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

were
armed,” she said in a strangled voice.
    I slid the knife back under the cushion, my
eyes never leaving her face. “Always assume I'm armed.”
    “ I will.”
    I couldn't tell if she was serious or
mocking me, so I kept silent.
    Her eyes searched my face. “Oh, you’re
crying,” she said in a tone that was surprised and tender the way
someone would talk to a lost puppy.
    She put a hand on my shoulder. The gesture
was so familiar and sweet I didn’t know how to respond. No one ever
touched me, let alone in consolation. Crying and being comforted
was a weakness I couldn’t afford. I gritted my teeth and moved away
from her hand. “Your Hunters killed my friends. Now I have to send
their bodies home to their families.”
    She shook her head with regret shining in
her green eyes. “They should be alive. We weren't supposed to be
here. It was a mistake.”
    “ One that cost all of us
dearly,” I replied softly, thinking of the bodies I had prepared
and the quiet, mournful tones of the Uniting Chant. The thought
sent a sharp pain through my heart and I had to change the topic.
“What's your name?”
    She sniffed, then turned her head to look at
me. “Nora.”
    “ I don't think we've been
properly introduced,” I said, trying for humor. I held out a hand.
“I'm Vance.”
    She looked at my hand until I finally
dropped it. Her gaze darkened. “I need to go home.”
    I shook my head. “I can't let you do
that.”
    “ So, what? You'll keep me
here forever?”
    I bristled at her tone. “At least you’re
alive. I can't let you endanger the rest of the werewolves by
letting you go.”
    “ My dad will come for me,”
she threatened.
    “ According to you, he has
no idea you're here.” I held her eyes, my tone dangerous. “I don't
think anyone's coming.”
    She glared at me for a moment, making me
realize that it had been years since anyone had met my gaze with so
much defiance. I rose and crossed to the door. “Better get some
more rest,” I said over my shoulder. “You need to give your leg a
chance to heal.”
    I shut the door and stalked down the hall
angrier than the situation called for. The Hunter confused me. She
could be sweet and needy one moment, then prickly as a porcupine
the next. She kept me on my toes when all I wanted to do was figure
out how to make Two stronger against attacks. I had no doubts that
the families of the Hunters we killed would be looking for them,
and we had to be ready if they found us.
     

***
     
    I hammered the last few nails on Sam’s
coffin, then could only sit back and stare at the four wooden
boxes. A void filled my chest and it was all I could do to keep
from tearing everything apart. With my friends dead, Two possibly
compromised, and an unpredictable Hunter in my rooms, there was no
peace.
    I made my way through the twisted red rock
halls to the training rooms. The rooms were empty. I picked up a
pair of knives and attacked the first dummy with a smooth
efficiency and mindless effort brought by years of practice. I had
killed the ten dummies in the room so many times I was almost fond
of the wood and cloth forms. I went to the next room and reviewed
martial arts with the wooden practice posts. Sweat dripped from my
skin and my heart pounded with each hit. My muscles flowed smoothly
from one exercise to the next as I had done a million times. I lost
myself in the motion. My healing shoulder and back throbbed, but it
was a healing ache and I reveled in the pain that crowded the other
thoughts from my mind.
    “ Vance?”
    Traer’s voice eventually broke through the
numb fog of battle exhaustion that chased away all thoughts but my
pretend opponents. I gave him a weary smile and tossed the pair of
sticks I had been using back in a pile.
    Traer’s eyes tightened with concern. “What
happened there?”
    I glanced down at my chest and saw that the
strain of practice made the bullet wound start bleeding again. My
white shirt had a big red tell-tale circle along the