Read Online Black Widow Demon by Paula Altenburg - Free Book Online Page B

her time ringing him up. Every few minutes she would glance at him, then look away as if afraid. Finally, she gathered her courage. “You come from away. Have you heard the rumors? Do you know if it’s true what people are saying?”
    “Saying about what?” he asked. His mind was on Raven and the passing of time as he packed the purchases in a sack after she rang each item through.
    Her fingers trembled on a bag of dried beans, and her eyes went to the door. She lowered her voice and spoke faster, as if to get the words out before anyone else might overhear them. “That spawn are here in the mountains, burning down villages and killing people. That they’ve got demon abilities now that the demons are gone. And that we’re less safe now, without the demons, than we ever were before.”
    Blade continued to fill the bag. “I don’t pay much attention to rumors,” he said. “And I don’t borrow trouble. You shouldn’t, either. If it’s true, let the Godseekers take care of it.”
    Purchases in hand, he left the store far more troubled than he’d been when he entered.
    The three-storied rooming house where he had been staying was the tallest building in town and not far from the store. Attached to it, as part of a small, gated complex, were the local bathhouse and laundry. A painted white sign announcing vacancies hung from hooks over the steps and creaked in the dry wind. It would not take him long to reclaim his belongings and settle his bill.
    He shuffled along as if time was unimportant to him, when in reality, worry for Raven gnawed it him. He had assumed responsibility for her and had not done so lightly. He’d left her alone long enough already.
    He had almost reached the rooming house when a lone man came out the front door and descended its steps.
    …
    When Raven finally pried open one throbbing eye, it was to the fading light of the day. Her head ached like crazy, and agony ripped through her arms and legs. Thousands of fire ants stripped her flesh from her bones, and she was helpless to stop them. She tried to move, but the heavy weight of a blanket or some similar cover pinned her in place.
    No, not a blanket, but a long, wool-lined leather coat—Blade’s.
    She tried to push it off and discovered her inability to move was not part of any hallucination. Her hands and feet were bound. The pain, too, was real. Pins and needles of fire ignited nerve endings in muscles gone to sleep. Her mouth was unbearably dry, partly because of the gag between her teeth. She bit it, enraged.
The bastard
.
    She had trusted him based on her instincts, and that betrayal stung far worse than his. She did not expect much from others. She did, however, expect a lot of herself, and could not quite believe how her demon reacted to him. She had never, in her life, felt such desire for a man. She drew them to
her
—they did not draw her to them. It left her feeling even more vulnerable, as if her demon were somehow bound to him, and it made her uneasy.
    She fought the bindings at first, too weak to tear them but desperate for freedom before the hallucinations started again. Then, exhausted, common sense whispered in her ear that Blade would not have tied her and left his coat behind if he’d intended to abandon her. He could simply have walked away. Instead, he had restrained her.
    Why?
    Her demon whispered the answer to her.
Because he made you a promise, and he does not make them lightly. And because I claim him.
    He’s mine
.
    Certainty edged out desperation. He would come back for her. She clung to her trust in her demon instincts as if it were a bobbing log on a flood-ravaged river. As for claiming him…
    She ruled her demon. It did not rule her. She belonged to no man and had no need for one to belong to her.
    Panting heavily, she struggled to regulate her breathing and remain clearheaded. She could not—
would
not—lose her sanity completely. It was all she had left. She didn’t want to think about the next round of