Evermine: Daughters of Askara, Book 2 Read Free

had been done to him.
    Sadly, his loss remained razor sharp in my mind. Our separation burdened me, pressed on my shoulders, miring me in dreck from where we’d come from, where he’d have us go yet again.

Chapter Two
     
    Harper’s eyes cracked open on a white room. Emma . He jackknifed off the bed.
    “Whoa there.” A firm hand pressed into his chest. “Doc said for you to take it easy.”
    “Emma?” His mind whirled, and he let her guide him back down to the mattress.
    “Hey, you do remember me.” Her tone was warm, but her eyes ran cool. “I wondered.”
    “What’s wrong?” He frowned, scratching his scalp and finding a neat row of stitches crisscrossing the back of his skull as if it had been cracked wide open, explaining his migraine.
    “Why would anything be wrong?” She laughed; the sharp sound cut his ears. “I mean, it’s not like you left town without telling me.” She rolled her shoulders. “Or, I don’t know, Earth .”
    Pain set up camp behind his eyes, dimming his vision. “I don’t need your permission.”
    He blinked and Emma was in his face. “I’m not talking about permission. I’m talking common courtesy.” Lavender runes crept across every pale inch of her skin. “You showed me none .” Her glamour crackled, and her slave markings glowed in reminder of how he’d failed her.
    He reached for her, but she slapped away his hand.
    “When Clayton…” She took a steadying breath. “When you came back, you said we owed ourselves a second chance.” Grief cast shadows in her eyes. “I didn’t want it. I was hurting, and…” her voice broke, “…I was afraid. This—what just happened—is what scared me most about giving us a shot. I knew the second you healed you’d take over missions for Clayton. This will be Askara all over again. I’ll be left behind, keeping an eye to the sky while you traipse off realm and save a world that tried to kill you.” Her tone hardened. “I can’t endure that again. Not after I lost you once.”
    “I’m still a legionnaire.” His was a calling he wouldn’t ignore. “That hasn’t changed.”
    “According to you, nothing’s changed.” She frowned. “But to me, everything has.”
    “Let’s not argue.” He caught her around the waist and reeled her against his chest.
    “Who’s arguing?” She shoved him lightly. “I’m speaking at a volume you’ll understand.”
    “There are other things I’d rather do with my mouth.” He kissed the edge of her frown.
    Her resistance melted in slow increments as he worked his way from corner to corner. Then she opened for him, and he took her bottom lip between his teeth, a small hurt, before sealing their mouths. Emma moaned, and he tangled his hands in her hair, forcing her head back and her gaze to his. Her eyes widened, and he knew his must have gone silver with desire for her.
    She broke their embrace, panting. “I can’t,” she whispered as her forehead met his.
    “Yes, you can.” Weeks spent in a painful state of arousal made his words harsh.
    “No.” She withdrew and turned from him. “ I can’t .”
    He adjusted his erection with a hiss and gave standing a try. “The past doesn’t matter.” He placed hands on her shoulders, massaged tense muscles. “You did what you had to.”
    She shrugged him off as if she couldn’t bear his touch while her guilt rode her so hard.
    Survival was instinct. You did what you had to do to make it until the end of the day. The things she’d done to ease her sorrow? They meant nothing to him. She was his. She had always been his. She always would be his. Nothing she’d done during his absence changed his feelings.
    He gritted his teeth. The things he’d done, though… Yeah, he understood survival.
    His hands ached for the softness of Emma, but his stomach roiled. He made fists and dragged in harsh breaths. The mental box, where his lost years resided, rattled a coy reminder.
    You accepted the worst of her, it taunted, but she’ll