Unbalanced Read Free Page A

true. All of it made sense. The dream, the strange echo of unfamiliar memories, of urges and feelings she couldn’t identify. A powerful emotional—even physical—connection to two very strange men. The mysterious Leah’s? But how?
    Then Leah’s final words slipped into Addie’s thoughts. “She said to tell you she was sorry. That she wasn’t strong enough to fight the creature. Then she said to beware, that it was more powerful than anything you’d ever seen.”
    Jett turned away from the window. “Did she say what it was?”
    Addie shook her head. “No. She didn’t know, but she said to be careful, that it was hunting all of you.”
    “Shit.”
    Locan shoved his hair back from his face and glared at her. His brilliant blue eyes sparkled, and Addie thought of the blue fire she’d seen in Leah’s.
    “She said that? She specifically said it’s hunting us?”
    Addie nodded. “Yeah. She said, ‘It’s hunting us all.’ Why?”
    “Because they don’t usually hunt us. They come here, avoid us, do their damage to humankind and move on until we kill them, but they’re fairly mindless. They never hunt anyone in particular.” He turned and stared at Jett. “I didn’t get a good look at it. The damned thing moved too fast.”
    “Sharp teeth, long claws, a couple of extra arms.” Jett’s laughter carried absolutely no humor. “Stinks like the devil himself.”
    Locan shook his head. “Well, not really like the devil. No sulfur stench. More like rotting meat.”
    Jett frowned as he nodded. “You’re right. Definitely smelled like death.” He turned to Addie. “Are you ready?”
    She glanced from Jett to Locan. Back to Jett. “For what?”
    “It’s time to go hunting.”
    “Hunting for what?” This was so not funny. Two gorgeous guys show up in her bedroom, but they’re both nuts. They had to be, with a story like this. Addie realized she still hugged herself as if she were cold. No, not cold. Just scared shitless.
    “For whatever killed Leah,” Locan said. “For the thing that tried to kill us. Like we said, you’re the new fulcrum. Hunting demonkind is part of the job.”
    Okay. This was truly way past bizarre and into totally freaky. “I see,” she said. “I’m supposed to hunt something that killed the last one with my job. Great. Now why don’t you tell me what the other parts of this promising career entail?”
    Jett shrugged. “Nothing out of the ordinary. You hunt demons with us and keep us from killing each other.” He shot a quick grin at Locan. “We have some, uh . . .”
    “Compatibility issues?” Locan folded his arms across his broad chest.
    “Yeah,” Jett said. “Compatibility issues.”
    This wasn’t making any sense at all. “Okay. And how do I deal with your so-called compatibility issues?”
    “Sex.” Jett and Locan answered together, looked at each other and cracked up.
    Addie wasn’t laughing. In spite of herself, she was imagining getting naked with two of the most beautiful men she’d ever seen, and for whatever reason, she wasn’t at all put off by the idea. She swallowed, searching for sanity. “Sex,” she said, when she finally found her voice. “I see. With you?”
    She was looking at Locan. Jett answered. “With both of us.”
    “You’re the fulcrum.” Locan shrugged as he said it, as if his explanation made perfect sense.
    “You’re the one who’ll keep us in balance,” Jett added.
    No. Absolutely not. What was she thinking? They’d just taken this entire episode from bizarre to unreal. As in, this is not really happening. Addie carefully slipped out from beneath the covers and stood beside the bed. She looked from Jett to Locan. “I’m going to take a shower,” she said. “When I come back out, I expect both of you to be gone. And my doors locked, the way they were before you broke in.”
    She turned away from the two of them and walked toward the bathroom. None of this was happening—she was merely losing her mind. That was the