Read Online Night's Darkest Embrace by Jeaniene Frost - Free Book Online

raking over me, taking in the various weapons I had strapped on. “You were in his castle?” He sounded doubtful.
    I nodded. “Last night . . . er, or it would’ve been last night, if you had day and night here. Some people from Bonecrushers saw us leave together, and we didn’t go to his hotel room, which you can confirm. I think Rafael brought me home because he intended to use that gateway to get rid of me permanently once he was done having fun with me.”
    “And you stopped him? Managed to get away from him?”
    He still sounded doubtful, but at least he was listening instead of yelling for the other guards. “I tranqued him when he wasn’t paying attention. He never even saw the needle coming.”
    To my surprise, Jack began to laugh, though he kept it from being loud enough to draw attention to us. “You got the drop on Rafael?” he said at last, quieting his chuckles. “He must be beyond pissed at you.”
    “I have no doubt,” I replied dryly. “But that’s not important. What is important is telling as many people here as we can so he’s stopped. You have to help me, Jack. He’s killing our kind, either directly or indirectly.”
    “Where are these gateways in the castle?”
    I took it as a good sign that he was asking about their location instead of questioning their existence. “In the bathroom attached to his bedroom. I’ve never seen two barriers so close together before, but they’re there. Trust me.”
    Jack seemed to mull this over, the lines of his face deepening as he frowned. I waited, hoping that all the time we’d spent together before would serve me well now.
    “It’s worth checking out,” he said at last. “We need to avoid the other guards, though. Rafael’s got a DOS out on you. If one of them sees you, he might take you back to Rafael no matter what you’d tell him.”
    DOS, detain on sight. I had no doubt that the other guards would be less likely to hear me out, let alone believe me, since I didn’t know most of them.
    “Get me to Bonecrushers. The more people who hear about this at the same time, the better. Not even Rafael can stand against a mob of pissed-off Partials.”
    “Climb up,” Jack said, holding out his hand.
    Despite the years I’d known him, I hesitated. What if Jack didn’t believe me and was just pretending so I’d be in the vulnerable position of having my back to him? He could shoot me, pistol-whip the back of my head, or even stab me, and there wouldn’t be much I could do about it.
    “I’ll get on behind you,” I said, my hard tone letting him know that wasn’t negotiable.
    He let out another grunt. “Suit yourself, Mara.”
    Jack didn’t seem at all uneasy about giving me that kind of advantage. I shook my head, feeling ashamed. Being duped by Rafael made me give everyone a suspicious eye now, even people who didn’t deserve it.
    “Sorry,” I murmured as I accepted his hand and climbed up behind him.
    Jack spurred his horse once I was settled, dropping his torch into the first brook we came across with a muttered “Don’t need them seein’ you up here with me.” Instead of following close to the torch-strewn path that led into town, Jack went into the thicker part of the woods. After he gave up our only source of illumination and headed away from the path, the woods soon returned to their normal, almost impenetrable darkness. Jack seemed okay with it, though. He steered his horse confidently through the trees, making me wonder how many years he’d patrolled this particular section to get so familiar with it.
    Very familiar with it, in fact, because he spurred his horse again even though I now couldn’t see more than a dozen feet in front of me.
    “Should you be going so fast?” I called out, stretching to be closer to his ear so he’d hear me.
    “Aren’t we in a hurry?” he countered, the words whistling by me as he kicked the horse to increase its pace even more.
    Yes, I wanted to get to Bonecrushers as soon as