Read Online Eater of Lives(SPECTR #4) by Jordan L. Hawk - Free Book Online

hummus didn’t
contain any garlic, but he didn’t want to take a bite without
confirming it himself. God, he couldn’t wait to get back to eating
garlic.
    “ I do not understand why you wish to
poison us.”
    Of course he couldn’t go long without Gray
chiming in. Caleb ignored the comment and took a bite. The basil
burst on his tongue: sweet and tangy, perfectly balancing the
chickpeas and lemon juice. “Good stuff,” he said, after he’d
swallowed.
    “Yeah. John and I used to go there all the
time, when we first started working for SPECTR.” Sean glanced away,
as if the renovated buildings surrounding them held memories.
    “But not any more?”
    Sean shrugged and bit into his gyro. When
he’d finished chewing, he said, “You know John. Even at the
Academy, he’d stay in on a Saturday night and study, while the rest
of us were out partying. Once we were hired, eating lunch at his
desk, working ten-hour days, became normal for him. Then Will came
into his life.”
    Caleb scowled. Was this what Sean wanted to
talk about? Why? “Oh?” he asked, as neutrally as he could.
    Sean had the grace to look uncomfortable.
“You have to understand, John has lived and breathed SPECTR since
we were teens. The rest of us had families and summer vacations.
Friends from our old neighborhoods. And maybe it wouldn’t be a
problem, if the job were less high stress. If agents don’t have
enough time away from it, though, they burn out. Shit, you saw what
happened to Brimm—he ended up hiding in the woods with a pack of
ghouls, raving about SPECTR and government conspiracies.”
    “John would never do something like that,”
Caleb snapped.
    Still clutching his half-eaten gyro, Sean
held up his hands in a plea for peace. “I didn’t say he would. My
point is just that Will was good for him. For the first time, he
had something outside of SPECTR. Something normal.”
    Caleb’s stomach cramped around the food he’d
eaten. “Then Will dumped him. And now he’s with me.”
    Sean looked down at the cracked sidewalk.
“Yeah.”
    Oh, no way. “What are you trying to say
here?”
    “I had drinks with Will, night before last.
He wants to get back together with John.”

Chapter 7
     
    Caleb came to an abrupt halt. “What?” he
demanded, but a lower rumble tainted the words, Gray rising up
inside him.
    Sean’s eyes widened and he took a wary step
back. Too late, Caleb remembered Sean was an exorcist; of course he
felt the fluctuation of etheric energy.
    Gray didn’t care. “John is ours.”
    Let me deal with this, damn it . But
anger burned in his veins, twining with Gray’s until he wasn’t sure
what belong to whom any more.
    “I guess that’s just too fucking bad,” Caleb
said, and thank God, his voice sounded normal. Mostly.
    A hard look came into Sean’s eyes, and Caleb
knew he and Gray had crossed some mental line in the other man’s
head. “Listen to yourself. The thing inside you is getting
stronger.”
    “No he isn’t,” Caleb snapped, which was
true…but also probably exactly what every possessed bastard
insisted. “Besides, this isn’t about Gray. John’s going to exorcise
him—”
    “What if he doesn’t? Today is Thursday. One
week from this Saturday, your time runs out in a big way. Have you
even stopped to think what losing you is going to do to John?”
    “He’s not going to lose me!” Caleb yelled,
the roll of thunder crackling under his voice.
    Sean stepped back, and his hand hovered near
his concealed holster. “If John can’t yank the drakul out of your
head, you’re gone. It will take over and that will be that. No more
Caleb Jansen.”
    “ He lies!” Gray boiled under Caleb’s
skin, fighting to get to the surface. “Why would I do such a
thing?”
    “And who do you think John will blame for
it?” Sean went on relentlessly. “Himself, of course. Bad enough for
him to put you down if you’re just friends. How much worse is it
going to be if you’re his boyfriend,