Breakwater Read Online Free PDF

together.
    “Lark,” his voice was husky and full of desire.
    Steeling myself, I kept my voice even. “Coal, I have an assignment. I have to go.”
    With his one remaining hand, he reached for me. “Can’t they find someone else? I’ve been lonely without you. I don’t want you to go.”
    “I’ve only been gone a week.” I dodged his hand and went to my knees so I could get at the weapons under my bed. In particular, my spear that had belonged to my mother—there was no way I was leaving it behind when I was going into danger.
    His hand dropped to my head, digging into my thick hair and tugging at me lightly, bringing my face close to his knees. “Lark, I’ve missed you. Doesn’t that count for something?”
    I sat back, spear in one hand and three knives in the other. A part of me expected to feel something other than desire—a pull of my heart toward him. But there was nothing other than the zings of lust, and even with the guilt that ate at me, that wasn’t enough. I had to let him go. Had to make him move on. “I’m sorry, Coal, I have to leave. I have an assignment.”
    His eyes hardened, flashing with anger. “Right. And that has nothing to do with this.” He held up my necklace with the griffin tooth dangling from it. The necklace was a gift from Griffin, the wolf shifter who lived on the southern outskirts of our forest. He’d given me the necklace to stave off the lung burrowers while I fought off Cassava.
    I reached for it. “I have to return that.”
    “Not according to this.” Coal fumbled with the necklace and pulled a piece of paper from under his shirt, reading from it. “Larkspur, keep the necklace for your next trip, it looks better on you than it ever did on me. But I want it back when you return. Your friend, Griffin.”
    I lifted my eyebrows. “So?”
    “A man doesn’t just give a gift to a woman without expecting something in return. Or maybe he’s making a payment for something he’s already had.”
    My jaw dropped. He just called me a whore. I curled my fingers into a fist and pulled my arm back. A hand behind me grabbed me before I could ram my fist into Coal’s face.
    “Lark, I said I needed you in the Traveling room,” Ash said.
    I let out a slow breath, reached out and jerked the necklace from Coal’s fingers. Guilt over cutting off his hand be damned. I didn’t need this worm shit trying to control me. He wasn’t getting the subtle cues; time to be blunt. “Get out of here, and don’t bother missing me. We’re done.”
    His green eyes seemed to burn, and the ugliness that hid behind his good looks reared its head. “You’re a slut, just like Belladonna. Just like your mother.”
    Ash grunted as if he’d been hit in the gut. I swallowed hard and knew what I was about to say would sever the ties between Coal and me once and for all. There would be no going back. But I just didn’t want to deal with his garbage anymore, or the guilt. “I should have cut off your head instead of your hand, you stupid ass.” To be fair, I’d cut it off because I’d had no other choice. He’d been under Cassava’s compulsion and was dragging me to her so she could kill me.
    But to Coal, the reason wouldn’t matter.
    I pushed past Ash and strode toward the Traveling room, leaving a stunned Coal and silent Ash behind.
    I should have known better than to think Coal would let me go after dropping that little bombshell. I made it all the way to the stairwell leading down to the Traveling room. A shout from Ash was the only warning I got. Coal came at me hard, leaping from the first step. He tackled me, and we fell in a tangled heap, hitting the sharp edges of the stairs cut into the earth. He screamed at me, his voice a blur of words and anger, violence and profanities flowing out of him.
    There was nothing I could say, nothing I wanted to say. At the bottom of the stairs he got on top of me, pinning me with his knees as he tried to choke me with his one hand. A futile effort.