Claimed by Cammie Eicher Read Free Book Online Page B

me.”
    Lifting Chiana against his chest, Creed unbolted the door and began to climb the steps to daylight. By the time they left the building, she could stand.
    “Let’s go.” He strode toward his SUV, turning his back on Chiana. If the spell worked, she’d come with him.
    Chiana paused by the passenger door, shading her eyes against the afternoon sun.
    “Where are we going?” she asked.
    Creed shrugged. “Damned if I know. Get in.”
    “Just like that. Trust you, no questions asked.”
    “I’m leaving. Do what you want.”
    Chiana hesitated for only a second before she opened the door and climbed in. Creed fired up the engine and headed back toward the main road. So far, so good.
    She was sullen, staring out the window without speaking, which suited him fine. He needed time to reconcile himself to the responsibility he’d taken on.
    Ever since Haiti, he’d worked alone. When he returned from the island nation, the agency told him to see a shrink. Said it was policy. He told them where they could put their policy, threw his agency-issued equipment on the desk and went on a three-day drunk. He was still sobering up when a director showed up at his doorstep, offering him a position as a free agent.
    Free agents were the worst kept secret in the place. Everyone knew they were close to crazy, impossible to put with a partner. Officially, no such thing existed. The agency disavowed knowledge of agents like Creed. Unofficially, they got the assignments that needed to stay off the record, the ones where the chances of winding up dead were better than the chances of being alive to get that exorbitant paycheck.
    If Creed cared about money, he would be a wealthy man. He was in this for a different payoff, the chance of dying. Raised to believe suicide was a coward’s way out, he couldn’t take his life. He had no problem with someone else doing it for him.
    “What did you do back there?”
    The question came as they hit the interstate and blended into the flow of semis and cars.
    “Used a binding spell.”
    “Which means?”
    “No matter how wonked out you get, you’re not going to hurt me. You may want to, you may try to, but if it works like it’s supposed to, you can’t.”
    “They ought to sell that sucker in Wal-Mart, huh? Bars wouldn’t need bouncers then.”
    Creed came close to smiling. “It’s like a pharmaceutical. There may be side effects.”
    “What, you turn into a toad at midnight?” Chiana asked. “Or I do?”
    Now Creed did smile, an unaccustomed action that made his face feel strange. “Do you always ask so many questions?”
    Chiana shook her head. “Only when I’m nervous.”
    “Do me a favor and calm down then.”
    To his surprise, she shut up. The miles rolled by, the sun slid toward the horizon, and they rolled north past the Tennessee welcome sign as dusk fell. Creed glanced at the fuel gauge. Heading toward empty, but enough to reach their destination, he hoped. He knew where he needed to go now, and he wanted to get there fast.
     
    Chiana stared longingly at the restaurant signs as they rolled past another exit. Her body was still revved up, and she felt like she hadn’t eaten for days. When she’d complained about hunger, Creed had dug around in a duffel bag and found a couple of energy bars that tasted like honey-glazed cardboard. She’d hated them, but she’d eaten them.
    Glancing at her watch, she calculated the hours since her last shot. Unless Wil had sneaked a few into Creed’s pocket, there was only one syringe left. Until this morning, one hit every twenty-four hours, precisely timed, had kept her Valkyrie side calmed down and her human blood in control. She couldn’t forget to watch the clock, not since she’d been located.
    “Still hungry?” Creed’s inquiry pulled her back to the highway.
    “Famished.” She wasn’t exaggerating.
    “We’re almost there. It won’t be long.”
    “If I don’t get some food soon, there’s going to be a corpse in this