Read Online Amber Fire by Lisa Renée Jones - Free Book Online Page A

you,” he said, lacing his fingers in hers. “Since you won’t rest, have you at least eaten?”
    â€œI haven’t,” she said. The dull rumbling in her stomach was harder to ignore than lack of sleep. “I have no idea where to get food at this time of night.”
    â€œThe hotel next door has a twenty-four-hour diner. Why don’t we walk over there and eat. We’ll be back in half an hour.” He must have seen the instant rejection on her face, because he offered, “Or I can go pick up food and bring it back.”
    She offered an appreciative smile. “I’d like that.”
    Fifteen minutes later, they sat in the waiting room, munching on takeout—Jareth having ordered enough to feed three people. He was on his third chicken sandwich with two burgers still in the bag. She was just glad it wasn’t raw meat. Still, she’d barely finished her one lonely cheeseburger. “Good Lord, where do you put all of that food?” He was a big guy, but there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him.
    He took a long sip of his drink. “We have very fast metabolisms.”
    We, meaning Yaguara. Amber considered that a moment. “I’d love it if you’d tell me about your people.”
    He finished off a bite of his sandwich, rubbed his hands together, offering her a thoughtful inspection. Then, apparently deciding he had no reason to keep her in the dark, he told her of a family long gone, lost to the war. His father killed by Hunters. His mother and sister killed as well, though he did not seem to want to share details. Through the years, many of which were laden with enough grief and lost lives to incite acts of vengeance, the Yaguara had, instead, kept a low profile and fought for a peaceful existence. They were a race of families, of real people trying to lead peaceful lives, their numbers in the thousands compared to humanity’s billions. They faced the very real threat of extinction under the Hunters’ attacks.
    Hearing how rooted Mike was in all of this hit Amber hard. She shoved aside her food. “I think he used me to get the information in my father’s journals,” she said, her stomach rolling. “My father must have found out what he was doing. I think that’s why he cut him off. That’s why he died Mike’s enemy.”
    â€œYou have no idea what happened between them?”
    She shook her head. “No, but it has to be related to this. It has to be.”
    â€œMike will do anything to destroy Yaguara,” he said. “It’s a mentality passed down through generations of Hunters, which he has embraced fully. The stories these people tell of Yaguara liken each of us to the human equivalent of Jack the Ripper. We exist, so we are monsters.”
    Amber inhaled a sharp breath. “It’s like the witch trials. He has to be stopped.”
    â€œHe will be,” Jareth assured her. “You leave Mike to me.”
    But Amber wasn’t sure she could do that. She’d brought Mike here, led him to Jareth, allowed him to endanger Chris. She had to do something. She had to see Mike brought to justice.
    Â 
    A few minutes after nine the next morning, Jareth stood in the hospital room beside Amber, who held a still unconscious Chris’s hand. Amber had not slept, the dark circles beneath her eyes smudging her pale, perfect skin. It was clear to Jareth, despite her claims of being fine, that she was damn near ready to collapse over this hard-rooted need to be here for Chris. A need he suspected had as much to do with the boy as it did with her own personal feelings. She’d expressed a sense of guilt about Chris, as if she had caused this by involving Mike and being blind to his true agendas. And no matter how much Jareth tried, he could not convince her otherwise. But there was more than guilt to Amber’s need to be here. There was a fear of being alone herself. She hadn’t said that part, but