Read Online Destructive Embrace by Robyn M. Pierce - Free Book Online

from my
Mate.
    A curious aroma met my nose
as I hit the main hall. The smell was coming from the hallway
leading to Zeke’s dungeons. Following my nose, I entered the hall.
A few turns later and I was at Elyssa’s door.
    I knocked once before
entering, the scent burning my nose was alarming now: blood. The
room was empty, but noises came from the bathroom, so I knocked a
few times on the door. A startled gasp sounded from the other side,
and then the door opened to reveal Elyssa in nothing but a towel,
her hair smoothed down over her shoulders.
    Thankfully, my mind
couldn’t focus on the almost-naked woman before me. Instead, my
eyes picked up on the many bruises and cuts that weren’t healing
properly. “That bastard,” I growled, reaching out to slam my fist
into the wall; Elyssa jumped.
    “Dmitri?” she stammered. I
lifted my eyes to her face, clenching my jaw. “I’m fine,” she
whispered. “He just used some potion of his to make my healing slow
down a lot.” I reached out to trace a particularly nasty-looking
bruise on her collarbone and she flinched; I watched color rise to
her face.
    I glanced back down to her
bruise and noticed blood on my knuckles. I
should stop punching walls , I thought
grimly, swiping the blood off my hand onto my dark
jeans.
    “Get dressed,” I told
Elyssa softly, dropping onto the chair of her desk. Bringing my
hands up to my face with a sigh, I kept my eyes off Elyssa’s form
as she crept around the room, gathering clean clothes. “I’m going
to take you somewhere private; someplace only we brothers know
about,” I muttered from behind my hands. She murmured her consent
before vanishing into the bathroom. The shower turned on and
fifteen minutes later Elyssa emerged, steam billowing out around
her clothed form.
    “Ready,” she breathed,
twisting the end of the towel she had draped around her neck. She
seemed nervous, I noticed, which was unusual for her; like she was
hiding something.
    She motioned for me to
lead the way, so I shrugged and stood, leaving her room; her quiet
footfalls told me she was following me. I glanced over my shoulder
to see Elyssa rubbing at her neck beneath her hair. Odd… I
thought.
    “So,” I began awkwardly,
“how have you been lately? I haven’t seen too much of you since our
sparring match.” It wasn’t as though I expected a sunny answer,
with all that happened with Reid, but I didn’t have much else to
talk to her about. We used to discuss our Mates, but that wasn’t an
option today. Mine was pissing me off, and hers was… Well,
dead.
    Elyssa sighed, heaving one shoulder
upward in a half-shrug. “I got a lot of my anger out that first day
or so, thanks to the sparring. Thank you for that, by the way,” she
said, meeting my eyes tentatively. I nodded. “Aside from that,” she
continued slowly, “things could be better. You know the
circumstances, what do you think?”
    Any other time, and her voice would
have been hostile or sarcastic, but she seemed distracted and
drained, devoid of emotion altogether at the moment. I
sighed.
    “You’re right. Well, come on; we need
to hike up these stairs,” I said, motioning with one hand to the
set of steps we’d reached. They were the only set of stairs that
didn’t lead to residential quarters. In fact, they led to a place
that was rarely visited, period.
    None of us had ever had the heart to go
there.
    I led Elyssa up the stairs,
and even with our stamina, it was becoming difficult about
two-thirds of the way up the staircase. This particular stairway
led up to the third, highest tower of the castle, one that didn't
belong to any of the brothers.
    "What is this place?"
Elyssa asked, her voice quiet but still echoing off of the walls
around us. The staircase grew dark; being enclosed in a tower with
no windows would do that. I should have
brought a light…
    A shuffling sound met my
ears and I grabbed her before she could fall. I couldn't help but
grin as I held Elyssa in a loose