Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two) by Lizzy Ford Read Free Book Online Page A

and
turned, finally paying attention. The beast crouched, and she ran
harder.
    “Mama, I wanna play with Rhyn!” Toby whined.
He looked at the jaguar again and took another two tiny steps, as
if testing her resolve to ground him.
    The jaguar launched itself at the child, and
Toby’s scream shattered the quiet morning as its jaw clamped on his
arm. Toby began to panic and pull, and the jaguar lowered itself
farther to the ground, planting its back legs and jerking the boy
towards the forest. Katie’s dormant maternal instinct roared to
life, and she dived at Toby, snatching his legs to keep the jaguar
from dragging him fully into the forest.
    With his scream echoing in her head, she
staggered up and started pummeling the jaguar’s face, shouting for
it to let the sobbing baby angel go. The jaguar winced but kept its
grip, and Toby’s blood turned the snow beneath them red.
    A blast of energy whipped by her, knocking
her back, and the jaguar was sent flying. It smashed into a tree.
Toby sagged. She looked up, shocked to see Sasha standing over
them, his sharp gaze on the creature preparing itself for a second
attack.
    “Go back to the grass! Demons can’t cross
onto sacred grounds!” Sasha shouted, snatching her arm and hauling
her up.
    She dropped on one knee beside Toby, who was
unconscious. Tears in her eyes, she whispered to him as she lifted
him, tormented by the sound of his whimper. She half-stumbled,
half-ran to the park area before tripping and falling flat. Toby
rolled from her arms.
    “I went as fast … as I could …” Ully gasped,
reaching them. Following him was Kris, dressed in nothing but judo
pants, as if Ully had dragged him straight out of bed. She crawled
on her knees to Toby, heart hammering and hands shaking as she
rolled him onto his back. The slash in his arm was deep, and maroon
blood bubbled into the snow.
    “Kris …” she whispered, a different kind of
panic rising within her.
    He swept the baby angel into his arms with
one quick motion and trotted back into the castle. Katie was slower
to follow, feeling lightheaded once again. Ully helped her up, and
they both eyed Sasha as the Dark One’s servant approached.
    “I hate demons,” he said with another look
over his shoulder. She recognized the crazed look from when he’d
attacked her in Hell and inched closer to Ully.
    He motioned to the castle. Ully looked at
her, even more pale than usual, and she retreated to the castle,
worried sick about Toby and Rhyn, even knowing the half-demon could
take out half the demons in Hell if he felt like it. The only two
people she cared about in this godforsaken world were both fighting
for their lives.
     
    * * *
    Rhyn tossed the demon against the wall with
enough power to break its back. The full-blooded demon was slow to
rise, and he waited. Jared changed to his human form and held up
one hand, holding his back with the other.
    “Truce,” he said. Rhyn growled in response
but switched to his human form as well. “You know, you’re not too
bad for a half-breed.”
    “I’m half Immortal, half demon. Means I can
play in both worlds, unlike you.”
    “I see that now. Your monkey is safe. Why
don’t we call it a draw for now, half-brother?”
    “Only if you tell me what you’re doing here,”
Rhyn replied.
    He sensed the demon’s pain behind its attempt
at a chipper tone. Most who challenged him soon learned just how
wild and deep his power ran. As both a demon and Immortal, he
possessed the ability to wield both sources of power but not
control them. At least, he hadn’t been able to control them before
meeting Katie. If this had been a pre-Katie battle, he’d have wiped
out the state. He couldn’t help but feel satisfied at besting a
full demon and controlling his powers.
    “I’m sure we’ll be able to beat each other to
a pulp again sometime,” Jared continued. “Every demon on this
mortal planet is hunting Sasha.”
    “Sasha? What do the demons want with
Sasha?”
    “The