Free Seduced in Shadow by Stephanie Julian Page A

framing scowling Mediterranean features. He was built like a linebacker, except for the fact that his lower body was that of a goat and he had small black horns on his head.
    “I just know they’re headed this way. Maybe they don’t know jack about this house and it’s just a coincidence. But then I don’t really believe in those. Hey, Antonin, your girl’s looking kinda spacey.”
    “Ellie?” Antonin looked at her.
    Already on the move, Ellie paid no attention to Antonin. She slid past Justin and Scarlata and sank down onto her knees in front of Sal.
    She didn’t say anything, just sat there and stared. Antonin brushed past Justin to stand by her side, ready to tackle Sal if the horny little bastard so much as looked at Ellie the wrong way.
    But Sal just smiled.
    “How ya doin’, babe? Nice to see ya,” the salbinelli said.
    After about thirty seconds, Ellie nodded and the dazed look left her face, replaced by a smile. “It’s nice to see you again too,” she said. “It’s been a very long time.”
    “Yeah, it has.” Sal nodded, his smile growing. “Must be going on fifteen, sixteen years.”
    Ellie’s smile grew larger. “I was five, so it’s more like twenty years.”
    “You’ve met?” Justin’s incredulous tone didn’t appear to register with his sister because she didn’t bother to answer.
    “You’ve grown into a beauty, little Fia,” Sal said, raising one meaty hand to pat her cheek.
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    Antonin nearly hit the guy before he realized it was more of a fatherly gesture.
    Luckily he checked himself before he did. Sal probably would have pummeled him into the ground. The guy might only be four feet high but he packed a wallop in his punches.
    Justin shook his head. “What the hell are you two talking about?”
    “And you haven’t aged a day,” Ellie continued her conversation with Sal. “I missed seeing you after those few months. I cried for weeks.”
    “Hell, now. I am sorry about that, Little Flower,” Sal said. “Couldn’t be helped though. When I got back from my trip, you were too old. You would have had too many questions.”
    “And I guess being able to talk to animals was enough for one girl.” Ellie shook her head, still smiling.
    “What?” Justin practically shouted as he started pacing. “Oh no fucking way.
    Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
    Finally Ellie turned to her brother, but not before giving Antonin a small private smile that lit a fire in his gut.
    “Grab a seat, big brother. I think you’re going to need it.”
    * * * * *
    “So you can talk to animals?” Justin said. “And you’ve been able to since you were a kid? And Dad knew? And you met Sal when you were a kid?”
    “Yeah,” Ellie said, still so amazed at the sight of her old friend that she couldn’t get the grin off her face. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
    Justin snorted, drumming his fingers on the dining room table they all sat around.
    “Amazing. Right. So you weren’t surprised by Antonin then?”
    “No, he definitely was a shock.” She shook her head, hoping like hell she wasn’t blushing bright red. “I was little more than a baby when I met Sal, Justin. And even now I can’t remember exactly what happened back then. I mean, can you remember 64
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    things you did when you were five? I’m sure everything seems normal to a child that age, because they don’t know any better. And who would’ve believed me if I’d told them I met someone named Sal who was half-man and half-goat?”
    “We only met a few times,” Sal added with a smile. “Your dad was careful about that kind of stuff.”
    That kind of stuff? “What does that mean?” Ellie asked. “How did you know Dad anyway?”
    Sal only stared at her so she looked at her brother, who just sat there, shaking his head. “Ellie, I think you better listen.”
    “So are you finally going to tell me what’s going on?” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave Justin