Read Shadow of Perception for Free Online

his nose. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to fight. He had to keep his control. He had to—
    Hudson snapped open his eyes, then froze.
    Memories of last night hit him full force. He was in Eden’s townhouse, not a cavern basement in the jungles of Columbia. His arms weren’t tied behind his back, but sleep numb. And the weight on his chest wasn’t some sort of torture device but a...cat.  
    A very large, very menacing looking cat.  
    As big as a dog, with long yellow hair, the cat sized him up with one eye. The other looked as if it had been sewn shut. A scar ran from the damaged eye to the top of its head were there should have been an ear.  
    Damn the thing was ugly. And heavy as hell.  
    “Shoo,” he whispered, his nose still itchy, likely from the cat’s fur brushing against his face. And to think he’d been having a nightmare about Orlov. It had been years since the Russian had invaded his sleep.  
    The images from the DVD he’d watched last night with Ian ran front and center through his head. The torture, the cruelty. No wonder the Russian had come for a visit. Now he had to deal with another nightmare. Some crazed doctor who was into slicing and dicing, and...Eden Risk.
    Last night he’d told her she looked pretty good, but that had been a lie. Just a way to needle her, and maybe crawl under her skin. Her looks were important to her. She wasn’t the type to flaunt them, and she wasn’t vain. But she always had to look perfect. How he’d ended up in bed with her he’d never understood. She was class, and he was...crass. Hell, last night was the first time he’d ever seen her in a pair of sweatpants. Given the choice, he’d live in them or jeans every day.  
    She had looked kinda cute, though. All rumpled...sexy.
    Shit. He had to focus. Not on her, but on whoever had been behind that DVD. Christ, then there’s the potential stalker, which they’d never discussed. Tired as he’d been, he’d wanted to, but he’d seen the strain, the shock of the evening’s events etched on her face. Seen how hard it had been for her to maintain control. And control was something she lived for.  
    They’d talk soon enough. About the stalker, about a few rules he expected her to follow while he was stuck on this case. But first he had to find a way to remove the lion cub from his chest without it clawing off his face.    
    The cat winked its golden eye, then yawned, revealing a hell of a set of sharp teeth.
    Yeah, easier said than done.
    “Okay, big guy, I need to move. So why don’t you—”
    Slippered feet shuffled against the wood floor. “Fabio, where are you?” Eden sang—terribly—as she entered the living room. The cat raised its head and purred.  
    The shuffling suddenly stopped and Eden burst out laughing.  
    “Funny,” he said, eyeing the cat. “I take it you know Baby Huey?”
    “Duh. He lives here,” she said as she leaned over the couch and looked down at first him, then the cat. Instead of shooing the thing off, she stroked its yellow hair.
    “I didn’t see him last night.”
    “Fabio’s a big baby and doesn’t like strangers.”
    “You don’t say. How ‘bout getting him off me before he takes off my face.”
      She came around the front of the couch, wearing a too big plaid, flannel robe and clashing baggie pajama bottoms, then sat on the edge of the coffee table. “He wouldn’t do that. First, he’s declawed. Second he’s a sweetie. Aren’t you, baby? Come to mama,” she coaxed and patted her thigh. The cat jumped on her lap with surprising grace.  
    With the weight literally off his chest, Hudson shoved off the couch and stared at her. Last night’s sweatpants had been one thing, all that flannel, well, who didn’t like flannel when the weather turned to shit? But he’d never seen her so...comfortable. Normally her hair was styled perfectly. Hell, even after a session of hot sex, she’d walked from his bed looking just as good as she had when she’d