Dark Promises (Dark #29) Read Online Free PDF Page A

gold. It looked beautiful on her wrist, so delicate, and yet she knew the bracelet was far more than that.
    Unexpectedly, Gary’s hand came up under hers to pull it away so he could inspect it. “There’s power in this. Where did you get it?”
    Her stomach somersaulted. He sounded . . . dangerous. Not at all like her Gary. Gabrielle pressed her lips together. Gary sounded fully Carpathian, a male hunter refusing to be denied an answer. When she glanced up to look into his eyes, they were glittering down at her. Her heart jerked.
    â€œYou’re scaring me, Gary,” she said. He really was, but she didn’t know why. And she didn’t know why the bracelet felt as if it was a threat to him, but it, too, had gone from beautiful to deadly, just as Gary had.
    Gary didn’t touch the bracelet and his gaze didn’t leave her face. “It’s a weapon, Gabrielle. Where did you get this?”
    â€œMy brother. For the something old. You know,” she persisted. “Something old. Something new. Something borrowed and something blue. This is something old. My father gave it to Jubal to give to me when the time was right. Jubal told Joie the time was right.”
    â€œOn our wedding night?”
    â€œI don’t understand what’s wrong.” She didn’t, and yet she did. Her bracelet had begun to hum. It was low, but it was there. She heard it. Gary heard it. She pulled her hand out of his and put her arm behind her back to quiet the bracelet. She didn’t know how to take it off or she would have. She didn’t want her beautiful bracelet to ruin this night for her.
    â€œWhat is wrong is that bracelet is looking to slice me to pieces. Take it off.”
    She bit her lip hard. “I can’t, Gary. I don’t know how.”
    He drew in his breath, his eyes going electric green. He looked more ofa predator than she’d seen in a wolf. She drew in her breath and willed the bracelet to behave and stop humming.
    â€œYou put an object of power on without having any idea how to remove it or how to make it work or stop working?”
    That was a blow. A huge blow. She could hear the sarcasm in his voice. He looked down at her as if she wasn’t quite bright, when, in fact, she was brilliant. Okay. Maybe he had a point, it wasn’t the smartest move, but it was her wedding night and a gift from her brother. And father. It was hers. It felt right on her wrist, and she knew it was hers. Just as the pendant was Joie’s and Jubal had his weapon from the mages.
    â€œI shouldn’t have,” she conceded. “But it was a gift from Jubal, and I was caught up in the wedding traditions. When Joie gave it to me, I thought it was a bracelet, a piece of jewelry, not a weapon.”
    She didn’t want to take the bracelet off. She kept willing it to connect with her as Jubal’s weapon connected with him. She knew Jubal could control his weapon with his mind.
    Gary studied Gabrielle’s face. She was beautiful. She had always been beautiful, but since being converted to a Carpathian, she was even more so. It was difficult to resist the look on her face. Her eyes, a true dove gray, stayed on his, held captive there. He wanted her with every breath in his body. He had since the moment he’d laid eyes on her. The Carpathian people had been facing extinction and he had worked day and night to help ease those problems, hoping to buy them enough time to actually find ways to solve them permanently.
    Without children no species could continue, not even one with the longevity the Carpathians had. He had put aside his own emotions, wants and maybe even needs in order to help them. Then the prince had sent him on countless errands and given him so many tasks, both dangerous and not. When he wasn’t learning to fight the enemy, protecting children during the day or researching, Mikhail and Gregori asked him to join their strategy meetings.
    There