Earth Bound by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online

would just let him have the house. He let her think it. “If it would make you feel safer,” he said, opening his eyes and looking directly at her, “of course I’ll stay. I don’t want to be any trouble though. A couch is good.”
    Levi snorted, and Max made a growling sound deep in his throat.
    Gavriil, she’s very fragile,
Levi said again.
What the hell are you doing?
    What the hell was he doing? He didn’t know. He didn’t even care. He sent his brother one hard look telling him without words to back off. He couldn’t reassure Levi that he’d leave Lexi alone because he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do with her. He only knew he couldn’t leave her. She belonged to him, and nothing, not a single person, had ever belonged to him.
    More than that, he’d never had anyone look at him the way she did. Or see inside him the way she saw him. Her safety was paramount to everything else now. He’d neverhad anything in his life he cared about. That was dangerous. He didn’t get attached. He didn’t have a home or an expectation of one.
    His life consisted of hotel rooms and apartments that had nothing in them. He stashed money and passports all over for emergencies and never stayed long in any one place. No matter how grave an injury, he moved locations every few days, not leaving so much as a fingerprint behind. Until now. Until Lexi. He was going to stop here—at least for a while.
    Lexi stood up abruptly, taking matters into her own hands. “I know you’ve all got work to do. If we’re not calling the sheriff and I don’t have to leave, then we need to let Gavriil rest. I have plenty to do.”
    The others had no choice. Airiana gathered up the teacups and took them inside while the women started down the steps, clearly reluctant to leave. His brothers hadn’t budged.
    I’ll need some kind of answer, Gavriil. She’s family.
    I’m your family. And you know you’re treading on very thin ice.
    Levi shrugged but he didn’t move, and Gavriil admired him for that. Levi was well aware Gavriil could kill them all from his position, just sitting there on the swing, but he didn’t so much as flinch. He stared at Gavriil with steady, watchful eyes.
    Gavriil reached out almost lazily and caught Lexi’s wrist, tugging until she turned. She smiled at him. Innocent. Sweet. Her green eyes soft and too trusting. She had no idea that he was a monster rocking gently back and forth on her porch swing. She saw him as her broken bird and she was determined to make certain he was safe and secure. He lifted her palm into the air facing him. Her small, delicate hand, roughened from so much work.
    Gavriil lifted his own palm and pressed it toward hers. His palm pushed energy against hers and he felt a rise of power from his deepest core, the very essence of who he was. It was strong, extremely so, his spirit, his will, the man he was forged in hell. Electricity leapt between them,sparks dancing like fireflies in the air around their palms. It hit her hard, a jolt that sank through flesh to bone.
    â€œNo,” Levi and Thomas both said simultaneously. Max took a step toward him and halted abruptly when sparks arced in the air between the two palms.
    Lexi yelped, pulling her hand back, pressing it tightly against her body as if she’d been injured. “You zapped me.” There was a mixture of laughter and tears in her voice, telling him it hurt more than she wanted to let on.
    It was too late for all of them. Gavriil had no idea why he gave into the compulsion to answer his brother in such a way. He hadn’t thought about it, he hadn’t even considered or planned for it. Energy rose from somewhere deep inside him. That onetime gift that couldn’t be taken back and was never given lightly.
    A commitment. A vow. Binding brands, embedded deep, more than bone deep, sinking into flesh, sinking into his soul,