The Protectors Christmas Box Set (sexy paranormal romances) by Dorothy McFalls Read Free Book Online Page A

was the first to notice him. She gave him a weak smile until she noticed Holly at his side. Her expression hardened, and she glared at the two of them before turning away.
    Hell, there was going to be trouble on that front. Justin Davies wasn’t just powerful. He was popular. If Hadrian wasn’t careful, Holly could find herself with a bunch of enemies she didn’t deserve. It had been Hadrian’s decision to save her, even if he knew the price.
    “How much does she know?” Stone came right up to the two of them and asked.
    “Not nearly enough,” Holly answered for herself.
    Stone prodded Holly’s bruises. “It looks as if you got to her in the nick of time.”
    Kara must have overheard them. “Goodie for us,” Hadrian clearly heard her say.
    Holly flinched.
    “It’s grown stronger,” Stone said.
    Hadrian could feel the beast’s strength beating like fiery wings against the veils of this world. “Holly said it was starving. That it came to her weak and desperate.”
    “Is that so?” Frank asked.
    Holly nodded vigorously.
    “But it had fed at least three times. I would have thought it would have been close to half strength by now,” Frank said.
    “Whatever attacked me is the same thing—the soul eater—that killed Justin Davies?” Holly asked, which impressed Hadrian. She’d not run...yet.
    “It hunts every night,” Stone said. “According to the stories handed down through the centuries, it can only feed on one soul a night. It takes an incredible amount of energy to tear a soul from a living body.”
    “Then why doesn’t it go after the souls of the dead? Like ghosts?”
    Stone chuckled. “There’s no such thing.”
    “No ghosts, but you expect me to believe in demons?” Holly scoffed.
    “And trans-dimensional shifts,” Stone said.
    Holly rubbed her bruised temples. “Let’s stick to demons for now. Hadrian, if it was the same creature, then why did you tell Detective Newton it wasn’t?”
    “Newton can’t help us, so there’s no need to get tangled up with his investigation. As it is, we’re already running short of time.”
    “Okay...so, why am I bruised when the others don’t have a mark?”
    “You bare the marks of survival. If it had taken your soul, you wouldn’t have bruised, either. You have to understand the nature of the beast.” While both he and Stone explained to Holly what they knew about the soul eater, which wasn’t a lot, Hadrian noticed a growing number of discontented looks coming Holly’s way.
    She’d been beaten halfway to hell and was exhausted. She didn’t need to battle her own kind, too. Though he hoped she didn’t notice the building tension in the café, he knew she wasn’t stupid. She had to have noticed the scowls and heard the angry whispers.
    “You said last night that you didn’t stop the creature, you only traded victims,” she said quietly. “At the time, I didn’t understand what you meant by that. Did you know it would attack Justin Davies?”
    “I had a feeling that once it had tasted one of our kind it would seek out another.”
    “He traded Justin’s life for hers,” Kara shouted from the other side of the room. The woman had eagle sharp hearing. “How does that help us, Stone? How can she do anything for us? She doesn’t even know what she is. She hasn’t been trained. She has no magic that we know of. Justin was powerful and smart. Why trade him for someone who can’t even defend herself?”
    There were grumblings of agreement.
    “Hadrian knew what would happen. He knew the consequences of saving her. I call for Hadrian to be brought up in front of the council to answer for this crime,” Kara said.
    Holly looked as if she was wanted to crawl under a table. But she didn’t. Instead she grabbed Hadrian arm and pulled him behind her as if she was preparing to go to battle for him.
    Stone held up his hands. Silence descended. “I ordered Hadrian to do everything in his power to protect this particular New One. He broke no