Nyght's Eve Read Online Free PDF

equated to be as dangerous as an incendiary
device strapped to his chest. “Damn it.”
    Carly’s head lifted and she sniffed
delicately. “You swore.”
    “Did not.”
    “Did too.”
    Dare frowned at her. “How could you tell over
the sound of your wailing? I still can’t hear anything in my left ear. In fact,
I don’t think I’ll be able to hear out of it the same ever again.”
    She gifted him with a little giggle and he
felt the band of tension in his chest ease a little. He’d never been good with
tears, and this situation was even worse because she was a little girl. Kids
were like some foreign creatures that baffled and confused him. He’d always
done his best to avoid them whenever possible, but he knew this little girl was
depending on him. He just needed to clean her up and send her on her way.
    Taking advantage of the break in tears, Dare
pried Carly’s arms from his neck and set her onto the table so he could clean
and bandage her injury. His newfound aversion to blood made him feel foolish,
but the little scrape was nothing compared to the trauma wounds he was used to
dealing with, so the uncomfortable feeling quickly dissipated. He opened the
first aid kit and removed the items he needed, aware of those young eyes
watching his every move.
    “Are you really a doctor?”
    “I am.”
    “You could just be saying you are. How do I
know for real?”
      He
raised a brow at that. Trusting little bugger. “Why would I lie?”
    “I don’t know. Why would you?”
      Oh, for the love of...
    Dare was saved from more questions as two
young men hurried into the room. “Carly! Jesus, what happened to you?” one of
the teens demanded as soon as he saw her bloody knee.
      “Miles,
I fell,” Carly whimpered as Dare began cleaning the wound. “Ouch!”
    Carly’s brother wrapped his arm around his
little sister’s shoulders. “You’re hurting her!”
    Dare shot the brother a look that made the
boy shut up, then he let his face soften as he glanced back toward Carly.   “Sorry, kid. I just have to clean it before
we bandage you up.”
    “I don’t want a shot,” the girl whispered, her
eyes filling with tears again.
    “No shots,” Dare promised quickly.
    “You’re Dr. Nyght, right? Hammer’s friend?”
the large teenager who was leaning against the door asked.
    Dare looked over at him and nodded. He
noticed there was another younger boy standing slightly behind the teen, as if
hiding. Ignoring them for the moment, Dare turned back to Carly’s brother and
pinned the younger man with hard eyes. “You need to watch over your sister
better if you’re going to be bringing her here. She fell and injured herself,
but there are dogs out there that could really hurt her if you aren’t paying
attention.”
    “I thought she was right behind us,” Miles said
defensively, but he couldn’t stand the weight of Dare’s censure for more than a
few seconds. The boy’s shoulders slumped and he busied himself with giving his
sister another awkward hug. The girl smiled, preening under her brother’s
attention. “Sorry, Carly. I’ll watch over you better from now on.”
    Out of the corner of his eye Dare saw the
young boy at the door peek around the teen to watch him cleaning Carly’s knee. It
wasn’t bad, but he wanted to make sure he removed all the grit before he
bandaged it up. Then he could leave...as fast as his feet would carry him.
    “Hammer told me you were a surgeon or
something in the Army,” the teen at the door said. “He also said you were
staying at the boarding house for a while.”
    “Hammer seems to be pretty talkative,” Dare
commented in a neutral voice, belying his irritation. Why the hell did it seem
like everyone knew about him? It made him uncomfortable...and slightly panicked.
    The teen’s chest puffed out. “I’ve been
training with him at Fight Hard and I also work part-time at Kali’s bakery
after school. I’m Nate, and this is my little brother, Shane. That’s my