Read Online One Soul To Share by Lori Devoti - Free Book Online Page A

kelpie’s back. He
clutched at the creature’s mane, determined to stay on its back and
ride until the animal’s energy was spent.
    Then he would direct it back to the surface
and somehow find land.
    The kelpie raced to the sea floor. Once
there, its pace slowed to a trot. Confident he could control the
creature now, Nolan pulled on its mane and kneed it in the side.
The kelpie tossed its head but ignored his urgings.
    It was then he realized the animal was headed
somewhere—its home or stable, he guessed. Somewhere the sea hag
would be sure to find them.
    Nolan kneed the creature again and jerked
hard on its mane, but for the second time, the kelpie ignored him.
It continued its trot in steady even strides.
    There was no moving the kelpie off course.
Nolan had to choose between continuing on its chosen path or
leaving the creature behind and risking the open sea on his
own.
    Confident the kelpie’s choice would insure
the sea hag’s discovery, Nolan loosened his hold on the animal’s
mane and tried to push himself off its back.
    His legs clung to the creature as if glued,
and not just Nolan’s pants, which he would willingly have shredded
to secure his freedom. The muscles of Nolan’s legs clung to the
animal. Rock-hard and unyielding.
    He had lost control of his own body, and,
despite all efforts—striking his thighs, attempting to pry his
hands under his legs—he couldn’t gain that control back.
    He was stuck.
    The kelpie, still trotting, lifted its head
and neighed… laughed.
    o0o
    Her sister’s soul in her fist, Sarina swam in
circles.
    She had seen Nolan’s face when she
jumped.
    He knew she had used him. Knew she had
brought him there with every intention of leaving him behind.
    Guilt lanced through Sarina. More than
guilt—pain.
    She needed Nolan… loved him.
    Admitting that truth hurt almost as much as
seeing the disbelief on his face when she jumped.
    But her choices weren’t good. If she tried to
save him now, it would be Sarina against an army of kelpies, water
dragons, and any number of other creatures the sea hag might have
enlisted to serve her.
    One mermaid stood no chance against such an
army, but still, Sarina couldn’t force herself to swim away.
Couldn’t force herself to look at Nolan as she knew she should—an
expendable human who had served his purpose in her quest to
retrieve her sister’s soul.
    She spun in another circle, swimming away and
then swimming back twenty times before reality truly sank in.
    What was done was done. Now that Melusine had
met Nolan, she wouldn’t give him up—not willingly.
    And Sarina had made a promise, to herself,
her sister, and her dying mother.
    Allera’s soul gripped tight in her hand and
her heart dying, she swam away.
    o0o
    Its laugh at Nolan’s expense over, the kelpie
had trotted along, giving Nolan and his continued efforts to
dislodge himself no consideration.
    With a silent curse, the vampire jerked on
his leg again. Still it wouldn’t budge, but the kelpie did. The
creature surged forward, moving so swiftly that Nolan’s body bent
backward over the beast’s rump.
    Then, with no warning, the kelpie stopped and
fell forward onto its knees. Just as suddenly, Nolan was free and
catapulting forward. He flew over the creature’s head toward a
large metal cage. His body hit the back wall of bars, and his teeth
slammed together. His own blood filled his mouth, but he didn’t let
that slow him. He leapt to his feet, but the door he had flown
through had already slammed shut.
    He raced to the closed opening anyway and
jerked on the door. It held fast.
    Frustration and rage filled him. He wrapped
his hands around the cold bars and hissed, or tried to. Only air
gurgled from his lips.
    A few yards away, the sea hag appeared on a
kelpie of her own. Her snake-tail draped like pearl strands over
the creature’s sides, and her fingers wove into its mane. With a
shake of her head, she guided the kelpie closer.
    “Neither running nor fighting will