. He seemed to be struggling against something but he still didn’t seem to be breathing.
    Cara threw herself across his chest, trying to hold him down so he wouldn’t hurt himself. Which was ridiculous but—
    He gasped and his eyes flew open. He cried out, an agonizing sound, then stared sightlessly in front of him.
    “Michael!” She shook him, trying to get his attention, to make his eyes focus, to draw away some of the fear she saw etched onto his face. “Michael, it’s me. It’s Cara.”
    He struggled harder then, his arms breaking her hold on him and shoving her away from the bed. Cara fell to the floor, hard enough knock the wind from her lungs.
    She sat on the floor and gasped for air just long enough to gain her bearings then scrambled to her feet.
    And screamed, just a short note of terror before she could cut it off, when a blue-skinned Tukhulkha demon appeared on the other side of the bed.
    Cara froze as the minion of Charun , God of Aitás , the Etruscan Underworld, turned its dark gaze on her then looked around the rest of the room. Even though Cara had never seen a Tukhulkha demon in person before, she knew exactly what this monster, with its humanoid body and birdlike facial features, could do. The horror stories associated with the demons gave Etruscan children nightmares.
    She expected it to attack right away but it continued to gaze around the room. When its gaze landed on Hinthial , its head tilted and beady eyes narrowed. Large black wings appeared and flapped behind its shoulders as its arms crossed over its chest.
    “Whoa,” it said. “Didn’t expect to see you here, Lady. Though when someone started messing around with this one’s death, I guess I should have realized.”
    Though shorter by inches than the demon, Hinthial had the whole regal thing going for her and managed to make the demon appear smaller somehow. “How are you, Nathum ? And what are you doing here?”
    “What? You pull a soul back from Aitás and don’t expect the boss to get curious?” The demon snorted, the sound giving Cara the creeps as she watched the exchange. “He sent me to check.”
    The demon gazed with intense concentration at Michael, who appeared to be breathing regularly. His skin tone was becoming more normal by the second though he still seemed to be unconscious.
    And the demon was way too close to the bed for Cara’s piece of mind.
    “The soul was still in my realm,” Hinthial