Read Online Ill Wind by Rachel Caine - Free Book Online

after you. You can’t run around loose like this. One of the most powerful guys in the world is dead .”
    â€œYou’re going to call the Power Rangers?” That was our own private joke. . . . Marion Bearheart’s division of the Association had no official name, but they were the justice system of our screwed-up little world. Quietly took care of the problems. Calmly dispensed justice when required. No arrest, no jury, just the gentle, final judgment of the executioner.
    He held my eyes. “I don’t have to, and you know it. They’ll find you. They’re already on your trail.”
    I had a very cold, cold thought. “You think the lightning bolt—”
    â€œI think it’s a warning, Jo, whether it came from the Rangers or not. This is a serious thing you’re into. You don’t want to laugh it off. Not this time.” He reached out and took my hand, and even in that gentle touch I knew he had enough physical strength to crush my hand like paper. If Paul wanted to restrain me, it wouldn’t exactly be a challenge—unless I wanted to fight on the aetheric. Which made methink of Bad Bob, and I felt a wave of sickness break over me. It left me shaking.
    â€œStay,” he said. Still a request.
    â€œThought you had a lunch date.”
    â€œIt can wait.” He was looking at me again, watching me in that half-lidded, intense way that carbonated my hormones. And worse, he knew it. If I stayed, I was going to get myself in trouble, one way or another. “I don’t believe you did anything wrong. I think Bad Bob lived up to his reputation, things got out of hand—is that how it was?”
    â€œI can’t do this,” I said, and pulled my hand free. Paul was staring at me with big, calculating brown eyes. His eyebrows pulled together. The smell of aftershave reminded me that I wanted to kiss him, and I sank farther back in my seat, trying not to give in to temptation, trying not to notice the way sunlight slid warm across his cheekbones and turned his skin to gold. God, I wanted comfort. I wanted someone to make everything . . . better .
    I knew better than to believe I could find it anywhere except inside myself.
    â€œYou need my help to stabilize the system?” I asked him. The lightning bolt would have torn his careful manipulations to shreds, sending the weather into chaos even if it wasn’t yet visible to the naked eye. He shook his head.
    â€œI’ve got three people on it already. The less work you do in the aetheric, the better,” he said. “And stay the fuck out of Oversight. Especially if you’re determined to keep on with this. You glow like a heat lamp.”
    â€œI don’t have a choice, Paul. I’ve got to keep on with it.”
    â€œI could stop you, you know.”
    â€œI know.” I leaned forward and kissed him. Caught him by surprise. After a few seconds, those sensual full lips warmed under mine. The fantasy had been good; the reality was better. When I pulled back, he had a glazed look in his brown eyes, but he blinked and it cleared up. So much for my ability to cloud men’s minds . . .
    â€œJesus,” he breathed.
    â€œIt wasn’t that good,” I protested. But he wasn’t kidding. He was looking at me with wider eyes, really staring now. Seeing.
    â€œThere’s something wrong with you,” he said. “I can’t see it, but your aura’s turned red. Blood colors, Jo. You know what it means—”
    When I looked down at myself, I saw the black writhing form of the Demon’s Mark on my chest, over my heart. It was working its way down. I focused hard and halted its progress, but I couldn’t hold it for long. When I looked up, Paul was in Oversight, right in front of me—layers of green and gold and blue, perfect in their intensity. He’d see it. He had to see it in me.
    Back in the real world, he only said,