Read Online Nobody's Hero by Bec McMaster - Free Book Online Page A

Her mouth went dry. “Thanks.”
    “Try not to get bitten though. I need you in one piece.”
    Riley shot a hard glare at his back. Prince Charming in all his glory. “Won’t the wargs hear the shots?”
    “Plan’s changed. Do you want the boy or not?”
    “Yes.”
    “Fine. They know we’re here,” he said. “The shot’ll echo through the mountains. They’ll think we’re coming from outside.”
    “But they’ll still know we’re coming. We’ve lost the element of surprise.”
    He shot her one last hot look over his shoulder, the flames glinting off the hard sapphire of his eyes. “Darlin’, your task is to survive the revenants. Then think about the job ahead.”
----
    D amned foolish quest .
    A frown tugged his brows down, and Lucius stared into the dark as he crept along the passage. The cause for the lack of light soon became clear – every fluorescent globe had long since been smashed, pieces of it littering the floor and crunching beneath his boots.
    He didn’t even know why he was doing this. Why bother with the boy? He had what he wanted – a way to get at McClain. All he had to do was gag Riley, toss her over his shoulder, and head out into the desert. He’d never even give the boy another thought.
    Riley swallowed hard behind him. And that, he thought, was his reason. Fear rolled off her in waves. Terrified of the dark, of being left alone, of the revenants, and she was still willing to risk this. If she could face her fears, then he wouldn’t stop her. An odd mix of admiration and frustration rolled through him. The woman was hellish tough, yet strangely vulnerable. A damned tempting combination.
    Besides, he’d given his word.
    Something shuffled in the dark ahead. Lucius held his hand up, and the sudden silence told him she’d frozen. A little rasp sounded as she sucked in a breath.
    Dust stirred. One. Two. Maybe three creatures. More behind them. Dull cataract-filmed eyes reflected the firelight. No sound of breathing – they didn’t as a rule. Which meant they couldn’t make a single noise. Silent predators that haunted the dark depths of the borderlands. More a soulless construct now, rather than a personality. All they felt was hunger.
    His grip on the knife eased. Come on, you bastards . It had been a long time since he’d hunted revenants. Out on the Rim, when he’d ridden as a hunter, they’d earned fifty credits a scalp. A man could feed his entire settlement on that kind of money. Course, the risk was greater than the reward, and he’d been human then. Indestructible. Young and fucking stupid.
    Lucius took a step forward, knife held defensively. He wasn’t stupid anymore. He knew the monsters bit back now.
    It didn’t take long for them to overcome their wariness. Wasn’t much to eat out here in the desert, besides the odd coyote or rabbit. Human flesh was just too irresistible, even if the scent of him warned them off.
    The lead revenant loped out of the shadows with an odd shuffling gait. It moved quickly, despite the shamble, and the stink hit him full on. Lucius twisted out of the way, sinking the knife into its throat and slicing through the thick, corded muscle. He spun on his heel, torching the straggly ends of the creature’s ratty hair. The stink of burnt hair made him gag, but the fire spread like a lightning strike on dry tinder. Leapt from the dreadlocks to the rough shirt the revenant wore, turning into an inferno.
    The creature’s mouth opened in a silent scream, and it tore at its burning hair.
    “Oh, my God. Oh, my God,” Riley panted. She worked the shotgun with both hands, her eyes showing far too much white as she pumped it. Strain tightened her mouth, but she aimed into the shadows and pulled the trigger.
    The shotgun roared.
    Lucius stepped back, kicking the creature in the chest. It staggered back into the oncoming rush of revenants, and three of them went down in a twitching, burning heap. Decaying flesh melted like wet sludge as the cleansing