Bending Steele by Sadie Hart Read Free Book Online

was reaching for a bowl when a scream
pierced the air outside the cabin, half eaten by the howl of the
winter wind. Instantly, he had his knife in his hand. One glance at
Steele, and Hexe could see her blade resting easy in her palm.
    A loud thud struck his front door, enough to
rattle it down to its hinges. Another scream. Feminine. Terrified.
It lifted the hair down his neck and left him bone cold. Steele
sucked in a breath between her teeth and tensed beside him. She’d
gotten her feet solidly underneath her now and had moved up beside
him. Ready, watching, but she was letting him take lead.
    It was his house after all. The thought drew
a soft smirk to his lips. Steele was a survivor, and she had no
reason to look after him. The woman outside pounded against his
door, shrieking. Her voice broke off in sobbing fits that tore at
his heart, but Hexe didn’t rush the door.
    He’d fallen for the hurt kitten routine once
and had nearly gotten his throat slashed out. There were those who
would never fight fair. Instead he approached from the side, steps
slow. Steele matched him on the other side, calm. Her icy resolve
firmly in check.
    “Please! Please!”
    The door shook under the force of her fists
as the woman railed out another sob.
    “Hexe, please!”
    Her voice. Oddly husky, distinct. Almost too
gravelly for a woman’s. A memory clicked into place, the redhead
from last year. Odd, he couldn’t place her name but he could
remember her voice. Hexe reached for the handle. “Step back.”
    Her sob broke into a small gaps and he heard
her stagger backwards. “Oh thank you. Thank you, thank you.”
    He opened the door, Steele stepping up behind
him but the woman had dropped to her knees in the snow, her face
buried in her wind raw hands. Her knuckles were bright red against
the cold. Damn. Hexe reached out, grabbed her by the back of her
shirt and hauled her inside. She stumbled but didn’t fight.
    Instead, she reached out with both hands and
wound her arms around his waist, collapsing against him. Steele
shut the door, a mocking lift to her brows. She would find this
amusing.
    Hexe caught the woman under the chin, tilted
her face up. Tears streaked down her cheeks and he could feel the
violent hammer of her pulse. “What happened?”
    “Liam...” She cried out, twisting her head
out of his grip and burying her face against his stomach. Open
mouthed, the heat of her breath twisted up his belly. Hot, sticky.
Tears left the fabric wet. What the fuck was her name?
    Steele folded her arms over her chest and
leaned back against the door. She didn’t look at all inclined to
help. The woman kneeling before him groaned into his belly, but
before she could start crying again, he placed a hand on each side
of her face and forced her head up again. “What happened?”
    He drew the words out slow and firm. Damn it. Listen .
    “I was...I was with Liam. We’d decided to run
the mountains for a few nights, you know? See if there was
anything.” She shivered, one hand slipping into the hem of his
jeans. Not sexual. She just clung to him as if she needed
something, anything , to hold onto. His jeans just happened
to be it.
    Her breath shook as she closed her eyes,
gathering courage. “We’d just been walking, Liam wanted a run, so
we shifted. Then I saw the man on the cliff, he had this big
rifle.”
    Steele stood suddenly, her knuckles white as
she wrapped the handle of her knife in a death grip.
    “He had to have seen us. Had to known what we
were. I mean we were just human and then…then he just shot
Liam.” Her voice broke on a sob. “It was silver. One minute he was
standing, the gun sounded, Liam jerked and then collapsed.” Her
voice trembled. “He didn’t get up.”
    Steele reached out and caught her by the
shoulder, shaking her. “Get a grip. Where was this?”
    “I don’t know. I just ran.”
    “Could he have followed you here?” Steele’s
voice trembled a little over that last word and Hexe’s