Read Online Bound to Seduction by Elisabeth Naughton - Free Book Online Page A

something
she’d ever fantasized about. She gave her head a swift shake, tried
to clear the image from her mind. Only it didn’t work. The images
were still there, circling, flashing, growing darker and more
perverse.
    She shoved Tariq away, sat up, and rubbed
both hands down her face, more shaken than she wanted to admit.
That wasn’t a turn-on for her. Neither was forced sex or pain. So
why was she thinking of both now? Why couldn’t she get those
pictures out of her brain?
    “Mira?” Tariq asked, concern in his voice.
“Are you okay?”
    “I—” She drew a deep breath. It didn’t help.
“I—can’t breathe.”
    He moved off the couch and back a step. She
pushed to her feet, stumbled by him. Stopped in the middle of the
room and tried to suck back air. Her lungs felt three sizes too
small. When he came up behind her and reached for her hand, she
tried to push him away, but there was no strength in the shove.
    “ Breathe, hayaati ,” he
whispered.
    She squeezed her eyes tight. Shook her head
again. “I—I can’t get them to stop. The pictures won’t go
away.”
    “Ghuls,” he growled.
    She had no idea what that meant, but even as
the images assaulted her all over again, she heard him muttering
words in a foreign language. Words she didn’t understand. Slowly,
the images fled, leaving behind nothing but mist and fog. And
before she could ask what he’d just done, her muscles went lax, and
darkness spiraled in.
    Mira blinked several times. She had no idea
how long had passed or what had happened, but when she finally
pulled her eyes all the way open, she found herself looking up at
the dark, vaulted ceiling in her bedroom.
    “ There, hayaati ,” a male
voice whispered—Tariq’s voice. “Don’t move too much just
yet.”
    Something cool brushed across her forehead.
She blinked several times again, realized she was lying on her bed.
The bathroom door was ajar, letting in just enough light to
illuminate the room. Shadows played over Tariq’s face, but even
with them, she could see the concern.
    “Wh-what happened?”
    “You were being influenced,” he said with a
shot of anger in his normally calm voice.
    “Influenced?” That didn’t make sense. By
who? By what?
    “I told you last time I was here that there
are good and evil djinn. That some prey on those in your realm,
force humans to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do? They showed
up because of me. I should have expected this.”
    As he spoke, Mira thought back to what he’d
told her before, then to the way she’d demanded Tariq kiss her only
a few moments ago. Embarrassment rushed through her, followed by
the memory of those images. And the desire to be the center of each
wicked, naughty, X-rated scene.
    Her cheeks heated. She looked away from his
face. But his finger tipping her chin back toward him stopped
her.
    “You are safe now, Mira. I banished
them.”
    “Them?”
    “There were two. Ghuls. The most perverse of
all the tribes. I didn’t sense them when I first appeared because
you…distracted me.” This time, it was his turn to blush. But the
color faded from his cheeks before she could register anything
other than surprise. “There’s no telling how long they were here
tormenting you. But they’re gone now. You have nothing to worry
about.”
    Nothing to worry about except him and this
insane desire still rushing through her veins. Was that a result of
the Ghuls? Of her? Of Tariq? And what would happen when he left?
Would those things—those Ghuls—come back?
    She swallowed hard, for the first time
realizing she was dabbling in something way outside her expertise,
then looked at his strong chest covered by the thin black T-shirt.
Maybe he was right. Maybe she did need to rethink this whole wish
thing. She was opening herself up to some pretty weird shit
here.
    But even
as she debated, she knew she didn’t want to go back on her wish.
Her need for Tariq was still as strong as it had been before. And
deep inside, she