Read Hold Me If You Can for Free Online

The dark energy inside Pascal was resisting Nigel’s healing. “Something new has come to the party.”
    Draw.
    Nigel jerked his head up. “Did you just tell me to draw, Slayer?”
    “Hell, no.” Christian was heavily engaged mano a mano with a set of twin demon-kitties, unable to assist Nigel until he dispatched them. “But if you think it’ll help, go for it.”
    Draw the warrior.
    It wasn’t a command. It was his own instincts telling him how to focus his healing energy. Of course drawing made sense. Art was how he pulled himself together.
    Nigel whipped out the pad he always kept with him, sat cross-legged on Pascal’s bed, and began to sketch the young warrior. The moment he began to work, rightness filled his soul. This was what he was supposed to be doing.
    “Do it fast,” Christian said. “Pascal doesn’t look good.”
    “I know.” Nigel sensed Pascal’s energy fading, his body rigid as it fought to hang on. Nigel’s pencil flew across the page, driven by the adrenaline, by the torment on Pascal’s face, the moan of agony deep in his throat.
    Nigel transcribed the tension on Pascal’s face, the way his skin was stretched by his battle with death, the desperation of his soul’s fight to hang on. Pascal’s fierce passion filled Nigel, bringing his energy into alignment. By the time Nigel had finished drawing the warrior’s face, powerful healing energy was pulsing through Nigel. He set down the drawing and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, Pascal, I’m going to clean this up—”
    Finish the drawing.
    Nigel ignored the command. He didn’t need to draw anymore. He’d gotten what he needed. He placed his hands on Pascal’s chest and a rosy glow filled Pascal. The kid coughed, and then his chest heaved as air rushed back into his lungs.
    “And we have liftoff,” Nigel announced.
    “Nigel,” Christian shouted. “The lip gloss is leaking.”
    Nigel saw the tube lying on the floor, pink liquid oozing out of the end. “Shit!” He grabbed it and shoved the lid on, but there were already a dozen kitties perched on cabinets. “This is why men should never play with makeup.”
    “No shit. You’re on your own now,” Christian said as the room filled with the screams of demons coming to life. “Take care of our boy, and I’ll handle these guys.”
    “I’m on it.” Leaving Christian to play, Nigel forced more energy into Pascal, and he found an insidious black taint inside the warrior’s body. “There’s some kind of poison inside him.”
    “Clear it,” Christian ordered as he took down three demons with one swipe.
    “I’m on it.” But he’d never seen it before. He needed to figure out how to clear it—
    Finish the drawing.
    Nigel lunged for the sketchpad. He had to finish the drawing. The answer lay within the picture. He sketched until Pascal’s form was complete, and peace and rightness surged through him. Nigel tossed the pad aside and palmed Pascal’s chest. Power poured from his hands into the warrior. Nigel’s energy plunged into the poison, shredded it easily, and well-being rushed back into Pascal’s body.
    Pascal’s green eyes snapped open.
    Nigel grinned. “Welcome back, buddy—”
    “Oh, man!” Pascal paled, looking past Nigel. “Tell me I’m hallucinating.”
    “Holy mother of hell,” Christian muttered. “This isn’t good.”
    Nigel turned. A glittering, diamond-shaped hole was forming in the wall. A portal to the Den. In his house! Nigel leapt to his feet as the woman who’d been Angelica’s all-star apprentice for the last hundred years appeared in the doorway.
    Mari’s brown hair was still streaked with blond highlights, but gone were tight jeans and stack-’em-high T-shirts. Instead, she was wearing a navy blue suit and all-business heels, and there was a confident set to her shoulders that hadn’t been there before she’d taken over after Angelica’s incarceration.
    This was not the needy, weak apprentice who had manipulated Christian and