More Than Life (Arcane Crossbreeds) Read Online Free PDF Page B

but one taste of his blood had shattered her.
    Why were they doing this? Why Raife? Why now?
    Lying limp and trembling on the cot, she barely registered the fact that they were unfastening her restraints or pulling her off the gurney. Her legs felt boneless as unseen hands lifted her and carried her. Her flesh was ablaze, and her head was throbbing, keeping her distant from her surroundings until she felt the jarring sensation of warm water striking her body.
    When she started, there were low voices murmuring to her. Nonthreatening. What were they saying? It sounded like a buzz in her head, and she could pick up only a word or two. Had she heard covered in blood? She tried to open her eyes, but they burned and teared, so she just let them wash her.
    She wasn’t beaten, she told herself. She just needed time to regroup. Consider what this meant for her. Control the burn and the hunger.
    Gentle hands carried her for an indeterminate time. She usually logged the twists and turns of the halls in her mind, adding to the map she was creating in her head of the facility, but right now she wouldn’t be able to tell where she was if they handed her a real map. She was carefully lowered to the ground.
    The door behind her clicked into place, a sound that resonated with finality. On her hands and knees, she didn’t bother with checking out her new surroundings. With Raife’s blood running rivulets of hot and cold through her entire body, she was more fucked than she’d ever been. Geography couldn’t possibly make it any worse or better.
    Long, damp tendrils of her hair fell around her face, and she heard the drops of water splashing against the cement floor. Beneath her hands it felt smooth, and she watched with a sense of the surreal as a drop of bright color hit the waxed surface, followed by another.
    Blood.
    Her throat felt raw and swollen, and she winced when she swallowed. It coated her stomach, sang through her veins, giving her body strength but weakening her resolve. She was Sanguen. Sanguen females drank the blood only of their mates, and Raife had made it clear he wasn’t interested in her. She wasn’t pure Drachon. Hell , Katya thought derisively as she pushed to her knees, I don’t even know what species I am anymore . Purity had been driven from her veins at the point of a needle. Katya pushed her hair back from her face and wiped at her nose, the crimson a bright splash against her hand. What was their game now? Why give her Raife’s blood? Tipping her head back, she blinked up at the ceiling; that curious heat vision coated the ceiling in varying shades of indigo, obscuring any details.
    To her right, there was a mechanical humming and the sound of another door sliding open. Anxiety surged as she searched the darkness, disoriented and hypersensitive from her limited vision. She could make out the basic shapes of what she thought might be furniture. A bed?
    Hesitant footsteps sounded, and she focused on the center of the wall where the colors turned to almost midnight. A door? Someone was in this new cell with her. Inhaling, she recognized that spicy musk. She felt her heartbeat race, and she clenched her teeth as the most glorious pain rolled up through her body in a destructive wave. Lighter blues blended into yellows and deep reds as the cobalt darkness streamed off the heat signature of a man.
    And not just any man – Raife.
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    Raife Merrick felt cold dread wash over him at the sight of her.
    She was on her knees, blood trickling from her nose. That once-glossy pale mane of curls hung in thick, wet strands around her shoulders. Gone was the soft, beautiful, almost sweet scent. In its place was a heavy, earthy one that called to him.
    It reverberated through his body, sending arousal skittering over his skin.
    Her head was cocked to the side, gaze fixed intently on him, and those eyes caught him, sending a shudder up his back, his scalp tightening in reaction. Her pupils were wide,