Read Online Coveted - Book 3 in the Gwen Sparks Series by Stephanie Nelson - Free Book Online

morning air stole my breath for a second. We headed down the brick walkway to my Jeep parked along the road. Dorian’s pace was a little faster than mine, which gave me a view of his back. When we reached the car he went around to the driver’s side, unlocked the doors and slipped inside. I didn’t expect men to open doors for me, but I knew he hadn’t intentionally, almost as if a signaling something I wasn’t getting. Swallowing my confusion and pain, I opened the door and slipped inside.
     

 
     

     
    Heartless black eyes peered into my soul and left an icy chill quaking through my bones. His smirk revealed the pleasure he took from my pain. As he weaved the dagger through the air light caught the edge of the blade as if shining a spotlight on the weapon that would end my life. He was proud of the double edge knife, wielding it with efficient swift hands like some sideshow at a circus. Only I didn’t clap and cheer for his show.
    “You think you can kill me before I kill her?” His breath brushed against my cheek, warm and sour as he dug his weapon into my neck. A white-hot searing burn erupted along my throat as he toyed with my life.
    My eyes popped open. I was on my side in a ball and my cheeks were wet. Heavy sobs choked me as I tried to put the pieces of reality back together. I was safe in my bedroom, not back at Broomsticks. Not in the arms of the rogue. Flashes of the broken girl I saw in the mirror flitted through my mind. Burying my face in my pillow I screamed, hating that I hadn’t let her go yet. I needed to be strong to get the upper hand on the Veil. That couldn’t happen if she was still hanging out in my subconscious.
    Two soft knocks echoed behind my door. “Gwen?” Dorian’s soft voice called. I wiped my eyes and nose, clearing the evidence of my breakdown before he opened the door and stepped inside.
    “I heard a scream,” he said. The light from the hallway spilled into the room, highlighting his hair while shadows played along his face.
    “I’m fine,” I mumbled. The floorboards squeaked as Dorian stepped further into my room. Sitting up, I hugged my knees and watched him. He walked over to the window, bracing an arm against the wall and looking at the small side yard below.
    “What aren’t you telling me?”
    Dorian looked back at me, dropping his arm and turning around to lean against the wall. His hair fell forward as he lowered his head to study the floor. I sat quietly, waiting for him to spill it. It could have been five seconds or five minutes before Dorian spoke. I was so anxious to hear what he had to say that time slowed to a crawl.
    “I cannot see your death.”
    Well, I hadn’t been expecting that. “Since when?”
    Dorian pushed off the wall and paced back and forth. His hands fisted at his side and his head was down as he stared at the floor. His brows pulled together sending creases rippling across his forehead.
    “I—I don’t know. In order for me to distinguish when someone is going to die, I have to focus on his or her soul. I never checked yours when we first met. It didn’t seem important at the time.” His voice was hard with frustration.
    “And now when you try to pinpoint when I will die, you get what? Is your sight just blank, or can you not even sense my soul?” This was not good. Having Death on my side was to my advantage, and now he was as clueless as I was.
    “No, I can feel your soul still. Your fate is blocked from me.”
    I draped my legs over the edge of the bed and gripped the mattress with both hands. So the reason he was acting so strange was because he didn’t like not knowing when I would die. Not that I wasn’t curious myself. If Dorian could not determine when I would die then that small shred of hope I had been clinging to vanished.
    “Do you think Holly cast a spell of some sorts?” I asked. “Something that blocks me from you so you can’t prevent my death?”
    “It’s impossible,” Dorian murmured to himself.