Addictive Nightshade Read Free Page A

wits about me.
    Brooding eyes stare into mine while his jaw twitches, his laced fingers tensing in hold, “Eagle is coming. They'll kill you on first sight, no questions asked. You are like me, Raven. Emma, you have much to learn yet, but you have to accept your fate if I'm to intervene in your longevity. You seem like you don't care if you live or die, however I have an investment in the former.”
    “Raven?” I latch onto that part because the rest is too heavy to contemplate right now.
    “ Clans, sectors of our society. Once this region was shared but we split up, Eagle left with his people and the wind says he's on his way back. Your attitude, your affinity to my aura and temperament, all I've seen of you and your own genetics confirm you have Raven in your blood, you are one of us and we are rounding up our own kind for safekeeping.”
    And you forgot your meds. Pity, you don't look like a whackjob, but then I have a guilty history of picking losers out of a large horde.
    It's a logic booster because I stand, leaving my exotic drink on the floor next to my chair. Glancing around, I wonder how hard it's going to be to escape a stalker when I'm already in his lair. Am I allowed to have clues? We can make my escape a little game so I at least stand a fighting chance.
    He stands too, holding his hands out like a goal keeper, “You are here by my invitation. You get one chance to accept or reject my offer of sanctuary. Whatever you choose, you will be marked by that decision for life. You can't leave without the mark, and the choice is final.”
    “I don't understand?” I whisper, my voice hoarse with ratcheting nerves.
    He won the gold for fucktardness. He's super insane, not the itty-bitty kind which marks an individual as eccentric, but this here is a full blown case of 'lord of crazy'.
    He unclips the studs on the back of his gloves, biting the left one off with a teeth clamp, then slowly removes the other. It's threatening and hard to read. Is he getting ready to deck me? Don't dudes leave their gloves on before they KO you? Not that I'd stay conscious beyond one punch of those solid knuckles. Shit.
    Unnerved, my jaw aches with tension as I maintain vigilant focus, ready to bolt.
    Turning his hands over, he shows me the palms.
    Blinking, trying to understand, I glance up into his handsome face to ascertain intention. His indomitable projection forces my gaze back to those hands held out the way you'd offer your palm to a fortune teller. Except I can't see his lines. I'd say judging by what I'm looking at, that he has no future to foretell.
    I need to keep a grip. I want to scream, cower, run. Even I know that reasoning with a lunatic is possible, but if he's truly mad I'm pretty much fucked.
    It's okay Em, just listen.
    I want to look up to meet his eyes when he speaks directly inside my head but can't no matter how hard I try, and I finally comprehend how I heard him back at the den of the F.F.
    His left hand has a raised triangle with thorn shapes flaring off it on the palm, the right has a circle of sharp black spikes raised out of the palm. The human pincushion, and people deign to call me strange.
    He shows me the left, “This is the acceptance of friendship. You clasp my hand and are welcome here forever.” Closing the hand into a tight fist he then shoves the right into my face, “This is rejection. We scar all who cross our threshold and by your mark we recognize if you are accepted or rejected by the Raven Clan. It's a sigil to recognize kin and ally.”
    Except no one will know when you wear gloves. Isn't that cheating?
    Did you get implants? Are you horribly deluded, or... or... jeeez. Is this like a gang initiation?
    Taking a weak step back I look up into his rigid face, his jaw ticking overtime, “What are you?”
    Is this a gang? What do you stand for?
    “ T'ach'naa.”
    “ Say what?” I mumble, bad vibes now jumping so hard on my nerves I think I might need a pee pretty bad.
    “ Emma, forget