The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning Read Free Book Online Page B

supreme arrogance (no matter that it was entirely right about her wanting to taste it) pushed her over the edge. She’d been up for twenty-four hours straight and was emotionally exhausted by what had been the most horrid day in her entire life. She was beginning to feel strangely numb, almost beyond caring.
    “Go to hell, Adam Black,” she hissed.
    For a brief moment it looked completely taken aback. Then it tossed its dark head back and laughed. Gabby shivered as the sound coursed over her, rolled through the room, echoing off the high ceilings.
    Not human laughter. Definitely not human.
    “Ah, Irish, I’m already there.” It cupped her jaw in one big hand and forced her head back, locking gazes with her. “Know what that means?”
    Gabby shook her head tightly, in as much as she could with her face clamped in its implacable grasp.
    “It means that I’ve got nothing left to lose.” Pressing the pad of its thumb against her bottom lip, it forced her mouth open, and began lowering its head toward hers. “But I’ll bet you do. I’ll bet you’ve got all kinds of things to lose, don’t you, Gabrielle?”

5
    Far too many things to lose,
Gabby thought glumly.
    Her virginity. Her world. Her life. And—if it had its wicked way—probably in precisely that order.
    At the very last moment, just before its lips claimed hers, its grip on her face relaxed slightly and she did the only thing she could think of: She head-butted it.
    Snapped her head back, then forward again, and bashed it square in the face as hard as she could.
    So hard, in fact, that it made her woozy and gave her an instant migraine, making her wonder how Jean-Claude Van Damme always managed to coolly continue fighting after such a stunt. Obviously, movies lied. She wished she’d known that before she’d tried playing action hero.
    Fortunately, it appeared she’d hurt it more than she’d hurt herself, because she recovered faster.
    Fast enough to land a direct hit with her knee to its groin while it was still looking dazed.
    The sound it made as it doubled over sent pure panic lancing through her veins. It was a sound of such affront, of such animalistic rage and pain, that she really,
really
didn’t want to be around by the time it managed to recover.
    As it sank down to the floor, groaning and cupping itself, she dashed past it, making a frantic beeline toward the back door. There was no point in bothering with the front door. She’d never be able to outrun it on foot. She needed her car.
    She darted through the living room, skittered around the table in the dining room, and burst into the kitchen.
    Looming ahead of her—freedom—an open rectangle of doorway, splashed with morning sun.
    She could still hear it cursing, three rooms away, as she reached the threshold. The hell with her luggage, she thought, leaping over it, she’d be lucky to escape with her life and she knew it.
    Vaulting through the open doorway, she—
    Slammed into Adam Black’s rock-hard body all over again.
    She screamed when it caught her roughly, lifting her up until her feet dangled helplessly above the ground. The expression on its stunning dark face was icy and terrifying.
    It crushed her against its body, tightening its arms around her until the air was whistling as she tried to suck it into her lungs. And she knew, if it tightened its powerful arms just a little bit more, her oxygen would be cut off completely.
    It kept her like that for long painful moments, and she went perfectly still, face buried in its neck, its torque pressing into her cheek, willing herself to be soft and limp, to exude a nonthreatening air. She sensed instinctively that she’d pushed it to the brink, and if she evidenced even the slightest degree of resistance, it would respond with even greater force.
    Her body wasn’t going to be able to withstand greater force.
    So it was true, she thought dismally as it held her immobile, the Fae
could
move about in the blink of an eye. One instant it