Read Online River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte by Samantha Young - Free Book Online Page A

the
room. Then...
    “ And the
document; is it finished?”
    Nikolai nodded gravely and
stood up. His large hand delved inside the wool coat and reappeared
with an envelope. He pushed it across the desk separating them, the
small diamond on the onyx ring on his pinky finger winking in the
dim light.
    He opened the envelope his
hands almost shaking in anticipation. The paper inside was the
beginning of the end. He was sure of it. He pulled it out and
unfolded it slowly, his eyes widening at the information printed in
Nikolai’s scrawling penmanship.
    “ The Septum,”
he breathed.
    “ Da.”
    “ And we’re
sure this is correct?”
    “ Positive.
We’ve been searching a long time. I would not have brought you it
merely based on assumption.”
    He nodded impatiently. “I
know, I know. I just can’t believe we’re getting this
close.”
    His heart thudded loudly
in his chest. All they needed now was the girl. He needed to get
back. His plans so far were not going as smoothly as he had hoped,
but it was time to take matters in hand. He needed the girl, and at
present he only had one avenue to her.
    “ Will we get
her, you think?”
    “ Have no
fear, Nikolai. Caia Ribeiro will be in our hands before the year is
out.”
     
    6 - Why?
     
    “ Well, ain’t
you a picture,” Ryder boomed as Jaeden threw open her motel door,
face pale, and eyes squinting against the sun.
    She sighed heavily,
slipping a pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes. “You know I’ve
never noticed how annoyingly chirpy you are. Have you always been
so, or is this a recent development?”
    He laughed as she pushed
past him, heading across the lot to the motel grill & bar. “Not
a morning person, huh?”
    “ Please be
quiet.”
    He grinned behind her
back, enjoying her obvious irritation, and by the looks of the
stiffness in her body, the morning effects of sleeping in the worst
bed in the state.
    Doing as requested, Ryder
didn’t direct any conversation at her until they were seated and
had ordered. He waited until she finally took the sunglasses off
before deciding to hit her with the question that had been bugging
him for a while.
    “ So tell
me... why did you leave the pack in the first place?”
    Her dark blue eyes
narrowed, and her full lips thinned in discomfort at his
directness. She glared.
    He shrugged. “Hey, I’m
just asking the question that everyone will be asking when we get
home.”
    More glaring. Wait, was
she snarling?
    Ryder snorted and sat up,
leaning across the table towards her. “Look, Jae, you are going to
have to talk about this at some point. Dimitri was going nuts
whilst you were gone. He probably would have had a search party out
scouring the country if Lucien hadn’t given him a direct order to
leave you alone.”
    He watched the surprise
flit across her face, her mouth dropping open in astonishment. It
was fascinating, watching the way she wiped the expression clean,
putting her cool facade back in place. And just when he thought he
wasn’t going to get a reaction...
    “ Why would
Lucien do that?”
    Ryder smirked, smug (and a
little relieved) that he still knew her enough to know she couldn’t
resist that little bit of information. “Caia asked him
to.”
    Jae frowned. “Wait...
why?”
    Suddenly the memory of her
broken, of her young skin lashed and burned, her bright eyes blank
and numb with torture, flooded his thoughts, sobering him
immediately. “Because after what happened to you she thought you
deserved the time you needed to yourself.”
    She looked down, shielding
her eyes and thoughts from him. “That was... kind.”
    “ The girl you
met for those, what two weeks, you liked her, right?”
    Still not looking at him,
Jae nodded. “She was cool.”
    “ Caia cares
about you a great deal.”
    She was frowning again,
and suddenly he was caught in her curious gaze. “You respect her a
lot, don’t you?”
    Ryder chuckled. “Yeah.
She’s my friend... actually she’s more like a sister.”
    “ So