Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

injury and the stress she had been
through.
    I watched the way the morning light brushed
across the curve of her cheek. She was beautiful and graceful, tiny
like a dancer but strong willed and ferocious when she needed to
be. Her presence set my whole world on a tilt, but I would do it
again without hesitation. Her breathing changed and her eyes opened
slowly to stare into mine. The regret and anger I expected to see
in them never appeared; instead, she watched me in silence and her
hand rested on my arm, a simple touch that said so much more than
words ever could.
     

Chapter 4
     
    My cell phone rang a few hours later while I
rested in a daze on the couch. The screen said it was my mother and
I let out a breath in a slow whoosh. I sat up slowly, closed my
eyes, and opened the phone. I pushed the speaker button and set it
on the arm of the couch by habit.
    “ Vance, what on earth is
going on over there?” Mom demanded in her usual get-to-the-point
way. “Ben told us about the attack, the boys who were killed, and
you have a Hunter in your apartment? What on earth are you
thinking? You need to kill her right now.”
    “ Hello to you, too, Mom,” I
replied dryly. I could practically feel her wanting to strangle me
over the phone and fought back a small, sad smile. “It's been an
eventful night.”
    “ Ben said we lost
Sam.”
    “ And Riff, Jason, and Sy,”
I said. My heart slowed with each name.
    Mom let out small breath. “How did they find
you?”
    “ By accident. No one else
knows we're here.”
    “ Except the Hunter in your
apartment.” I knew by her tone that her hands were clenched into
fists and she had her jaw set in the way that always stopped me in
my tracks as a child. I was grateful I no longer spoke to her
through the computer where I could see her.
    “ We can learn from her,” I
said carefully.
    “ About what, how to kill
werewolves?” Mom asked.
    I rolled my eyes and hunched down further on
the couch. I winced when the motion pulled at my healing shoulder
and sat back up. “I'll be careful. I need to go help Thomas and Ben
with the coffins.”
    Mom’s voice came softer, “Did you perform
the Uniting Chant?”
    “ For each of them,” I
replied. It felt as though a vice gripped my heart. I shut my eyes
tightly, willing the emotions to stay locked deep
inside.
    Mom fell silent for a moment, then she said
with a tight voice, “I called Sam's mom.” My heart ached and I
heard the quiet sniff that said she was crying but didn't want me
to know.
    I asked quietly, “How did she take it?”
    Mom sniffed again. “Not well. She was mad,
then heartbroken. She's trying to gather the others to seek
revenge.”
    “ We killed them.” My
stomach turned at the words, but I kept my voice
expressionless.
    “ She wants to go after
their parents.” Anger laced through her tone. “I don't blame her,
Vance. I would do the same. It sounds like it was a close
thing.”
    “ It was,” I admitted. “I
never thought they'd get this far.”
    “ We're going to have to
make some changes at Two.”
    I nodded even though she couldn't see me.
She took the silence for agreement, told me she loved me, and hung
up the phone with the promise to call tomorrow and make sure
preparations were taking place.
    I closed the phone, then rested my elbows on
my knees and buried my face in my hands. The images of my dead
friends' faces danced in my mind, their wounds bleeding and eyes
lifeless. Tears rose unbidden and slid between my fingers.
    “ Your mom sounds like a
piece of work,” a voice said from behind me.
    My fingers found the knife hidden under the
cushion and I spun with the blade out to stop a millimeter from the
girl’s throat. My heart raced and it took a minute to slow my
breathing and force the urge to phase back down. The Hunter’s wide
eyes stared into mine, bright with fear and surprise. I lowered the
knife.
    “ Don't you know better than
to startle an armed werewolf?”
    “ I didn't know you