Read Online Defeat the Darkness by Alexis Morgan - Free Book Online

almost running to keep up.
    Stepping up on the porch, she turned to look down at him. Maybe she thought the high ground would give her some advantage, but she should be smart enough to know he couldn’t be intimidated.
    Hunter joined her on the porch, standing close and glaring down at her. “What in the hell did you think you were doing out there half-naked in the dark?”
    Her chin immediately came up in a stubborn tilt, but her eyes slid to the side, avoiding his gaze.
    â€œThat’s my business.”
    So he was right; she’d been on a rescue mission.
    â€œI will say this once, and I want you to listen: Leave me alone. Period. I’ve been taking care of myself for longer than you can imagine.”
    Instead of agreeing, Tate changed the subject. “Who were those men?”
    He decided to give her the honest answer. “I don’t know.”
    He did know that they might not have even been human. But the last thing the Paladins wanted was it to get out that wack-job Kalithians had been visiting this world for centuries.
    â€œIf you didn’t know, why did we have to hide? They were probably just tourists.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself it was true.
    â€œThey may not have been. I’d rather err on the safe side.”
    Hunter knew it was time to make tracks for his apartment. The walk back from the woods had cooled down his body’s response to holding Tate in his arms. But the longer he lingered, the harder it was to remember why he hadn’t tried to finish what they’d started. And as much as it infuriated him that this little slip of a woman had jettisoned all common sense to come charging after him, it also touched him.
    â€œLeave me alone, Tate. Got that?” he said, getting in her face one last time.
    She executed a perfect salute, the brat. “Yes, sir, roger that.”
    Before he could walk away, she grabbed his arm. “But you get this, Hunter Fitzsimon. If you go tumbling off that bluff because you’re too bullheaded to listen to reason, don’t blame me.”
    Okay, that was cute. He looked down to keep her from seeing him smile. What the heck was that on her legs? He sniffed the air—fresh blood.
    â€œWhat did you do to your leg?”
    She shrugged. “I tripped over a root.”
    He took her arm again. “Come with me before you bleed to death.”
    The cut wasn’t serious, but knowing she’d been injured because of him made him see red—again—as he dragged her into the house.
    He yanked a chair out from the table. “Sit down,” he snapped. “Where’s your first-aid kit?”
    â€œI can—”
    â€œTate, where’s the kit?”
    She rolled her eyes and flopped down on the chair. “Behind the counter out in the shop.”
    His leg was killing him, but he ignored the pain and tried not to limp. If Tate got the idea that she’d been right about the trail being too much for him, she’d be back up in his face about it or baking him cookies or some other crap. He rummaged around behind the counter until he found the small box with a red cross on it. On the way back to the kitchen, he grabbed a couple of clean washcloths and a bar of soap from the hall bathroom.
    She was sitting right where he’d left her. He filled a bowl with warm water, soaked one of the cloths at the sink, and worked up a lather. The soap would probably sting her scrape, but she deserved a little pain for being such a big one.
    The woman didn’t have a lick of sense. The two men out on the trail might have been dangerous, but then again, so was Hunter. Before he was injured, he would never have lifted a hand against a human woman. But being tortured to death had left his temper unpredictable. He didn’t want to hurt Tate, but there were times when he might not be able to control himself.
    Or even remember later what he’d done.
    Hunter pulled a chair closer to