Shadowed Threads by Shannon Mayer Read Free Book Online

balanced my knees on his arms, but I knew that he could throw me off if he wanted to. What the hell was I going to do with him? I couldn’t kill him, not if I was going to bring O’Shea back, but how did I let him live with Pamela’s life on the line?
    A tentative knock came on the door, then the sound of a cane rapping against the wood.
    “Go away!” I yelled, glancing over my shoulder. Doran threw me off him, pushing me straight up into the air. My head brushed the fifteen-foot ceiling before gravity took over, yanking me back to the floor. I landed in a crouch, eyeing up the Daywalker who had plastered himself against the far wall of books.
    “Rylee, I can’t hold on much longer. Send her away, I can smell her on the other side of the door.” He said, sliding to the floor, books falling around him as he went.
    From outside the door came a resounding curse and then the wooden panels were blasted open. Jack strode in, a snarl on his lips, eyes flashing with anger.
    “This is my fucking house, and I don’t give a shit.” He came to a stop as he rounded the table and Doran came into view for him.
    I put myself between Doran and Jack. “Fuck, Jack, this is why I didn’t want you in here, I knew something was wrong.”
    Pamela stepped into the room and lifted her hand. With an ease that belied her experience, she pinned Doran down, and his face relaxed. “Should have asked the witch along. Always ask the witch along. That’s advice you need to start taking.”
    “Shut up, Doran,” I snapped, knowing he was right. The struggle was using Pamela to help me, but not getting her killed. A fine line in our world. One I didn’t like walking.
    Jack made his way to his recliner and slumped into it. “Who has you bound?”
    Doran rolled his head toward the old Tracker. “The Child Empress. I know of no way to break the binding; Rylee must kill me or I will attack her, kill Pamela, and make a general mess of things for all of you.”
    Jack snorted and leaned back in the chair, putting his feet up. “All these things you know, and yet so bloody fucking much you don’t, Daywalker. And you’ve been around for what, three hundred years?”
    Doran gave a grunt. “Close enough.”
    I felt my eyes widen, couldn’t stop them. Three hundred years? Seriously?
    Jack pointed at me with his cane. “She can break the binding, but are you ready to be free of the Child Empress, to stand with Rylee instead?”
    Okay, now I was confused. “I can’t break any binding, Jack. I have no magic.”
    “The magic is in your blood. In mine too, but I don’t have any extra to spare.”
    Doran and I were talking over each other, but I shushed him with my hand. “Doran has drunk my blood before. So your theory falls short.”
    “Straight from the vein, or out of a cup?” Jack tipped his head back, and closed his eyes.
    Doran’s eyes met mine and I saw the confusion in him—and the fear.
    “From a cup,” I said.
    “From any major artery, or from the last of your life, the magic in your blood will act like the catalyst it is. It is a driving force in the most powerful of spells, and will break the bond between him and the Child Empress.” Jack let out a jaw cracking yawn, as if all this were just the every day for him, as if he didn’t really care about the outcome.
    Doran shook his head. “I don’t think this is a good idea. If I bite you, she could have a connection to you through me. I’m not sure I won’t rip you open if she commands it of me.”
    “I need your help, which means we are doing this.” I walked toward him, rubbed my wrist. This was going to hurt like a son of a bitch.
    “Think big artery, Rylee. I’d say neck or inner thigh if you want to be sure it will work,” Jack said, stopping me in my tracks.
    Fuck, this was just getting better and better, wasn’t it? Neck it was.
    Doran couldn’t move, held as he was by Pamela’s spell. I turned to face her. “You let him go when I tell you to, okay?”
    “Are