Read Online Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted) by Stephanie Julian - Free Book Online

This is gonna hurt no matter what—
Sharp pain sliced into her temples right before the power blew her across the room. Pain shot up her spine as her back hit the wall, milliseconds before her head connected.
Yeah, that was going to leave a mark.
“Sissy!” Leo scrambled across the floor after her, eyes wide.
She held up her hands. “I’m okay, bud. I’m fine.” Except…scorch marks covered her hands, making pain shoot up her arms and into her head. Her palms felt like she’d dragged them through a bed of red-hot coals. She dredged up a smile. “You and me together, kinda like Mentos and Diet Pepsi, huh?”
Leo never looked away from her hands, teeth latched into his bottom lip as his dark head tilted to the side. Before she could react, he placed his small hands over her burns. She drew in a sharp breath, steeling herself against the pain—that never came. Instead, she felt heat, not burning red heat but cool white—
Shit. “No, Leo, don’t—”
He wrapped his hands around hers, holding on so she couldn’t get away without possibly hurting him, his grip was that tight.
And then she felt the tingle of Leo’s arus working against her own. The relief was immediate as her burns disappeared. Fear rose close on its heels.
Great Goddess, please let him be okay. “Leo, let me see your hands.”
She braced herself for the sight of burns on his small hands. With empathic healing, you took the injury on yourself—
No burns. His hands were perfectly soft and smooth.
She took a deep breath. Only six and he healed with no side-effects.
Such a special little boy.
“Leo.” She looked straight into his eyes. “How long have you been able to do that?”
She couldn’t heal without retaining some of the original injury on herself for a certain period of time, depending on the severity.
He just stared at here, as if he didn’t know the answer to her question. Or he just didn’t want to answer.
With a sigh, she gathered him onto her lap and held him, until she remembered the spell they’d been trying to work.
Looking down, she saw the bloodstone at the bottom of the moon bowl. It looked like a charred piece of wood. Her chest contracted like someone had punched her.
So much for that. Failed again.
Why her mother had ever thought she was special was beyond her.
Leo followed her gaze, little shoulders drooping as he caught a glimpse of the stone.
“It’s okay, bud.” She hugged him tight. “We’ll be okay without it.”
But she swore she felt those damn frogs biting her ass.
* * *
They left the building at seven.
Gabriel had to hand it to the girl. She’d hidden them well. She’d only screwed up once. But once was all it took.
He’d called in a favor with the local police and ran down her license plate. The registered name and address were bogus but she’d gotten a parking ticket two months ago on this block.
He’d been staked out since early afternoon and it’d finally paid off.
Her apartment was in an older building in center city. It had character but wasn’t rundown. Her neighbors appeared to be young and single, coming and going at all hours. Probably never even realized there was a kid living there.
He was pretty sure no one saw her or the boy leave the building. In her baggy jeans, grey sweatshirt and red ball cap with her hair tucked under, she looked like every other city kid with a backpack slung over her shoulder. The boy walked at her side, dressed exactly the same, though his hat and sweatshirt were blue.
From a few blocks behind, his enhanced sight allowed him to track them in the fast-falling dusk. He was careful, but obviously not careful enough.
She realized she had a tail after five minutes. She didn’t stop or look around, but she stiffened and her feet faltered for two steps. Then she continued on as if nothing had happened. It wrung a reluctant grin out of him.
He followed them easily for five blocks. Then they turned down an alley off Chestnut Street. And vanished.
“Fuck.”
“Sure,