Read Online Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel by Amanda Bonilla - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Amanda Bonilla
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separated our skin, and I can’t say it wasn’t exciting. The touch of his cooler skin permeated the fabric and left a trail of chills as he ran his hand along my thigh and up over my hip, curling around my waist.
I lowered the dagger. It wasn’t doing any good, and I found I didn’t feel much like threatening him anymore. When had my mouth gone dry? God, he was ridiculously beautiful. Tyler’s chest rose and fell with his breath, and I imagined what he’d look like without his shirt, his muscled chest beneath my hands. I gathered my bottom lip between my teeth. He took the action as consent and swooped down to lay his mouth to mine. I came to my senses just in time and rolled, taking the sheet with me. Tyler fell to the mattress, getting nothing but a mouthful of pillow.
By the time he sat up, I stood at the bathroom door. As I passed through the threshold I said, “Time for you to go, Ty. I’ll talk to you later.” I closed the door behind me and turned on the shower, determined to ignore him. Through the sound of rushing water, my keen hearing didn’t have to strain to hear the gate slam down over the lift. I leaned my forehead against the cool tile wall and let out a deep breath. The unique scent that was all Ty swirled in my memory, and I was less than relieved to be alone with my thoughts. No doubt Tyler was pissed.
He’d get over it.
I lay across my bed, arms and legs splayed out like a starfish. Clouds chased each other across the skylight. Patches of blue peeked between the fluffs of gray and white. Xander’s words played on a loop in my head, messing with me as I tried to comprehend all that I did not know.
I would have made a great poker player. I could bluff like nobody’s business. What Azriel hadn’t taught me could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and what I did know might have filled a tumbler, if I were lucky. Maybe if he’d done his job and given me some basis for my existence, something to define who and what I had become, I might not have been so hard. I might have actually given a damn about something.
I’d never tried to seek out another inhuman creature. Azriel told me there were no others. I believed him too. Stupid, blind faith. He’d never given me reason to doubt him, and I’d never seen proof to the contrary. What an idiotic notion. Had the Shaede population purposely stayed away? Had they known about me all along and silently spied as I lived my life? Jesus, the thought made me sick. Why show up now and ruin the illusion Azriel had so easily crafted? And if more Shaedes roamed the earth, what else existed beyond my scope of reality? I shivered at the thought.
For too many years I had simply existed. Going through the motions, making more money than I could spend, eating, sleeping, drinking, killing, finding pleasure when I wanted it. But I had not lived in a very long time. I had not known companionship, tenderness, camaraderie, and a sense of duty or purpose. I had not known love.
Xander said I was ignorant. He said I knew nothing of myself, my people, or my skills.
And he was right.
So it was no big surprise that I went out looking for him as soon as the sun went down.
I traveled as my shadow self for both speed and cover. I don’t know why I thought he’d be at the warehouse, sitting on that damned throne in the middle of an empty building. So I shouldn’t have been put out when I didn’t find him there.
After that, I checked the town house. Not a single light illuminated the lonely windows, and though his scent lingered, he hadn’t been there for at least a couple of days.
Beleaguered, I went to The Pit. I didn’t want to sit in my apartment and stew, so I decided to seek out diversion in the crowds of humans who went out night after night, trying to define their fleeting lives with even more fleeting encounters.
The club was packed with humans celebrating the end of the work week. They played their usual games, rituals that centered on flirty
I lowered the dagger. It wasn’t doing any good, and I found I didn’t feel much like threatening him anymore. When had my mouth gone dry? God, he was ridiculously beautiful. Tyler’s chest rose and fell with his breath, and I imagined what he’d look like without his shirt, his muscled chest beneath my hands. I gathered my bottom lip between my teeth. He took the action as consent and swooped down to lay his mouth to mine. I came to my senses just in time and rolled, taking the sheet with me. Tyler fell to the mattress, getting nothing but a mouthful of pillow.
By the time he sat up, I stood at the bathroom door. As I passed through the threshold I said, “Time for you to go, Ty. I’ll talk to you later.” I closed the door behind me and turned on the shower, determined to ignore him. Through the sound of rushing water, my keen hearing didn’t have to strain to hear the gate slam down over the lift. I leaned my forehead against the cool tile wall and let out a deep breath. The unique scent that was all Ty swirled in my memory, and I was less than relieved to be alone with my thoughts. No doubt Tyler was pissed.
He’d get over it.
I lay across my bed, arms and legs splayed out like a starfish. Clouds chased each other across the skylight. Patches of blue peeked between the fluffs of gray and white. Xander’s words played on a loop in my head, messing with me as I tried to comprehend all that I did not know.
I would have made a great poker player. I could bluff like nobody’s business. What Azriel hadn’t taught me could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and what I did know might have filled a tumbler, if I were lucky. Maybe if he’d done his job and given me some basis for my existence, something to define who and what I had become, I might not have been so hard. I might have actually given a damn about something.
I’d never tried to seek out another inhuman creature. Azriel told me there were no others. I believed him too. Stupid, blind faith. He’d never given me reason to doubt him, and I’d never seen proof to the contrary. What an idiotic notion. Had the Shaede population purposely stayed away? Had they known about me all along and silently spied as I lived my life? Jesus, the thought made me sick. Why show up now and ruin the illusion Azriel had so easily crafted? And if more Shaedes roamed the earth, what else existed beyond my scope of reality? I shivered at the thought.
For too many years I had simply existed. Going through the motions, making more money than I could spend, eating, sleeping, drinking, killing, finding pleasure when I wanted it. But I had not lived in a very long time. I had not known companionship, tenderness, camaraderie, and a sense of duty or purpose. I had not known love.
Xander said I was ignorant. He said I knew nothing of myself, my people, or my skills.
And he was right.
So it was no big surprise that I went out looking for him as soon as the sun went down.
I traveled as my shadow self for both speed and cover. I don’t know why I thought he’d be at the warehouse, sitting on that damned throne in the middle of an empty building. So I shouldn’t have been put out when I didn’t find him there.
After that, I checked the town house. Not a single light illuminated the lonely windows, and though his scent lingered, he hadn’t been there for at least a couple of days.
Beleaguered, I went to The Pit. I didn’t want to sit in my apartment and stew, so I decided to seek out diversion in the crowds of humans who went out night after night, trying to define their fleeting lives with even more fleeting encounters.
The club was packed with humans celebrating the end of the work week. They played their usual games, rituals that centered on flirty
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