Factor Read Online Free PDF

really pale, even for you.” He sat back and watched her with the attentive gaze of a Labrador retriever.
    She turned in Cowl’s embrace and ate the omelette set in front of her. She drank the tea Flare handed to her and settled back when Twist brought in a blanket from his quarters. The four Guardians fussed over her like she was a combination of dear sister and precious treasure. She leaned her head against Cowl’s chest and breathed deeply. His scent reminded her of cinnamon and rich chocolate.
    She heard them speaking in low tones about a secondary base, but there must have been something in that tea, because she didn’t know what happened next.
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    Jianne jolted upright the moment she realised that she wasn’t getting any images from her feeds. She clapped her hand to her right eye and then removed it, checking to make sure that it was working…it was.
    She slipped out from under the blanket that Twist had put over her and looked around the room she had woken up in. It was a small bedroom but perfectly suited to a one-night guest.
    Jianne headed for the door, and it opened at her approach.
    Cowl was elbowing his way in, his hands occupied with a tray. “Ah, Jianne, I am glad I don’t have to wake you.”
    “Um, I am glad too. Would you like me to take that?”
    He set it down at the small desk near the bed. “Nope. It is fine. I need to speak with you in private, so this is the best situation.”
    She blinked. “Privacy? For what?”
    To her surprise, he flipped his hood back, the heavy fabric moving with a snap. She stared at him, his dark features had a glowing silvery hue and his pewter eyes had a hypnotic cast. She took a step toward him, her hand reaching up to touch his skin. She curled her fingers into a fist and returned it to her side before she made contact.
    “Why are you showing me your face?” She cocked her head and took in the clear purity of his features, all hard angles and delicate edges. If all of his species were this elegant, it was a wonder that they could walk the streets without being mobbed.
    He smiled. “I wanted to see if you would react as I had hoped or as most do. I am very pleased to see that is the former.”
    She frowned at the delight in his face. “What was I supposed to do?”
    “Freeze in place. It is the standard reaction when faced with a Mah-Duh-Sai. We have a long-lasting hypnotic effect on most species, executed via the optic nerve.” He smiled.
    She had to admit that the smile did have a weakening effect on her knees, but she wasn’t in danger of freezing in place. Overheating was far more of a danger for her. “Why am I not affected like that?”
    He reached out and caressed her right temple. “Your vision bypasses the strictly visual and into additional spectrums. You can’t be chemically influenced by my pheromones to the same extent that other races are.”
    She reached up to pull his hand away, but she kept her fingers wrapped around his wrist, the pulse under her fingertips was a slow and steady beat. “I am still affected, though.”
    Sarnvil cocked his head slightly, stroking her cheek and rubbing his thumb along her lips. “How so?”
    “Rapid pulse, generalized increase in body temperature, shortness of breath.” She bit her lip as the pad of his thumb moved to her jaw.
    He leaned in, and his lips were less than an inch from hers. “I hate to tell you this, but those are not side effects of exposure to one of my kind.”
    She blinked and tried to ignore the definite tones of arousal being rung throughout her body by his proximity. When his lips touched hers, she shivered from her neck downward. It was the first kiss she had had since before her time in Janial, and it erased all others from her memory.
    When he raised his head, she was leaning against him for balance, and she said the first thing that came into her mind. “What happened to my scanning feeds?”
    He blinked and frowned. “I must be losing