Banewolf (Dark Siren Book 2) Read Free Page B

revisited a Friday night from not too long ago. Only one thing was missing, one very important thing.
    Kali cried into her tub of popcorn.
    It was during the last fifteen minutes of the movie that someone else walked in. The person wasn’t the old man, making her wonder what kind of idiot would pay full price to see the ending of a movie. He was male. And he moved powerfully, but something in the stride was off, as if his movements were compensating for pain elsewhere. The man started up the stairs but stopped at Kali’s row. Light from the screen briefly illuminated his features in a glow of silver.
    Her breathing slowed.
    No.
    The bucket of popcorn slipped from her numb fingers and crashed to the floor. He claimed the seat beside her, but she was paralyzed, afraid to hope and afraid to doubt.
    Soft fingertips found her face, brushed against her cheek in a tender caress. That one touch dissolved all of the agony she’d suffered for weeks.
    “Is this seat taken?”
    His voice was wonderful in her ears as he breathed her name. “Kalista.”
    She trembled.
    His fingers danced through her hair, neatly twisting and untwisting dark ringlets. When she still didn’t look at him, he took her face, gently turning it toward him. Seeing those unusual eyes, she could finally accept the truth.
    Rhane was alive.
    He captured her lips, and the kiss said everything words could not. Through his mouth, she felt how terribly he’d missed her and the ache her absence had caused. She responded in kind, sharing her pain. She clung to him, wrapped herself in the reality of his continued existence. She inhaled the scent of his skin and the scent of his hair. She moaned as he pressed his lips against her face and neck, leaving scorching trails of fire across her skin. She needed more of him, craved for his bare skin to touch hers. She drank deeply of his spark, and fireworks of blue and gold erupted at her call.
    Rhane was the first to pull back. His eyes glittered hotly with desire. “Let’s get out of here.” 
    She kissed him again. “Okay,” she said when they finally broke apart.
    The old man gave Rhane the thumbs up as they left the theater. Kali was tempted to ask what that was about but , noticing Rhane’s limp again, she stopped. “Why haven’t you healed?”
    To her surprised, he actually chuckled. “You should have seen me a week ago. Warekin were designed to recover quickly from injury. But wounds delivered by the most powerful of our leaders, Primes, are a different matter. Though Gabriel is a Prime no longer, he continues to be an extremely dangerous adversary.”
    They reached the car and Rhane pushed her against the back of his rental SUV, kissing her until she was breathless.
    “I thought you were dead,” she said when she’d reclaimed enough oxygen to speak.
    “No.” He stroked her face tenderly. “You made sure that didn’t happen.”
    Sobbing, she buried her face into his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her. “I’ve missed you so much. I miss home. Can I go home now? They said I could never go home.”
    He stiffened, and his arms squeezed her tighter. “Yeah. That was my idea. I’m sorry.”
    K ali lifted her head to see his face. “What do you mean?” she asked, making up her mind to not get upset until he’d had a chance to explain.
    “Going into that fight, I knew there was a big chance I’d get messed up pretty bad. I couldn’t risk being out of commission and not being able to protect you if Gabriel came around again.”
    “But what about Orrin and York? Orrin is a really big guy. York is huge.”
    Rhane shook his head. His expression was grim. “They are no match for a creature such as Gabriel.”
    “What about the man with the creepy blue eyes? He sorta reminded me of you, only he was scary and you aren’t. Certainly he could take on Gabriel.”
    “That’s River. He is my brother.”
    “Your brother?” She screwed up her face to match her disbelief. “Even ice is