The Dark-Hunters Read Free Page A

unchecked, just waiting for someone to channel them.
    And tonight was a full moon.
    Placing the book back into the safety of her cart where she locked it up tight, she was certain that kismet had placed the book in her hands. She had felt it calling to her as soon as she’d approached the bookstore shelf where it lay.
    Since she had been happily married for the last two years, she knew the book wasn’t meant for her. It was only using her to get where it needed to go.
    To Grace.
    Her smile grew wider. Imagine having such an incredibly handsome Greek love-slave at your beck and command for an entire month …
    Yep, this was definitely a birthday Grace would remember for the rest of her life.

C HAPTER 2
    Hours later, Grace sighed as she opened the door to her two-story bungalow and stepped into her polished foyer. She tossed her handful of mail onto the antique drop-leaf table by her staircase before she shut and locked the door behind her, then dropped the keys next to the mail.
    As she pulled off her black high heels, silence rang in her ears and a lump settled deep in her chest. Every night she followed the same innocuous routine. Come home to an empty house, drop her mail on the table, trudge upstairs to change, eat a small meal, sort the mail, read a book, call Selena, check with her answering service, then go to bed.
    Selena was right, Grace’s life was a short, boring study in monotony.
    And at twenty-nine, Grace was tired of it.
    Heck, even Jamie the nose-picker was starting to look good.
    Well, maybe not Jamie, and most especially not Jamie’s nose, but surely there was someone out there somewhere who wasn’t a cretin.
    Wasn’t there?
    As Grace headed up the stairs, she decided living by herself wasn’t so terribly awful. At least she had plenty of time to devote to her hobbies.
    Or to develop some hobbies, she thought as she walked down the hallway toward her bedroom. One day, she really was going to get herself a hobby.
    She crossed her bedroom and dropped her shoes by the bed, then quickly changed.
    She’d just finished pulling her hair into a ponytail when the doorbell rang.
    Heading back downstairs, she went to let Selena in.
    As soon as the door opened, Selena huffed, “You’re not wearing that tonight, are you?”
    Grace looked down at the holes in her jeans and her oversized T-shirt. “Since when did you start caring about what I look like?”
    Then she saw it in the huge wicker bag Selena used to carry her groceries. “Ugh, not that book again.”
    Looking a bit peeved, Selena said, “You know what your problem is, Gracie?”
    Grace looked up at the ceiling, seeking heavenly help. Unfortunately, none was forthcoming. “What? That I don’t go moon-crazy and toss my freckled, fat self at every guy I meet?”
    “That you don’t know just how adorable you really are.”
    While Grace stood dumbfounded by such an uncharacteristic remark, Selena took the book into her living room, and set it on the coffee table. Next, Selena removed the wine from her bag, and headed for the kitchen.
    Grace didn’t bother to follow after her. She’d called for pizza before she left work, and she knew Selena was just getting wine glasses.
    As if pulled by an unseen hand, Grace felt herself drawn toward the coffee table and the book.
    Unbidden, her hand reached out for it, and as she touched the soft leather, she could almost swear she felt something brush her cheek.
    That was ridiculous.
    You don’t believe in this stuff.
    Grace ran her hand over the smooth, perfect leather, noting that no lettering or title appeared anywhere on it. She opened the cover.
    This was the strangest book she’d ever seen. The pages looked as if they’d once been some kind of scroll or something that had later been bound into book form.
    The bleached parchment crinkled under her fingers as she turned to the first page and saw an intricate emblem of painted scrollwork that had three intersecting triangles and a beguiling image of three