Read Online Warrior from the Shadowland by Cassandra Gannon - Free Book Online Page B

Cross wasn’t worthy of being Nia’s Phase-Match.  He’d just proven it
and she must know it.  But he still couldn’t let her go.
    “I’ve
known since the Fall.  Since the world ended.  I felt you, then.”  He stared
down at the blood on his hands, refusing to look at her.
    Nia
blinked.  “And you just… left me?”  Her voice broke, slightly.  “You didn’t
come for me until now?”  She sounded more upset by that than by what he’d done
to her clothes.  “Didn’t you want me?”
    Cross’
head snapped up.  What the hell…?  He’d expected angry recriminations that he’d
triggered the apocalypse.  He hadn’t expected Nia to interpret his actions as
him willfully ignoring her for two damn years.  Was she kidding?  Cross had
never been known for his sense of humor, so it was certainly possible that he
missed the joke.
    Except,
looking at Nia’s stricken face, it seemed like she was actually serious.  How
could Nia even think that anyone wouldn’t want her?  How could she possibly
believe that after what had happened on the desk?  Maybe she was the one
who was crazy.  “Are you crazy?”  It was the only thing that he could think to
say.
    “Forget
it.”  Nia crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.  “It’s okay, I guess. 
You’re here now, so…”
    There
was a loud crashing sound in the outer office.  Human voices shouted that they
were all under arrest and that everyone had to stop right where they were.
    The
police.
    Great.
    Apparently
their little sword fight hadn’t been real under the radar.  Cross had never
spent much time around humans, but he knew that Job would not be happy about
five Phases doing hard time in one of their prisons.
    Cross
didn’t feel himself move.  He just somehow ended up right next to Nia, grabbing
her arm and forcing her backwards.  The sword was in his hand, again.  “How
many people want you dead?”  He demanded, his eyes fixed on the door.
    “A
lot.”  She tried to get passed him so she could go help her family.  They couldn’t
see the outer office, but it was a safe bet Ty, Uriel and Tharsis were being
arrested.
    “Nia,
no.”  Cross refused to let her slip away from him.  “You’re not going to do
them any good getting handcuffed.”  Although, the image of that did play
through his head for a moment like an excerpt from an X-rated film.
    “The
police will catch us in here, anyway.”  She stood on tiptoe so she could
whisper into his ear.  “I won’t leave my family and I don’t want to hurt any
humans.  They’re harmless.  We’ll just get arrested and then escape, again.”
    “No.” 
Cross struggled to concentrate.  The headache lifted when their skin touched,
giving him a small bit of clarity.  She seemed intent on destroying it with her
breathy voice, though.  “It’s not safe.”  He insisted.  Parald had to know
where she was if the Air House had attacked.  They couldn’t be trapped by
humans.  It put them all in danger if more Air Phases arrived.
    “My
cousin and brother are out there.”
    “I
don’t care.”
    Nia’s
eyes narrowed.  “Cross, let me go.”  She said it firmly, as if that was the end
of the
    argument.
    Because
- Shit! - it was.
    His
Match hadn’t spent the past two years shouting down the rest of the Council
without learning something about strategy.  Nia had cornered him with that move
and she knew it.
    She
smiled a “checkmate” sort of grin.
    Cross
had vowed that he’d stop, whenever Nia told him to stop touching her.  Period.
And, for some reason, she actually believed that he’d keep his word.  So, if he
didn’t take his hand off of her, he’d be breaking the only promise he’d ever
made to her.  Cross’s instincts were screaming at him to stop her before she
put herself in jeopardy.
    He
could overpower Nia now and force her to stay put.  But, then her trust in him
and her incredibly touching faith that he’d respect her boundaries if she just
said