Read Online Shadow Rising by Kendra Leigh Castle - Free Book Online Page A

replace it. She might be a skilled fighter, but it looked like she wasn’t in the habit of killing after all. It would explain why he was still alive.
    “Ariane,” he said gently. “I think you know I’m telling the truth. Our purpose is the same.”
    “I doubt that,” she replied, her expression wary. “Men like you aren’t usually chosen for simple reconnaissance work.”
    Well. She was no fool, no matter how naive she was. Damien tried for his most innocent expression.
    “I can handle myself in dangerous situations. I’d say anyone capable of taking down a Grigori qualifies as quite dangerous.”
    “You’re a killer,” she protested.
    He tilted his head at her. “As are we all. You realize that if you kill me ,” he said slowly, lifting a hand to touch hers where it was wrapped around the scimitar’s hilt, “it would simply be more senseless bloodshed.”
    Skin brushed skin, and he sucked in a breath. Touching Ariane was like touching a live wire… and yet, there was a pleasure in it, enough that he let his fingers wrap gently around her wrist.
    He saw her startled blink, the sudden rise of her chest, and knew she enjoyed his touch as well. And that she hadn’t expected to.
    “You’re a Shade,” she said. “You lie for a living.”
    “In fairness, that’s only one part of what I do for a living. And not nearly as lucrative as others. Ariane, love… you’re hurting me.”
    “How else am I supposed to get you to talk?” she asked, sounding unnervingly like someone from an old gangster movie. Hopefully she hadn’t gotten many ideas from any of those.
    Damien immediately thought of several ways he’d enjoy being coerced, and just as quickly had to shove them aside. This was so far from the time and place…
    “Even in my line of work, cutting is toward the more extreme end of coercion.” He shifted purposely, then sucked in a breath and winced when the blade cut just a little deeper. Just as he’d expected. The sensation wasn’t pleasant, but the look on Ariane’s face made the momentary pain worth it.
    The hand on the hilt of the blade finally quivered.
    “I—”
    She didn’t get another word out. In a series of motions Damien could execute as easily as breathing, he twisted her wrist so she dropped the sword. As it fell to the floor with a muffled thump, he lunged for her, pulling her against him and dropping both of them to the ground before she could pull out any other sharp objects she might have on her person. He pinned Ariane beneath him, gripping her wrists at either side of her head. She was completely at his mercy now.
    That was, if he could get over how it felt to have every inch of her pressed against him. His eyes wanted to roll back in his head as every nerve ending began to sing something suspiciously like the “Hallelujah Chorus.” He distracted himself the only way he knew how.
    “Ariane,” he scolded her. “Pity is charming, but in my case, ill advised. You should never trust a Shade.”
    Her fangs flashed at him. “Bastard!”
    Damien chuckled. “Ooh, another naughty word. Are you being tutored?”
    Ariane gave a sharp, infuriated yelp. But though he felt her muscles tense, he knew she couldn’t move. She might be powerful—hell, what he’d seen left him thinking she was uncomfortably close to Lily in that department—but size and weight had their advantages.
    “Let me go!” she demanded.
    Damien barked out a laugh. “Are you joking? You just had a sword at my throat! I’d like to keep my head tonight, thanks. And you deserve to suffer a bit. My shirt is ruined.”
    “I hate you.” She hissed the words, words he’d heard thousands of times before, including from his own brothers on numerous occasions. They’d ceased to bother him centuries ago—both the words and the brothers, who were long ago dust and bones—but from Ariane’s lips, they sounded harsh, wrong. She didn’t seem a creature made for hate, even with a deadly weapon in her