Read Online Runes #03 - Grimnirs by Ednah Walters - Free Book Online Page A

whispered.
    There was weird warmth behind me, and then Torin asked, “Are you okay?”
    I looked over my shoulder to find him studying us with concern.
    Raine left my arms and walked into his. The envy I’d felt toward her disappeared. The last few months must have been tough on her. First, she almost died because of a weird accident, now her father was dead. The worst part was I couldn’t tell her.
    Feeling useless and angry with myself, I removed books for my afternoon classes and closed my locker. When I glanced toward Raine and Torin, they were gone. I searched along the students around the lockers. They weren’t in the hallway. It was as though they’d disappeared into thin air. Weird.
    Shaking my head, I started for my next class.
    I was in the math hallway when someone snatched my hand and the hallway became blurry. The next second, I was in total darkness. Only one person could move that fast.
    Echo.
    Seriously, I should kill him slowly and painfully. The problem was, he’d probably self-heal, or haunt me since I could see souls.
    I fumbled for the switch, and my hand closed over his. Light flooded the tiny room. We were in the Kayville High make-out closet. Echo scowled at me. I was used to seeing him smirk, so his ferocious expression seemed odd. Still…
    I backhanded his chest. “What’s wrong with you? You can’t just snatch me in the middle of the hallway like that. People would have noticed.”
    He snorted. “Like I care what they think.”
    “I do.”
    “Since when? You hate this place.”
    “Since always and I happen to love it here.”
    “Damn the Norns. You wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t messed with your memories.” He leaned in and pinned me with his wolfish eyes, which were nearly all golden now. He really had gorgeous eyes, the green surrounding the gold changing size with his mood.
    “Back to what’s important,” he said. “Who made you cry?”
    “No one.” I turned to leave.
    He pressed his hand on the door and stopped me from opening it. “Some waste-of-space-Mortal made you cry, Cora, and I want to know who it is so I can gut him alive and personally escort his worthless soul to an island where he’ll beg for a second death.”
    He really was impossible. “Enough with the second death threats. You don’t kill.”
    “There’s always the first time,” he said without missing a beat. “Who is it?”
    I ignored his question. “Can you be killed?”
    “By decapitation, but no one would dare tempt it unless they have a death wish.”
    “Really? I don’t have a death wish, and I’m so loving the thought of you headless.”
    He laughed. “Stop hedging, doll-face. Who made you cry?”
    “No one. I saw Raine’s father in the cafeteria and she told me he’s been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is dying, so I just lost it because he’s this amazing guy and she’s really close to him…”
    My voice trailed off when he pulled me into his arms. For a moment, I let him hold me. He smelled of leather, outdoors, and a musky scent that made me want to burrow in his neck. Last weekend, when I wasn’t driving myself crazy, thoughts of his sensual lips and how they felt would mock me. Right now, all I had to do was lift my head and we’d kiss.
    “It’s okay,” he said softly, his warm breath fanning my forehead.
    My knees went weak, and my breathing grew erratic. He didn’t help matters when he started rubbing circles on my back. I gave in to temptation, turned my head, and buried it in the crook of his neck to smell him better. I inhaled.
    He leaned back and smirked as though he knew. “I don’t think I understand what seeing him in the cafeteria has to do with your tears,” he whispered, “but I promise you, it’s not what you think.”
    He was patronizing me, and just like that, thoughts of kissing him went poof. “I saw his soul, Echo.”
    “I heard you the first time.” He pulled me closer again and rested his chin on the crown of my head.
    “That means he