Witchmate (Skeleton Key) Read Online Free Page B

Keir persisted.
    “Mate? As in roommate?”
    “As in lover.”
    Emma felt her stomach lurch. “Ewww! Mike is a like a dad to me. I’d never. Yuck.”
    She didn’t understand the relief she saw in Keir’s face, but she certainly recognized it. “This is Lis, our healer. He tended your wounds while you were unconscious.”
    “So I can thank you for taking off my clothes?”
    Lis shrugged. “It was easier that way.”
    “Easier for who?” Emma gripped the edges of her T-shirt. “I’ll keep my clothes on this time if you don’t mind.”
    “If she’s fighting this hard, Keir, she’ll be fine.”
    “I think her mind is soft.”
    “My mind is hard,” she told him. She knocked on her temple with her knuckles. The movement added to the pounding headache. “Hard as a rock.”
    “Yes,” Keir said. “I agree. You may have rocks in your head.”
    “What? I don’t have—” She caught the mischievous look in his eye. “Oh. You’re messing with me. Fine. Have your fun at my expense, but when my lawyer gets here, we’ll see who’s laughing then.”
    “Lawyer?” Lis said.
    Keir shrugged. “I told you she was talking nonsense.”
    “I’ve had enough. If you’re a cop, charge me. If you’re a kidnapper, tell me what you want so I can arrange it. And if you’re some good Samaritan, thanks all the same, but you can point me the way out of here? Are we still in the St. Louis area?”
    “I didn’t understand any of that, did you?” Keir said to Lis.
    “I understood the part about her wanting to go.”
    Keir turned his gaze on Emma. Saint Louis was unfamiliar. Could it be she wanted to go to Sanlousis? The seat of the witch government? He shook his head. Surely, not. If she were aligned with the witches, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to expose herself. “Sleep tonight. Rest and heal. If you want to leave in the morning, you will be free to go.”
    Emma gave him a suspicious look. “Really?”
    “On my honor,” Keir said. “You are a guest, not a prisoner.”
    Lis gave him a side glance.
    “She’s not a witch, and she’s not one of us,” Keir said to him.
    Lis shrugged. “You’re the alpha.”
    “Yes, I am.”
    As the healer left, Emma assessed Keir. “What is this place?”
    “You are in the Korridan Forest, my territory.”
    “Territory?” There were several forested areas like Meremac State Park and Katie Trail near St. Louis, but she’d never heard of Korridan Forest.
    He quirked a brow. “Where are you from?”
    “Columbia, Missouri, but I’m in St. Louis on business.” She looked around the sparsely furnished room without any modern conveniences. It was lit with oil lamps and candles, no electricity. Maybe this was a campsite. It certainly wasn’t an alien base on another planet. Too much of this place reminded her of home. Sorta. She’d never been a nature girl, and right now, she felt as if she were in a Robin Hood movie. Regardless, she was going to assume she was still on Earth and that she’d walked through a door manifested by the vault. It had probably been a built in exit in case the owner accidentally locked herself inside, and it opened into the forested backyard area because … well, who knew with rich people? They were eccentric. I bet I’m not that far from the mansion. 
    “Do you know where the Mowry house is?”
    Keir gave her a blank look.
    Okay. Does not know Lucinda Mowry. “How close are we to the city?”
    “There have been no cities since the fall of Luer D’San in the Battle of Surrock. That’s when my people took to the woods.”
    Emma eyed him suspiciously. “The last I checked I was in Missouri. And there are several cities. St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, Columbia, Springfield. You get the picture.”
    He narrowed his gaze. “I’ve never heard of this Missouri. Is that across the sea? Did you travel by boat? If so, where are your companions? A skinny girl like you couldn’t have survived a trip like that on your