The Spirit Seducer (The Echo Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

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    With a huge tug, I wrenched my arm from Layla’s grip. In six steps, I was past Zeke and the warriors, on the patio where my mother was slowly disappearing into the swirling, sand-filled vortex. Her arms flailed as the jaguar-faced warrior tugged her farther in. Her necklace chain caught him across the face, and he bellowed, stumbling backward.
    He disappeared into the sand, but my mom, all five-feet-two-inches of her, struggled out of his hold. She scrabbled toward the edge of the cloud.
    The center of the funnel cloud was black and slimy. Things moved in the shadowy distance. They were big and hungry like the warrior who’d just disappeared.
    Forcing down my instinct to run away, I stretched upward and grasped the very tip of my mom’s fingers. As soon as her skin touched mine, I pulled back as hard as I could, but my feet barely skimmed the concrete.
    She didn’t fall farther in, but I wasn’t able to pull her from the cloud without more leverage. I yanked harder, settling my feet shoulder-width apart.
    “Hold her,” came a voice from behind me. Deep, dark like high-quality chocolate. I hoped it was Zeke. I needed him to fight off the demons to have a chance at saving my mother.
    The jaguar-faced warrior reappeared behind Mom. He had an angry welt across his neck where her chain had hit him. He growled, his teeth flashing yellow and deadly. He pulled at Mom’s waist, and her fingers slid from mine.
    I lunged forward as my mother went tumbling forward toward that shadowy hole. As her feet disappeared, she screamed again. The sound was horrific, a soul-wrenching agony. I managed to catch her flailing fingers one more time. I grappled with her hand, striving for a better grip. My head throbbed in painful synchronization with my pulse.
    Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear her well over the sounds of the fight. If she was telling me to let go, I wouldn’t listen.
    A warrior with the broken jaw bore down on me. Anger and fear galvanized me, and I slapped the beast. The hit was off-center and with my left hand. The demon snuffled, its eyes rolling back in its head. He stayed there, still. Like I’d frozen him.
    I didn’t have time to enjoy the moment because Coyote was in front of me, his beautiful face contorted with fury. He’d shrunk down to human-size, though he still towered over my five-one frame. I shrank back.
    “I’m coming, Echo,” that deep, smoky voice called. Zeke was farther away. I needed him here, next to me, fighting Coyote.
    “Help,” I whispered.
    Blood thrummed thick in my veins as Coyote’s lips parted, then slid upward in a genuine smile. Delight filled his eyes as we studied each other.
    I balled the fingers of my left hand into a fist. He raised his hand and wrapped his long fingers around my throat and his fingers dug into the sensitive skin in my neck. I unclenched my fist and gripped his huge wrist.
    Coyote ran his nose along my jaw. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my mouth shut. My mind and body warred, one begging him to keep touching me, the other determined to free my mom.
    “They hid you well,” Coyote said. He brought his other hand up to trail his fingers down my collarbone.
    His fingers tightened around my neck, and I whimpered. Mom tried to pry my fingers from hers, much as I had fought Layla. I tightened my grip on her as Coyote tightened his on me.
    “I’ll go with you,” my mother cried. “I swear it on Sotuk's name and life. But leave Echo. She knows nothing of your world.”
    “You’ll unlock my desires,” Coyote murmured, ignoring my mother’s plea, his voice soaking into my chest. I felt him there, my skin turning hot and tingly. “After I unlock yours, darling.”
    Coyote’s breathing escalated as he brushed his lips against mine. Soft but firm, he exerted a calculated pressure designed to make me yearn for more.
    And I did—as much as I didn’t.
    His kiss felt wrong. My lips sought something else. Something I knew, deep down, that I’d