The Hunter by Theresa Meyers Read Free Book Online Page B

touch. It made her angry that he’d threatened her the second their kiss had ended. It made her angry that she’d shared something personal with him that she’d shared with none of her other victims.
    And why on earth had she felt compelled to share her name with him, or the fact that she’d been human once before? Had it been because she’d already felt she’d known him? Ha. That was laughable. Being in the flesh against him was totally different than reading about his exploits in the pages of a book. He was bigger and bolder, and far more charming than she’d thought he’d be.
    “So that’s it?” he asked, eyeing her with suspicion.
    “And look, you’re still alive.” Her tone was mocking, but she couldn’t hide the bitter edge of anger there. In all her twenty-five years as a demon, never once had she been affected by the men she seduced. She’d rarely even looked at their faces. All she’d pictured was the look on her father’s face when he’d met his match in Rathe as she took their proffered souls.
    “Having second thoughts about our bargain?” Colt drawled as he looked deeply into her eyes.
    Lilly steeled her spine and deliberately softened her face so he wouldn’t guess at her inner turmoil. How was she to have known he’d have this kind of effect on her? “Are you? Just how many bargains have you struck with demons?”
    “None. But there’s always a first time for everything, isn’t there?”
    The words lashed at her like a bullwhip, the sting of them making her wince. A first and a last time. The truth was she’d been introduced to Hell long before Rathe came along. From the minute she could toddle, her father had exploited her keen mind and unusual looks. She’d been part of nearly every con he played and, thanks to her efforts, they’d managed a dishonest living.
    “True. But it doesn’t mean it always turns out the way you expect,” she said, tipping her chin up a notch.
    She’d grown tired of the charade her mortal life had become, the constant running and the lies. She’d wanted a normal life for her and her sister, maybe even a husband and a family of her own. But the minute she’d suggested that to her father, any ounce of kindness had vanished. He’d threatened her. If she left, he’d turn her younger sister Amelia into a means for profit any way he could. And while Amelia was a delicate beauty in her own right, she didn’t possess half of Lilly’s fire, determination, and cunning. She’d never be able to pull off the cons her father favored, which meant her future was bleak.
    Lilly couldn’t let that happen. She’d kept up the cons until she could find a way out for both herself and her sister. It had tainted her soul and shredded every ounce of decency within her, but she’d done it, by God. And she’d hated her father more by the minute. But it had taught her something valuable—there was always a way out, if you were able to accept the cost.
    The Hunter’s glacier blue gaze bored into her. “If you want me to stick to our bargain, you’d better not double back on your word, demon.”
    She stiffened. “I never forget a promise.”
    Lilly had promised herself that her little sister Amelia would never know the touch of a man until she invited it herself. There’d been only one way Lilly could think to stop her father’s plans. She’d summoned Rathe, and in exchange for the fiend killing her father and sending him to Hell where the bastard belonged, something she couldn’t do herself, the demon had taken her soul.
    It seemed a small price to pay to protect her sister. And until now it had been relatively easy. No emotion. No true impulse. Just doing what she’d always had to do and harvesting their nearly worthless souls in the process for Rathe.
    But Colt Ambrose Jackson had just done the unexpected. He’d made her want to kiss him. He’d made her desire him. Damn him.
    Lilly grabbed hold of the spark of anger bristling beneath her breastbone and