Charming the Alphas (Hex My Heart, #5) by Talina Perkins Read Free Book Online

she’d missed the signs between planning her heist by night and playing the obedient little librarian by day.
    Muffled male voices argued above her, the syllables meshed. Forcing her mind clear of all the muddled mess, Marabelle mentally heaved aside mounds of fog until words made sense.
    “Ye’re nae hearing me, wolf. Yer mate is not dead. Entirely anyway.” She didn’t recognize the man’s rough voice, but did pick up on the rushed agitation in his tone. And the slight brogue.
    “There’s a helluva a lot of room for interpretation in those two words, dragon.” Lucian bit out the last word with a razor sharp warning.
    Not dying and not dead . Good to know. In contrast to the good news, her heart doubled its size and pressed against her diaphragm to create an unbearable pressure that cut into her air supply. Dots danced behind her eyelids, quivers of energy arrowed through every muscle like double-edged spearheads, slicing a path through muscle and nerve ending. Any longer and there might not be much of her left to argue over.
    Small tremors quaked from her center until what felt like every cell in her body vibrated with power. Flashes of blood and spellwork flitted across her mind, the next more gruesome than the last. Each mirage brought a taste of old magick and left a bittersweet taste in the back of her mouth. A sense of antiquated times that had come and gone settled over her. She couldn’t see any faces, only darkened walls or maybe woods. Only an open fire pit provided a source of light as the flames licked along the sky from in front of her. More than knowing, she sensed it was the centerpiece that separated her from three other ladies, all with their heads thrown back and ancient words falling from their mouths.
    “She needs a healer versed in the ancient ways. Much longer not even she will be able to help her.”
    Marabelle broke the trance over her mind. Dead languages and spellwork faded into a low hum. Numbness seeped into her body—fingers, toes, eyes—nothing responded.
    Voice low with raw emotion, Lucian gave no room for argument. “Her sisters can help.” He spoke over the male from above her while his hand rested against the exposed skin of her midriff and helped calm her.
    “Och, not likely. We just came from there and if I know anything of the warlocks, this witch fears it’s that those who hunt her will go looking there first.”
    Touché.
    “Point taken.” Zane answered this time. Desperate to touch him, she strained her muscles but got no reaction from her body.
    Lucian picked up right after him. “We don’t have much time, so what do you suggest?”
    “Come with us. Let our healer help.”
    “Wasn’t aware there were any still practicing.” One of her men picked her up from wherever she’d keeled over from the rush of the potion and pressed her close to his body. Lucian, judging by the way she molded to his solid chest and his long hair brushed against her forehead. Had he sensed her need for him? Dying to be close, she accepted the gift of her men.
    “There’s a lot about the DraegonStones ye dunnae know. Ye’ll have to ride with us,” another male spoke up. His voice deeper by a fraction than the first male. It carried over the room from behind her and from how Lucian’s fingers dug into her, the thought of riding a dragon made him somewhat tense.
    The second male paused half a second before continuing. “You can dissect our existence en route. Or nae—”
    “We get it,” Lucian cut in. “From the way the ley lines are jumping all over the place we don’t have long before the High Council finds her. And us.”
    Knuckles caressed the underside of her chin. “Mara, baby girl, please open your beautiful brown eyes for us. You gotta wake up now.” Zane’s lips brushed against her ear and cut through the torrid flood of images of what it meant if the High Council did find them, and Zane’s sweet touch anchored her. Glue fastened her eyelids closed and it seemed the