The Rise Read Online Free PDF

hand had picked up over the years, it managed to look… right. Just right. I choked back more tears. I have no idea why I felt like crying.
     
    My monster, quiet for once in what seemed like an eternally long time, either had nothing to say, or was graciously allowing me this moment. Either way, I was grateful.
     
    I stared down at my hand. Took a deep breath, opened my mouth. I had no idea what was going to come out. “I-I… belong to you,” I whispered, and the words were a slow thought, processed as they were spoken. They held no question.
     
    Kayden’s hand came up and tilted my chin back. I stared at my lion; his golden skin, his carved muscles, the strong line of his jaw, and those eyes. A tear escaped my own. It rolled down my cheek, warm and wet.
     
    Kayden’s rough but gentle thumb brushed it away. “Yes, my Warrior,” he said, “and I you.”
     
    More tears joined the first. Kayden pulled me into his arms again, and I sank into the strength of them. I lay my head on his chest, drying my eyes on the soft fabric of his gray t-shirt. I felt him rest his chin on the top of my head, the short hair of his beard pleasantly prickling me. For a moment, all was okay. Right with the world. Just right.
     
    But of course, because it was my world we were talking about here, it was only a moment.
     
    Then I remembered something that sent a pang of guilt through my stomach. I remembered Jackson.
     
    I didn’t want to hurt him. Jackson had always been good to me, had saved my ass more than a couple times. He loved me. And I loved him. But…
     
    Not in the way I love Kayden. I don’t love anyone the way I love Kayden. I love him as much as I love Nelly. Well…almost.
     
    I would have to tell Jackson about us. He deserved to know. That made my heart hurt.
     
    I took a step back from Kayden, who studied my face as I did so. “Kayden,” I began, then realized I didn’t know what to say.
     
    A small, rare smile played at his lips. “You’re worried about him, ” he said. It was not a question.
     
    I hesitated, then gave a small nod. “He’s my friend,” I said lamely.
     
    Kayden nodded once in return. “Which is why I haven’t killed him,” he said, his golden eyes never leaving mine. His brow furrowed for a moment, and those lion’s eyes went distant, hard. “I came close once,” he admitted.
     
    I raised a brow at that. Kayden chuckled, a soft, deep rumble that vibrated in his chest. “That night I saw you two outside of your dorm room. He had his arms around you, and you were…it took a lot of self-control to keep myself from ripping him away from you and snapping his neck.”
     
    A small laugh bubbled up from my throat, and it sounded odd. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed. “How romantic,” I said. I tried for a grin, and succeeded only partly. I remembered that night. It seemed like it had been ages ago now.
     
    “So you were waiting for me,” I said, “I knew it.”
     
    Kayden’s hand came up and rested on my cheek. “Alexa, I have been waiting for you for a very long time.”
     
    I leaned forward. I didn’t care if my Mother was probably watching us through the car window. Kayden drew me to him like a magnet. I was through resisting the pull. Just before our lips touched, the gas pump beside us clicked off.
     
    In a blur of motion and slammed car doors, we were back in the Mercedes and peeling out of the gas station lot. I removed a cigarette from my pack and placed it between my lips once we were back on the highway. The fact that Kayden had moved the same way I had, so quickly and uncaring of witnesses, to get back in the car, not even taking a tiny moment to let our lips meet told me one thing: he was as worried as I was. He had the same bad feeling I had. I didn’t want to believe it. I had no reason to believe it. But Kayden felt it, too.
     
    Nelly was in trouble.
     
    Let’s hope we’re not too late, Warrior.
     
    I cringed. Lit the cigarette,