The Rise Read Online Free PDF Page A

car had come to a complete stop and rushed to get this inconvenient task accomplished. He had probably needed a break from my Mother. I knew I did. I didn’t disagree with anything she was saying, but that didn’t mean I wanted to hear it right now.
     
    I watched the numbers on the pump roll and roll. I could feel Kayden’s eyes studying me.
     
    He was leaning back against the Mercedes, his left arm slightly raised because of the bullet wound he’d received back at Dangeon. A slight sheen covered his handsome face, his arms and neck. He should be resting right now, recovering. He hadn’t uttered a word of complaint.
     
    When he took my hand I sighed at the comfort he gave me, releasing a tense breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding. I did my best to keep a neutral face, to not let all of the emotions I was feeling leak out there. Not that it made any difference. Kayden knew I was afraid, terrified even. Of course he did. He could see it as surely as I could see the tension in his muscles and the perfect lines of his face.
     
    “She’s going to be fine,” Kayden said, his deep voice softened to a rumbled whisper. I pulled my gaze away from the rolling pump numbers and looked up into his golden eyes. I found a bit of peace there, but only a bit.
     
    “She’s probably asleep in her dorm room right now,” he continued, speaking gently. “Safe and sound. We have only been gone a couple days. Nelly’s a smart girl. She wouldn’t get in any trouble. She’s probably just as worried about you right now.”
     
    Kayden pulled me to him with his good hand, and I laid my head against his chest. I listened to his heartbeat. Slow and steady. “I know,” I said, releasing another heavy breath. “So why do I have the awful feeling that something’s happened? That we’re going to be… too late? I could barely bring myself to say those two words. They came out sounding the same as they felt: choked.
     
    Kayden said nothing to that. I felt my heart drop, took a step back, my eyes returning to the rolling gas pump numbers. Kayden reached into the pocket of his jeans and produced a tiny leather box. He held it out to me. I stared at it. “I never gave you your birthday present,” he said, and his voice sounded strange… apprehensive, almost.
     
    I looked up at him and found that he could not look back at me. For just a tiny moment, my worries melted away and a small smile touched my lips. My big, strong Kayden looked…nervous. It took me a moment to recognize it. It was an expression I had never seen him wear.
     
    I took the box and pulled back the lid. My breath caught in my throat. Inside, set in black velvet was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. Rose gold, topped with a sphere of diamonds so brilliant that the stones caught bits of light even on this dark night and threw rose-gold tinted light every which way. I was not a person who wore a lot of jewelry, but even the simplest folks would pause to admire this ring. Now I was the one who could not look up. If I so much as tilted my head, a tear or two might just spring from my eyes. I’m not so fond of crying.
     
    Finally, I choked them back and cleared my throat. My words still came out a little rusty. “Thank you,” I said. “It’s beautiful…like a tiny sun.”
     
    Kayden took the ring from the box and took my hand. I felt my knees loosen. “Well,” he said, his slight Scottish accent seeming to caress the word. I stared into his eyes, the color of a lion’s, and wondered at how such a fearsome creature could purr so sweetly. “I’m partial to silver myself,” he continued, running those lion’s eyes over the silver on my skin. I shivered. “But it has been in my family for over two hundred years. My father gave it to my mother, my grandfather to my grandmother.”
     
    He slipped the ring on the third finger of my left hand. It fit so perfectly on my finger, and somehow, even amidst all the jagged and discolored scars that my