Fire Bound by Sherrilyn Kenyon Read Free Book Online

back on either one of those freaking machines.” She grinned as Quinn muttered something and flipped open his cell phone, no doubt calling a driver for her.
    For once, she’d let Quinn spoil her with a driver and car because she had to get her new baby home in as calm and gentle a way as possible. She felt four fingers patting her shoulder, content. “We’re going to have to come up with a name for you, little guy. Something suitable for a phoenix that fought its way out of the flames of hell.”
    © 2011 Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love  

Keep Reading for a Sneak Peek at
    ALTERANT

    Book two in the New York Times bestselling Belador Series,
    coming September 27 th from Pocket Books!
    For book tour information, visit 
    www.SherrilynKenyon.com
    www.AuthorDiannaLove.com

CHAPTER ONE
     
    What’s a girl to wear to spend eternity in prison?
    Evalle Kincaid would rather fight a pack of demons alone than face the Tribunal at midnight.
    Seventy-two minutes from now.
    She might walk free tonight . . . if the Tribunal took into account that she’d spent the last forty-eight hours protecting humans from an eight-hundred-year-old warlord instead of mounting her defense.
    Like it was her fault she’d been born a half-breed Belador? An Alterant. The only one not dead or caged. The others had killed humans. Taking the Belador oath at eighteen had kept her free of persecution . . . until now.
    One thing at a time, like getting dressed. She had to show up in more than a bra and panties.
    She pulled out her favorite cotton shirt, a vintage piece, from her antique chest of drawers. Stepping into jeans and boots, she shoved a couple of lug nuts in her pocket and froze.
    Her apartment was too silent.
    Not a lot of noise reached two levels beneath downtown Atlanta when you lived in the equivalent of a concrete bunker.
    But this stillness was a something-must-be-up quiet.
    She headed out to investigate and had just reached the hallway when a harsh blowing noise roared in the kitchen.
    It sounded like . . . a giant blowtorch.
    Grace be to Macha, no!
    She broke into a run and swung through the kitchen doorway as another blast rocked the air. “Feenix!”
    Her two-foot-tall pet gargoyle stood facing the open oven with fire shooting from his snout. He stopped blowing flames and cut his big round eyes up at her in a sly “who me?” innocent look. “Ye-eth?”
    If she laughed right now he’d never learn that he couldn’t shoot flames in the apartment. But she kept her voice calm and curious. “What are you doing?”
    That must have been the right question. He turned to face her and started dancing from side to side on fat little four-toed feet. “ Thurrr-prithe! Peetha. Peetha.” He clapped his pudgy-clawed hands and chortled.
    She stepped further into the kitchen and bent down to see one of her frozen pepperoni pizzas charred beyond recognition on one side.
    He’d cooked for her.
    Her heart climbed into her throat. How was she going to live without him if they locked her away? He was the reason her heart sang every morning when she opened her eyes. She’d find him plopped on the bed next to her with his pet alligator tucked under his arm and a gap-toothed grin on his face.
    She closed the oven and smiled at him. “It’s perfect. Thank you for cooking me dinner.”
    Feenix flapped his wings, flying up to eye level. Two little overbite fangs pointed down past his lower lip. She opened her arms and he floated into them, tucking his wings, which were soft as bat skin.
    But it was the sweet way he said “Mine” that threatened to fold her at the knees.
    She couldn’t let on how hard it was going to be to leave him tonight, or he’d fret the entire time she was gone. Fear of losing her might cause him to regress into the fire-breathing little animal who hadn’t even been able to communicate when she’d first brought him home. If she didn’t return after tonight, and he got out, someone would kill him for sure. He deserved better