Blood Reign (#4): Alpha Warriors of the Blood (The Blood Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

took in the apparent direness of their situation.
    His wrists burned where ligature marks deeply grooved his flesh. He fought not to rub them, feeling fortunate he was unbound. He easily caught the reflective eyes of his brethren, realizing only just then that they were Red—all.
    “They're taking us to Alaska,” the girl named Cynthia informed him quietly.
    Instead of answering, Slash located Adrianna, her face swollen where she'd been struck. His mouth tightened. She noticed his expression and looked away.
    Of course she did. Slash understood how awful he looked. Yet it was important he knew she was healing.
    “Adrianna,” he began, his discomfort around her acute, his desire to hide it even greater.
    Her face swung back to his. “Yes?” she asked while hiding her eyes from his gaze.
    Where was that spitfire nature he so relished? “Are you well?”
    Adrianna shook her head. He crawled to her and maintained a tense two-foot distance. Silently adding his presence without throwing it in her face.
    “I couldn't help anyone. Lily forced the change.”
    Slash sensed Adrianna blamed herself.
    He remembered it all. Very painful to be brought when the moon wasn't full; it had been a deliberate move to incapacitate. She could have done nothing. Slash was Alpha enough to change into his half-form, and once in a great while he could also bring himself if the moon was only a thumbnail in the sky.
    Adrianna was not Red, and she was hurting.
    His gaze wandered the cloistered, stuffy dark van and returned to study her. He was ashamed he had missed an opportunity to protect her while he slept off his drugged state. “What can I do to ease you?”
    Slash bit the inside of his lip when all he wished was to drag her into his arms and kiss away the bruises on her face.
    A fat tear made a clean spot on the van’s dusty floor as it shook its way down the highway.
    Slash stilled.
    Adrianna got up on her knees, the silver bindings tight. Blood oozed from her wrists, and he growled low in his throat in frustration that he could heal nothing.
    Cyn interpreted the look on his face. “I could heal her if we weren't bound in silver.”
    Slash nodded. She had the same limits as he.
    Turning back, he watched Adrianna painfully, slowly, walk the short distance to him. She fought the lurching truck, the hard floor that abraded her knees as she drew closer.
    Slash sat there. He couldn't tolerate rejection. He hoped the swampy darkness of the van box’s interior sufficiently hid his face.
    Adrianna moved until her knees met with his. She lowered her face to his shoulder.
    “What…?” Slash swallowed hard, never more self-conscious in his entire life. “What would you have of me, Adrianna?” Her warm breath bled through the light shirt he wore, and he suppressed a shiver. She owns me.
    That small gesture tightened the invisible ties that bound them.
    “Hold me,” she whispered against him. Two words that changed his life.
    The moment swelled... held. Slash let the air out of his lungs, draped muscular arms around her smaller body, and drew Adrianna into his lap. She curled up as best she could, her wrists so tightly bound she gave a little whimper when Slash adjusted her position.
    “I am sorry,” he said, feeling like an oaf.
    She shook her head, her hair pleasantly rubbing underneath his chin. It smelled of sweet female. His female.
    Slash’s hand hovered over the top of that silky hair. His eyes found Cynthia's, and he began to glance away, but not before she gave him a signal that took bravery to execute.
    She had nodded her head, and Slash let his hand fall against Adi's head from her silent encouragement.
    A breath eased out of Adrianna, and her cheek pressed deeper into Slash's broad chest. “Thank you, Slash.”
    His eyes burned. A heartbeat passed while he considered many things simultaneously. “You are most welcome,” he finally said. Slash moved his hand over her head again and again. When her breaths grew deeper, more