Reluctant Adept: Book Three of A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life by Katherine Bayless Read Free Book Online

dummy. Protect what's yours.
    Spurred by the thought, I unfurled my telekinesis to encompass Kieran and myself within my magic's hold before extending my reach into the room. To my dismay, my invisible tendrils skidded off the strigoi as though they were coated in grease, leaving a series of oblong dead zones within my netting. Even worse, the slippery barrier extended several inches beyond each one of them, which prevented me from grasping their human victims.
    I looked about me. Each vamp held at least one captive tightly, using either hands or fangs (or, in one surprising case, a switchblade) to threaten immediate harm.
    Jesus.
    Still, if I overlooked the hostages held by each vamp, there were a little over a dozen partygoers I could grasp freely. Of course, this was only good news if I could do something to help them.
    Why did Julie and Steven have to be so darn popular?
    I'd never attempted to sidestep so many people at one time. The most I'd managed, with Kieran bolstering my focus, had been five. I wasn't sure I could manage seventeen, not that it mattered. Even if I could shift everyone to that higher dimension, it wouldn't counter their catatonic state. They were now intrinsically tied to whichever strigoi had bitten them and easily tracked through their blood, thanks to the strigoi curse. No place would be safe. And where would I keep them? They were essentially human vegetables. Unless ordered to go about their lives as usual, they wouldn't feed themselves, much less attend to their other bodily functions.
    My gorge rose at the thought, but I swallowed thickly and shoved the thoughts aside. Later. I'd deal with that problem later.
    I turned my attention to the source of the delicious laughter—a remarkably handsome sidhe sitting near the fireplace. He lounged in one of the shop's few upholstered wing chairs, long legs crossed at the ankles, forearms draped on the padded armrests, and his head arched back in mirth, exposing his smooth, muscular neck. At first glance, my breath didn't just catch, it vaporized. How the heck had I not noticed him earlier? This was not a man you missed. He was so hot, climatologists probably had to factor him into their weather predictions. I ogled him, gobsmacked, while understanding crashed down on me in the form of this golden, able-bodied visage.
    Eva and Nathan's comments about Kieran made a little more sense now, although not because this new guy was drastically better looking. With his long, honey-blond hair, luminous skin, and warm hazel eyes, he seemed to radiate a captivating, seraphic glow; whereas Kieran, raven-haired and flinty-eyed, appeared brooding and austere. Personally, I'd go for Kieran's dark intensity every time, but everyone's tastes were different. Apparently, the two vamps favored the fair-haired, ethereal type.
    The sidhe in question directed an amused, panty-vaporizing smile at me. "Live elves and fairies in a ring, enchanting all that you put in," he recited, continuing the Shakespearian verse where I'd left off, his lyrical voice an intoxicating purr.
    He chuckled. "How delightful. The Scottish play. And who is Macbeth in this scenario, I wonder? Would that be you, Kieran? Did the oracle's prophecy raise such high hopes?"
    Kieran snorted. "You know well—one such as I do not aspire to such things."
    Lord. Not that stupid prophecy again. When I'd blurted the memorable line, it was because of the elves and fairies reference, not because of Macbeth's foretold kingship. Apparently, Golden Boy figured Kieran had wooed me in the hopes of becoming their next ruler—the one who would unify their fractured populace and be soulbound, not to a sidhe, but to a mate who straddled worlds.
    I couldn't fathom why anyone would count me as a possibility for the prophecy's soulmate role. I wasn't a half-blood like Kim, who was naturally a part of both worlds. I was a born-and-bred Earthling. As Nathan had already pointed out: Human . I didn't straddle worlds.
    Yet … you