Bound by Light by Anna Windsor Read Free Book Online Page A

didn’t need to be so close to Merilee—but what the fuck was he supposed to do? The war against the Legion was here, now, and she was part of it. He couldn’t avoid her completely. And damn, he didn’t want to, even though he knew he should.
    "Where were you when I scared you?" she asked, her voice warm with concern.
    Embarrassment made Jake stare at his feet.
    "Hey, look, getting spooked in this creepy place is nothing to be ashamed of." Merilee brushed her fingers against his wrist, and Jake felt the contact like an electric buzz. "I was raised in a Motherhouse with a bunch of adepts who liked to tell horror stories about death spirits—and I still have nightmares about them."
    Jake managed to raise his head in time to see Merilee’s smile fade away. Her expression grew more serious, mixed with a dash of shame and regret. "What am I saying? It’s not like I had any real trauma growing up. Not like—damn, Jake. Forgive me. I didn’t mean to make a joke out of anything." Her fingers remained on his arm, holding him in place, rooting him where he stood, and he couldn’t look away from her, even though he knew he needed to.
    "It’s got to be hard for you, being in this place," she said. "Do you remember it all? Your childhood and . . . what happened?"
    Not sure he wanted to try speaking, Jake just nodded, feeling every last one of his scars throb.
    "Shit," Merilee whispered. "The memories, all that pain, it must be suffocating. Why did you come back here?"
    Jake tested his throat with a swallow before he gave the best response he could under the circumstances. "We have to fight. I have to fight."
    Merilee’s eyes flashed.
    Was that approval? Understanding?
    "You’re . . . special, aren’t you?" she murmured, her subtle Greek accent pleasing to his senses, her voice stroking him like her fingers. "I think I need to get to know you better."
    Mesmerized, Jake stood staring at Merilee as she moved closer to him, only a few inches away, near enough that her presence blew through every inch of his body. His muscles ached from containing the urge to grab her and pull her closer, until he could taste her face, her ear, her neck. Maybe he’d unbutton that soft shirt and taste her nipples, too.
    Footsteps and voices broke the mood and moment, but Merilee kept her gaze on Jake as Sibyls and other OCU officers approached, heading for evening meeting. When she slid her fingers lower and took his hand, the silky press of her palm against his skin made his cock ache so badly Jake was sure the damned thing would crack in two.
    He could get lost in those eyes forever.
    Maybe he would, right now. Or later tonight.
    "Come on," she said, and her voice barely registered in his jumbled mind. "Only two minutes, thirty seconds left. We’ll be late."
    Jake blinked at her.
    Even after hanging out at Motherhouse Greece, he had never gotten used to how exact their time sense was. All Sibyls could do that, keep time in their head, but air Sibyls were just . . . better at it.
    Merilee led him forward, steering him toward the evening meeting. Through the door into the chaos of conversations and clattering chairs, all the way to the front row where her triad sisters waited, already seated.
    Before her Sibyl family saw her holding Jake’s hand, Merilee let him go and gestured to the chair at the head of the row. He took it without protest. She sat beside him as Sibyls and OCU officers filled the large conference room behind them. More folding metal chairs rattled against the wood floor. Dozens of different smells and colors and conversations assaulted his acute senses.
    Growling softly to himself to fight the pain of so much stimulation, Jake shifted in his seat to steal another glance at Merilee. She had turned away from him, speaking in low, soothing tones to Riana and Cynda, her pregnant triad sisters. Andy, who called herself the triad’s "extra," sat closest to Merilee, now wearing wet jeans and a water-streaked NYPD jacket over her damp