Read Online Earth Bound by Christine Feehan - Free Book Online

and no one would ever find him. No one would ever see him.
    She didn’t move. Didn’t pull away from him. Her eyes never looked away from his. If she saw danger—or death—in his gaze—and he was damned sure that she did—she didn’t flinch. She just accepted him.
    â€œWhat the hell is wrong with you, Lexi? Do you have any idea what I am?” He bit the question out harshly between his teeth, wanting to shake her. She was so close to death but she didn’t realize it—or she didn’t care. “I’m a fuckin’ monster. I don’t belong anywhere near you. Take a good look.”
    He was strong, enormously so. He was twice her size, his palm wrapping around her delicate throat easily. She stood still, one hand locked over his heart, the other resting lightly on his shoulder. Not once did her incredible green eyes waver from his. He realized in that moment she was fighting for him.
    Once more her hand slipped into his hair, her fingers combing through the unruly strands. “Gavriil, you were forced to work for monsters. I know how that feels. I know what it’s like to know you can’t ever see the world or the people in it the way others do.”
    Her fingers continued to move through his hair, stroking him, taming him with her gentle hand. His hand, wrapped around her throat, was all about violence. Hers, moving through his hair, was calming, even caressing. He felt fear. Real fear.
    He’d never been afraid of dying. He didn’t have anything to lose. They’d taken everything he cared about from him. But she was asking him to live. To come out of the shadows where he’d existed and actually live.
    â€œI stay here on this farm because I can live a fantasy life. I have my sisters who love and protect me. And they do. Without them, I wouldn’t survive.”
    His entire being rebelled at her revelation. He actually had a physical reaction to her words. She
had
to survive. She had to be in his world. He might be so far gone that he was not redeemable, but if he had one chance, it was with the woman beside him. In any case, with or without him, she was worth far more in the world than he was. He allowed his hand to slip from her throat, back down her arm to her wrist.
    â€œNever make the mistake of thinking we’re the same, Lexi,” he cautioned. “I’m capable of terrible things. You’re not.”
    â€œI’m trying to learn,” she admitted.
    He shook his head. “You be who you are. It isn’t necessary to learn anything but defense.”
    â€œLevi told me every defense is an offense.”
    She wasn’t running, screaming for help. She hadn’t even condemned him and she had known what had been in his mind when his hand circled her throat. He had seen the knowledge in her eyes. Knowledge, not condemnation. “Levi’s right,
solnyshko moya
, a good defense should be an offense as well.”
    His body was beginning to signal he’d had enough. Pain could be pushed back for only so long. He had forgotten the pain wracking his body every second of every day, just for a while, just while he was with her. Now it was coming back full force and he could do nothing but allow it to wash over him.
    â€œI need to lie down for a few minutes.”
    He needed to try to formulate a plan, to consider his best course of action and what to do about Lexi. He was terrified for her. He understood why Levi and the others were so protective of her. Like him, she didn’t fear death. She’d had too much taken from her, and she was willing to put herself in harm’s way to give him a chance.
    She wasn’t as naïve as he’d suspected. She knew he was the devil. She knew he was a wild animal capable of destroying her, yet she stood there in front of him with her wide-open, all-seeing eyes and invited him inside. Invited him to do his worst and promised silently that she’d stand by to catch