Read Online Unreap My Heart (The Reaper Series) by Kate Evangelista - Free Book Online Page B

walking for three hours and here you are still alive. Don’t you think I would have allowed you to be eaten by now?”
    “How would I know you’re not just bringing me somewhere secluded?”
    “Are you hearing yourself right now?”
    Then Balthazar’s eyes widened. He reached out for her without moving from where he stood. In a calmer voice, he said, “Arianne, stop.”
    “No.” She kept backing away.
    “Dammit, listen to me. You have to stop before you—”
    She yelped when she backed right into one of the hills.
    “Don’t breathe in!”
    But Balthazar’s screamed warning came too late. Arianne coughed. The fine powder smelled like powdered sugar, coating her lungs with each inhalation. Her chest grew tight. The more she flailed against the hill in an attempt to get up the more the powder got into her nose, mouth, eyes, and everywhere else. Balthazar said something, but his voice sounded muffled. Arianne couldn’t see him through the mist the powder created. Then the outline of a figure took shape in front of her.
    “Balthazar, help!” She coughed then covered her mouth. A mistake since the stuff coated her palm. She coughed again then spat out as much as she could.
    “Balthazar!” Her voice scratched against her throat. The powered seemed to cling to its walls. It got really hard to breathe.
    “Ari,” the figure coming closer said.
    Arianne froze at the familiar voice. “Niko?”
    The figure cleared the mist and stood a foot away from her now. She saw his boots first, then his jeans, then his T-shirt. When she reached his face, she gasped then coughed. He reached out and she took his hand. He pulled her up until she flew into his arms. She buried her face into his shoulder and called his name over and over, uncaring how much she coughed. His embrace tightened around her.
    “Niko, how’d you get out of that coffin?” she asked into his neck. She felt his pulse on her cheek. He was alive and he held her close.
    “Ari,” he whispered her name again.
    Her heart twisted. She didn’t think she’d miss the way he said her name or the sound of his voice, but she did. They hadn’t been apart for that long, but it felt like a lifetime. She missed him so much it hurt. He’d come for her. When she pulled back to get a good look at his face, the white mist disappeared. In the second that she’d crushed herself against Niko, he’d transported them into his Inbetween—a place in his mind he controlled. The scent of pine trees eased the ache caused by inhaling the powder. The breeze cooled her suddenly too hot skin. She looked up into his inky eyes and threaded her fingers through his equally black hair. She pulled him toward her, and he smiled, giving her what she wanted, what she craved.
    Their lips only touched for a second when a voice she’d be happy never to hear again called her name. The voice was faint, but was definitely her name being called. Soon the voice got louder and louder. Arianne pulled away from the kiss reluctantly and looked behind her at the lake in the distance. The water rippled in time with the voice calling her name, increasing in volume now. Niko cupped her face with both his hands and turned her toward him again.
    “Stay,” he said.
    She looked into the dark pools of his eyes, searching for the right answer. “Niko.”
    “Stay with me, Ari.”
    “Arianne! Dammit, answer me!” the voice said so loudly it drowned out Arianne’s thoughts.
    Arianne clung to Niko but suddenly he changed into something else. His handsome face melted away, revealing a grinning skull. She screamed and pushed away from him. The skeleton that replaced Niko wouldn’t let her go.
    “Stay with me, Ari,” it said in Niko’s voice.
    She punched, kicked, and screamed but it was no use. Its bony fingers held her with bruising force. A siren blared, shocking Arianne into standing still. The skeleton let her go, searching for the source of the sound. Then Niko’s Inbetween with its pine trees, placid