Protecting His Witch (Entangled Covet) (Keeper Of The Veil series Book 1) by Zoe Forward Read Free Book Online Page B

You can keep it.”
    “Allison is your half sis, too. She’s not that bad. And Mandy is your mother. You should actually meet them at some point.”
    “How is Allison doing? Any recent hospital trips?”
    Matt shook his head. “She’s still struggling.” He wished he had the miracle cure for her anorexia and depression.
    “I still wonder why Quinn only negotiated to free one of us from that life. Why he’d leave you in the hands of Mandy and that psychotic asshole Grant Ryan…” Softly he added, “If you’d have let me I would’ve killed the old bastard for you. For what he did…”
    Matt shrugged. His stepfather. Any time he dwelled on the abusive prick, years of repressed rage screamed for freedom. The asshole left a tornado of devastation in his wake when living, and continued to fuck with him from the afterlife. Thank God Matt wasn’t blood-related to the guy.
    His mind moved to his bio-dad, Quinn, who had appeared when he was about ten, and spent years secretly tutoring him to use his druid talents, right up until Quinn’s murder eight years ago. He’d begged Quinn to take him away from the Ryans, but Quinn always denied him out of deference to some deal arranged with his mother. Matt never understood. He vowed if he ever had a child trapped in that type of situation, he would do anything to get him out of it. Even so, he was grateful for every moment he got with Quinn.
    “Why are you here? Did you find any information on Kat?”
    “Sort of. This will seem mental, but I’m on assignment from the Big B.”
    Matt swiped the longneck out of Eli’s hand and took a deep swig. He closed his eyes in bliss. “Damn, that’s good.” He handed back the bottle. “Does Bryce still think we hate each other?”
    “Yeah. But I think he suspects we’re not really on the outs.”
    “He just can’t leave me alone this week. I’m not going to have a sit-down with him.”
    Eli shook his head. “Not about that. He wants intel on a Pleiades. Katherine something or other. He thinks you’ve got her chained in your bedroom. Is she the same Katherine you asked me to research?”
    Matt shook his head. “I don’t know. Did you get any information on her yet?”
    Eli shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”
    “Doing what? You’re retired and from what I can tell you’ve become a professional couch potato.”
    Eli flipped him off. “This Katherine thing is way too coincidental. She’s probably the same girl. But I didn’t even need to check your place. No way would you get involved with one of them. That is even too stupid for you.”
    Matt’s neck heated. “Yeah.”
    “If I gave a shit, I’d be jealous. I think Bryce likes you better than me. He’s obsessed, really. Every meeting he corners me to ask about you. He wants you back. Bad.”
    “Probably because his current shaman sucks.” Matt sank into a plush chair.
    “The new healer isn’t that bad. He’s just a little green.” He clicked through a few channels.
    “He’s that bad, huh? Does Bryce still think he can make you into a shaman?” Matt snagged a Dorito from the open bag on the coffee table.
    Eli grumbled, “He just doesn’t get that I don’t have your level of healing ability.”
    Even though he wasn’t hungry, Matt couldn’t resist another chip. As he crunched, he asked, “So, now that you’ve confirmed I don’t have her, what’re you going to report?”
    “Do you know where the girl is?”
    “No.”
    Eli grunted and took a swig of beer. “So, how bad you got it for her?”
    Matt scowled.
    Eli was silent for a second, then laughed.
    Matt’s face burned. His twin couldn’t read minds, but knew him too well. “Bad enough. I was looking forward to that beer tonight.”
    Eli continued laughing to the point that he snorted. “This is too good. You get her in bed yet?”
    “None of your goddamned business.”
    “She was that good, was she? You’re screwed.” Through laughter Eli managed to choke out, “No pun intended.” Eli