Free Sacrifice by Luxie Ryder

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Sacrifice
    by
    Luxie Ryder
     
     

     
    Evernight Publishing
    www.evernightpublishing.com
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Copyright© 2010 Luxie Ryder
      ISBN: 978-0-9867225-3-0
     
     
    Cover Artist: Dara
England
    Editor: BL Brown
     
    ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
     
    WARNING: The
unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.   No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
     
    This is a work of fiction. All names,
characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    DEDICATION
     
    To
my family and friends—thanks for your support.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Sacrifice
     
    Luxie Ryder
    Copyright © 2010
     
    Chapter One
     
    Hallie
Matheson gave the cord on the blind a hard flick and let it snap up to the top
of the frame. The jerk banging on her door in the middle of the night was going
to get an earful…
    Instead,
she screamed.
    A
pale face contorted with agony pressed against the glass. The fist Hallie
assumed to be making all the noise flattened on the pane as the man it belonged
to pushed himself back a few inches and opened his eyes.
    “Hallie,
it’s me.”
    She
screamed again for a different reason. “Ethan!”
    Her
hands shook as she fumbled with the knob, desperate now to let him in. The
latch came free of the lock and the door swung out of her grasp, slamming into
the wall with a glass rattling thud. With nothing left to hold him up, Ethan Butler’s
considerable frame fell to the floor.
    “Oh
my God…what happened?”
    She
rolled him over and bit her closed fist to silence another shriek of terror. A
deathly pallor had stolen the tan from his handsome face, replaced with a waxy
gray. His usually sparkling blue eyes were now dark as night, the whites almost
obscured by tiny, blood red veins.
    Hallie
pressed a hand to his forehead, recoiling instantly from the cold, clammy flesh
under her palm. “You need a doctor.”
    “No!”
Ethan rolled away from her, groaning as he struggled to his hands and knees. Hallie
ignored his protest and wrapped both arms around his torso to help him to his
feet. “I just need to lie down a minute, that’s all.”
    He
lurched towards his apartment door, the one opposite hers, leaving Hallie with
no choice but to go with him. If he fell again, he would take her down too. She
was relatively strong and fit for a thirty-five year old woman but her five
foot six frame was no match for his. At almost a foot taller than she, Ethan’s
impressive size had been the first thing she’d noticed about him. But right
now, with his huge, muscular body half slumped over hers, she wished he was
smaller.
    Hallie
used all of her strength to prop him against the wall and reached into the
pocket of his jeans to search for his key.
    “Hey,
don’t get fresh.” His hoarse croak brought her attention back to his face.
    “You
wish!” I tried it once and look how badly
that played out. Despite the painful reminder of her failed seduction
attempt months ago, his teasing words relieved her. There couldn’t be too much
wrong with him if he could make a joke. But then his crooked grin contorted
into another grimace as a spasm of pain tore through him and his hands clutched
at his stomach.
    The
moment she opened the door he fell into his apartment. Ethan struggled to his
feet, determined to make it on his own and staggered to the bedroom, sprawling
on top of his bed. He groaned deeply when Hallie switched on the light.
    “Ethan,
what happened? Do you need a doctor?”
    “No.”
    “You
keep saying that but there’s obviously something very wrong with you.”
    “Damn
it, Hallie! No doctors!”
    She
swallowed the urge to tell him to kiss her