Read Online Embraced (Eternal Balance) by Jus Accardo - Free Book Online Page A

the fact that you were going to die! Even your colors are wrong. They’ve been that way since Chase slapped that cuff on you.”
    I’d been thinking it, but hearing him say it out loud felt like a tsunami rolling over my head. It meant it wasn’t just my overactive imagination.
    “We don’t know anything yet,” I said, trying to reason with him. I realized, though, his anger was totally justified. I sucked in a breath. “Yes. I feel…different.”
    I blinked, and suddenly he was touching me, hands gripping either side of my face with a savage ferocity that gave me chills. “I can’t have you, but I won’t lose you.”
    Gently I laid my hands over his and let my head fall forward until our foreheads touched. He was so close. So warm. Jax had been my comfort in times of stress and heartbreak when I was younger. I needed that now. To feel safe. To feel something. All I would have to do to taste him was tilt my head…
    “You were looking for me?”
    I jumped. Lounging across the backseat was Heckle, dressed in a ski jacket and boots, and holding a ski pole.
    “Where the fuck have you been?” Jax snapped.
    Heckle, as usual, was unaffected. “I wasn’t aware that I needed to report to you when I went out of town.” His gaze swung in my direction. His eyebrows rose slightly, and his lips melted into a grim line. “Is there a shortage of space in the car?”
    I pulled away guiltily.
    “We didn’t do anything,” Jax said tightly.
    Heckle kept his eyes on mine. “But you were going to—which is part of the reason I’m here.”
    This was nothing compared to what we’d been doing in the basement at the Viking. Or in my room. He couldn’t have chosen then to pop in?
    I’ll admit it. The guy creeped me out sometimes—and not because I knew who he really was.
    My aunt Kelly raised me after my parents died, and she’d never been an overly religious woman. We went to church on the holidays. Your typical fair-weather Catholics. But I knew the story of Cain and Abel. Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy, bringing darkness to the world. What the Church doesn’t tell you is that after his untimely death, Abel went on to bigger and better things.
    Oh, and he’d changed his name.
    To Bel Heckle.
    Heckle waggled a finger between Jax and me, narrowing his eyes. “Have you figured out how to break the link?”
    “No,” I said, trying hard to keep my tone even. Heckle might play the part of the wise-cracking, quirky bartender at the Inferno, but I’d seen the power he could control with a simple snap of his fingers. I didn’t even want to think about what he could do to a smart-mouthed girl who was pissy because she and her boyfriend couldn’t get freaky. “I’m working on it.”
    Ever since I’d unknowingly linked Jax and me, Heckle had been on my ass about breaking it. He hadn’t told me why, or more importantly, how , but never failed to harp on it every chance he got.
    “Well, work harder. You—” He leaned over the seat and seized my hand. His eyes widened. “Why are you wearing a Fakori cuff?”
    “A gift from my brother,” Jax said coolly.
    His grip around my wrist tightened, and I bit back a yelp. “Chase is here?”
    “He came to the Viking last night.” I yanked my hand from his, cradling it to my chest protectively. “Gave us an ultimatum.”
    “What kind of ultimatum?”
    “Apparently there’s a big bad demon trolling the town. He said if we took it down, he would remove the cuff.” I peered at Jax from the corner of my eye. “He said something else, too.”
    I hesitated, and Heckle tapped his finger against the seat. “Well?”
    “He told us you owed us, Heckle. What was he talking about?”
    Heckle didn’t say anything. He was still staring at the cuff.
    “Well?” Jax prompted. His patience was waning and I didn’t blame him.
    Nothing.
    “Heckle?” I tried, doing my best to keep the irritation from my voice.
    “What demon did Chase tell you to kill?”
    “A demon