Blood Will Tell (Warriors of Ankh #1) Read Free Page A

it. Eden smiled. Dude had good taste in music.
    Still, Eden hadn’t cared. She hadn’t actually given much thought to the guy other than that he must be smart as hell to have turned down Lucy Stevens. And then one day near the end of October, she was sitting in her favourite hangout, The Coffee Shoppe (Saltonians weren’t big on originality), reading Shonen Jump for the latest on Naruto when a voice at her ear made her jump out of her skin.
    “ Are you reading a kid’s magazine?”
    Not only could she not believe that Noah had managed to sneak up on her like that, she just couldn’t believe he was actually talking to her. She’d glared at him as he slid into the seat beside her. “It’s manga.”
    “ Ah.” He’d nodded. “Never really got into that crap.”
    “ It’s not crap,” she’d snapped.
    Noah had chuckled. “Sorry. No need to be so defensive.”
    Eden had harrumphed and returned to the magazine. She’d tried to ignore Noah as he leaned forward in his chair to yank a curled paperback out of the butt pocket of his jeans. He’d slumped back in the chair and began reading. Eden hadn’t been able to resist sneaking a peek.
    In Cold Blood.
    “ Capote?” She hadn’t been able to stop herself from asking.
    Noah had smirked at her, a wicked angel smile. “Yeah. You read it?”
    Eden had held up the manga. “Do I look like I’ve read In Cold Blood ?”
    Laughing, Noah had leaned over, his startling violet eyes glittering. “Tell you what… we’ll swap.”
    “ You wanna swap me Capote for Shonen Jump ?”
    He’d shrugged. “You said it wasn’t crap. And In Cold Blood is definitely not crap.”
    Eden had looked at the book doubtfully. She wasn’t really into American literature…
    “ It’s good. Tragic and twisted but good,” he’d tried to persuade her. When she didn’t say anything, Noah had reached across and pried the manga from her hands, her fingers brushing his. Immediately her stomach had clenched and this fierce ache rippled across her chest and up into her throat. It felt like a rush of lights exploding behind her eyes, and her nerves began jumping like crazy, her muscles twitching and twanging with the sensation. For a minute she thought she was going to pass out from the unbelievable rush. She hadn’t known what it was, but she knew she didn’t want Noah to move away from her. To stop talking to her. Instead, she’d agreed to the swap. They’d sat in silence for an hour reading, peeking out from the corner of their eyes at each other and then smirking when they were caught. Finally, Eden had had to leave for home.
    “ So… what do you think so far?” Noah had asked quietly as she stood up to leave.
    Eden had shrugged. His eyebrow quirked up expectantly. She had smiled back despite herself. “It’s good.”
    His own smile had widened into a huge grin. “Told you.”
    “ You?” She’d nodded at the copy of Shonen Jump in his hand.
    “ Yeah, actually.” He’d nodded, seeming surprised. “I like this Naruto kid. We have some things in common.”
    For some reason she’d felt this warmth rush through her. She smiled wryly just as she’d turned to leave. “Me too.”
    That night Eden had told Stellan about the feeling she’d got that day, without going into specifics or mentioning Noah. Her suspicions proved correct as Stellan told her excitedly that her hunger had finally awoken.
    But, Eden thought, as Noah chattered to her about the latest Arcade Fire album, she would never hurt Noah. For the last six months, Noah had become this really important person to her. For once, someone other than a family member wanted to hang out with her. And with Noah it was easy. She didn’t have to pretend so much to be someone else. He seemed to like her sullen charm just fine. He was her best friend.
    “ So what do you think?”
    OK, she had totally blanked him. “Huh?”
    Noah snorted. “Earth to Eden. Come in Eden.”
    “ Yeah sorry, just kind of dazed.” Just kind of