HeroRising Read Online Free PDF Page B

him wonder if his Natalia had had the
same wild look when she had fallen to her killers.
    “Bale, are you all right?”
    Ari’s softly spoken question and her compassion pierced
through the haze of horror and regret that clouded his vision every time he
thought of his wife. “What?”
    The human stood poised on the edge of the sidewalk with her
hands wrapped tightly around the strap of her bag and her big blue eyes wide
with concern. She might not have his power of empathy, but obviously she was
picking up on some of his volatile emotions. “Is everything all right?”
    “Yes.” He smiled. Or at least, he tried to force a semblance
of a friendly expression. “For a moment I had a horrible vision of what could
have been if I had not arrived to assist you when I did.”
    She shivered with a frown. “Well let’s not think about that.
You were there and it’s all in the past now. What good does it do to dwell upon
what might have been?”
    “What good indeed. Maybe it’s to remind me of why I do what
I do.”
    “Oh.” She clasped her hands in front of her and fell silent.
    “Ready to depart?”
    “If you are.”
    He handed her the helmet and watched as her slim fingers and
delicate wrist manipulated the strap. So feminine was this little human. So
completely opposite from his own brutish ways. To have killed those two
bastards who dared to harm her would have taken zero effort on his part. Only
her presence had stayed his hand. She didn’t need to be a witness to the
ugliness he was capable of imparting with a speed faster than one could blink.
    Or his hungers.
    He clenched his teeth against the wave of desire that lapped
up his spine as she settled into place along his back. The respectful clutch
she had around his waist was its own sensual torture. One inch lower and her
hand would brush the pulsating head of his cock, which seemed to want to crawl
out from under the constricting waistband of his jeans. The sensation
intensified as the insides of her thighs pressed against his hips as he steered
onto the highway. Jesu , if he kept thinking of the heat of her skin, he
was going to drive them right into a ditch.
    Laying on the throttle, he concentrated on the next bend in
the road, then the one after that and the one after that. As mile after mile
passed, he was able to focus less on Ari, barely, and began to formulate what
he was going to say when he arrived on Lucian and Amaryllis’ doorstep.
    He had no doubt they would welcome Ari into their home. His
princess was always willing to help those who had a need, whether they wanted
her assistance or not. The difficulty was going to be explaining why he brought
Ari at all. His status was lone ranger. Lone. Always. Never in anyone’s company
longer than it took to lend his sword or when stopping to pay his respect to
the princess and his former commander. Ari’s presence was going to raise a lot
of questions that he had no clue how or desire to answer.
    When the effervescent lights of the city bloomed over the
horizon, Bale pushed aside the senseless concern and focused on seeing his
charge to the end of their journey. Ari had not made a sound the entire last
leg, but he felt the drugging pull of her exhaustion. The stiffness with which
she had held on to him earlier had long ago melted until she draped his back
like a cloak. He’d wager she’d deny her sleepiness, if he asked, which was one
more thing about her to admire, and again he wondered what she was doing
traveling all this way on her own.
    A riddle he would never solve. Once she was entrenched in
Amaryllis’ good graces, he’d be off. Humankind could not be saved if he spent
all his days on social visits.
    “We’re almost there,” he shouted over the sound of the
engine. “Are you still with me?”
    The helmet rubbed against his spine as she nodded and her
arms tightened around his waist. For half a second, he enjoyed the pressure of
her touch. But only for half a second.
    Their destination was