Neptune's Lair (sensual paranormal romance) (The Protectors) by Dorothy McFalls Read Free Book Online

with her. In fact, by the time she stumbled out of that hospital and into the chilly morning air, she only had one thought on her mind.
    She had to go find him.
    Now.
    * * * * *

    It was dangerous to go searching for Dallas again so soon. Even so, Brendan pulled out his stash of lavender candles and started spreading them across his bathroom floor. Despite the trouble he was causing for himself, he felt compelled to do this.
    She might need him. To hell with the risk and the darkness infecting her, he had to find her and fast.
    He had to see her. Touch her. See that she was okay.
    She’s strong , he told himself. But how strong? Strong enough to weather what he’d done to her? It had virtually been a psychic attack. Could she possibly be strong enough to have survived his attack without coming away with scars?
    He didn’t know. And the not knowing scared the hell out of him.
    That wasn’t the only thing scaring him this morning. By taking her spirit from her body last night, he’d crossed a line very few like him have ever crossed. Those who had done it in the past had already been devoured and were merely following the destructive thoughts the darkness had planted in their minds.
    Stealing souls. That’s what the council called what he’d done. A body without its spirit died. When he left his body last night, he’d held onto a cord—a lifeline—that would help him find his way home. It was that lifeline that kept his heart beating and his vital organs working.
    When a spirit is snatched from a body, like he’d done with Dallas last night, she had no lifeline and no real hope for the spirit to find its way home. Not without help, anyway.
    He had never wanted to harm her and wouldn’t have needed to worry if he’d whisked her away to his world, questioned her, and gotten her back to her body before more than a few seconds had passed. But instead of doing any of that, he’d held on to her. Simply feeling her powerful spirit moving through him had been a heady experience. It had tempted him more than he was comfortable admitting. Even to himself.
    He’d been tempted to keep her and her amazing powers... forever .
    He shook the thought away. It had been his damned starved libido acting last night. Not some power game.
    He lit the first candle. Today, he wouldn’t snatch her into his world. After last night, the connection between them was strong. He could feel it tugging at him even now. That connection should give him sufficient power over her and her attempts to block him.
    He lit another candle. The flame sputtered and hissed as if it had been splashed by water. Not a heartbeat later, the phone rang.
    “Mr. Hamlet asked me to check in with you,” his secretary, Trina said. Unlike Franz Hamlet, she was human and wouldn’t understand why Franz was suddenly concerned about Brendan’s welfare. Rumors moved among the Protectors at a frenetic pace.
    “Tell him I’m fine,” Brendan said. Although neither Stone nor Horace would have said a word about this morning, there were several who were adept at reading minds and anxious to share the secrets they learned. He wondered what exactly those busybodies among them were saying about him today. “Oh, and Trina.”
    “Yes, sir?”
    “I won’t be coming into the office for the next couple of days. But please don’t hesitate to call me if something important comes up with any of the cases I’m working on.”
    He needed uninterrupted time with Dallas—preferably with her in his bed. He pictured her with her wrists tied to the bedposts so she couldn’t dash away from him.
    “Of course, sir.” Trina knew well enough to not ask why. “You missed a job interview yesterday with a Dallas St. John. But I should tell you that she was nearly a half-hour late. You might want to forget it and move on to the next candidate.”
    “Dallas St. John?” An unusual name. He doubted that there were more than a handful of women in Chicago named Dallas. His heart started beating