Parallel Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

with absolute lust.
    â€œI’m sure it is.” She bent over, leaning from atop the bank and reached low with her hand for some of the flowing water. It was a long reach and all at once, she slipped, almost falling face-first into the stream. Catching hold of a clump of tall grass, she steadied herself.
    â€œNeed some help? I can come across, if need be.”
    She heard the wolf in his tone. “I’ve got it all right.” Oh I just bet you’d love to help me. But she had a plan now—a pretty simple and direct one—to make him work harder. To let him take the lead; somehow, that seemed to be the key to getting him to open up to her.
    â€œWell”—he laughed, a deep and rumbling sound—“let me know if I can be of any service. Perhaps hold you from behind while you bend down so you don’t fall in face-first.”
    â€œNope, got it.” She dug her heels into the ground behind her, her face flushing, and with a quickly tossed glare at Nevin, took another few sips.
    When she had drunk her fill, the two of them took up positions on opposite sides of the stream bed, eyeing each other. He’d unsnapped his uniform top, damp with sweat and creek water, and it fell open to the middle of his sternum, revealing a tightly sculpted chest that seemed nearly impossible to contain within the stretchy fabric.
    She reached for a stone and tossed it into the rushing water, avoiding his steady, piercing gaze. What did he want from her? What did he expect? That she’d jump down from her position, traipse through the water, and throw herself at him brazenly?
    He’d always seemed so stern. Totally buttoned up. Too intense and humorless. But the man she’d been discovering here in the woods as they wandered and wandered trying to find their way out alive was virile and dangerous. Barely restricted in his desires, much more like the sensuous man she’d encountered during her interrogation.
    His gaze was still fixed on her, totally unwavering and she noticed that the late day sun caught the silver in his hair, making it practically glow against his rich, golden-red skin. The man had the pure look of the ancient Refarians, with his very high cheekbones and slanted eyes, the arching dark brows. All of that, when coupled with the dramatic silver in his hair, gave him the exotic look of a primeval warrior, of a tribal leader who might come roaring out of the mountains.
    She thought about the rumors she’d always heard about mature men like Nevin. It was said they became full-on rutting stallions in bed after their change. Her mind supplied a slip-silver image of Nevin, gloriously nude, rising beneath the full moon like a rpt’ai beast, ready to devour and take her by the sheer weight and power of his dominance. She shivered despite the warm sun, watching him across the stream; he appraised her likewise, his black eyes narrowing hungrily.
    Oh, yes, he definitely had the classic look of the ancient Refarians. Some murmured that he had royal blood in his lineage since the D’Aravni and D’Ashani males all matured at a younger age than other non-royals. She could easily recall the day about a year ago when he’d strutted into the kitchen, as smug as she always thought he seemed, and with blazing eyes had defied a damn soul to comment on the change in his hair color. It had taken all of three days for his thick, gleaming black hair to turn.
    No one had murmured a word. No one even so much as thought about gossiping or snickering behind Lieutenant Daniels’ back. He was that sort of leader—so serious, so incorruptible, and always just a little bit dour.
    Until these past hours when all of a sudden it was as if the ground beneath them had cracked open, as if the universe had tilted askew and she’d seen the lieutenant for the sensuous creature he truly was—had obviously always been, but kept it hidden behind a carefully constructed veneer of