Read The Necromancer's Betrayal (The Final Formula Series, Book 2.5) for Free Online Page B

side of the barn.
    James shifted human and knelt beside her. “Elysia?” The disturbing bond between them tightened.
    “James,” she whispered. “Don’t leave me.”
    The command hit him, and any chance of going to Addie dissolved. He bowed his head, but didn’t feel the anger he expected.
    Elysia mumbled something else, but didn’t wake. Which made no sense. How could she travel to the land of the dead in her sleep? Or had she passed out upon her return?
    He remembered the risk she had taken to Make the girl at the store, and her confusion afterward. Had the use of her magic harmed her?
    Concerned, he gathered her in his arms and carried her to the car. Leaning the passenger seat back, he placed her inside, then covered her with his coat. He turned the vehicle on to let the heater run. She didn’t stir, and he chided himself for not asking for her grandmother’s address. What would he do if she didn’t wake up?
    He closed the car door and shifted into the hellhound. He dealt with anxiety better in this form.
    Chapter
6
    E lysia woke to morning sunlight streaming through the windshield. Her upper body was covered by a leather jacket that wasn’t her own. She sat up from the reclined passenger seat and groaned. Her neck was stiff and a muscle spasmed in her lower back. It said something about her exhaustion that she had been able to sleep like that. An empty Diet Coke bottle rolled around the floorboard when she shifted her feet, the noise loud in the silence. A man’s T-shirt and jeans lay on the driver’s seat.
    Memories from the day before returned, and she rubbed her face, groaning again. She had bound a hellhound, created a lich, and made out with a dead guy. She could do an episode of Necromancers Gone Wild—if there were such a thing.
    She opened the car door and climbed out into the cold morning air. So where was—then she saw him.
    In the deep shadow at the base of the barn, unblinking green eyes watched her. The eyes, with their eerie glow, were all that was visible. The hellhound’s midnight fur vanished in the darkness. Odd that he chose to sleep as the hound. Then she remembered how she woke covered in his coat. Maybe he had been cold in only his shirtsleeves. But the kindness of the gesture didn’t relieve the uncomfortable feeling his stare elicited in her.
    “Hey,” she called to him in an effort to hide her unease. “We need to get going.”
    A pause, and he rose to his feet. He padded toward her without making a sound. Dear God, he was huge. More like a small pony than any breed of dog she knew.
    “I’m going to… use the facilities.” She hooked her thumb toward the trees and tried to ignore the heat in her cheeks. “You want to get dressed?”
    Without so much as a blink, he turned toward the car.
    When she returned, James was leaning against the front fender. He watched her approach with the same unblinking detachment as the hound. She wondered how much of him was human and how much was animal.
    “You ready?” she asked, needing to fill the silence.
    “Is that a rhetorical question?” He pulled open the passenger door and climbed inside.
    She sighed and went to the driver’s side. He was back to sullen this morning. No, more likely he was pissed that she had made him kiss her against his will. She would be pissed, too.
    She took a moment to adjust the seat and mirrors. “Damn,” she muttered, catching sight of her eyes in the rearview mirror. They were no longer white, but they weren’t brown either. More like sun-bleached khaki.
    “What is it?” James sounded more bored than interested.
    “My eyes. I’d rather Grams not know what I’ve been up to.”
    He grunted, but couldn’t leave it at that. “You said as much before. Why?”
    She adjusted the mirror to view the back glass and turned the key. “I swore I’d never be a practicing necromancer. I’ll get an I-told-you-so if she sees me like this.”
    “It was my understanding that a necromancer cannot physically