A Kiss of Ashen Twilight (Ashen Twilight Series #1) by Rae Lori Read Free Book Online

milk. But it was his face, a strange conformity of shapes and hues that attracted her, frightened her and yet entranced her like no one before. Long waves of brown hair framed his strong angular visage. His features were well-defined as if he were carved from marble itself. Bright blue eyes stared back at her. His enticing lips thinned as his angular jaw flexed. Right away, he reminded her of a romantic hero of a time long passed when kings reigned earlier in this realm.
    Who was this enticing stranger before her?
    The pale figure smiled as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Are you okay?” he said. His voice was smooth, deep and held real concern for her. A slight hint of an accent lingered on his tongue. She couldn’t quite place it although she still found herself fascinated by the rhythmic speech pattern. He didn’t speak like the other ones. His voice held a familiar yet faint brogue.
    Something else about him felt so familiar. Dark, yet mystical. His muscular body reminded her of those changing wolves and the mortals, but he was completely different. She couldn’t put a finger on what made him stand out in her mind and why she felt drawn to those deep pools of blue.
    Slowly, Ariya nodded as her head grew light and her knees gave in.
    “Whoa.” He caught her in his thick, steely arms and she winced, feeling his touch against her tender wounds where the wolfman’s claws broke into her skin.
    Why couldn’t she heal herself?
    Then the words came to her and she realized what language he was speaking. “I am well,” she said softly. “I just—I do not know where I am.”
    Her cheek brushed against his, igniting a fire inside her body. She felt him angle his head to look at her wounds. “This looks pretty bad. Much more severe than just ‘well’. Come on, I’ll help you.”
    He placed his arm around her torso to prop her up. Everything would be fine, she thought. The relief quickly disappeared as a loud, thick guttural snarl nearly sent her jumping two feet into the air.
    Ariya felt a hard push and she fell away from him toward the ground. Something large sailed over her heads and she strained to see what it was. Before she could make sense of what was going on, her head collided against something stony and very hard. Hissing and growling filled the air as she slowly fell into unconsciousness with a hope that she would still live to see another day.

Chapter 2

      “ T he corner of thirty-second and Sweetwater.”
    “You just left them there?” Angel Polidori’s voice hit a high pitch with the question.
    “Yes, Angel. What was I supposed to do? Drag their dead bodies over my shoulders across the city?”
    “Gee, could you?”
    Jace sighed, running his hand over his face as he gripped the phone receiver tighter in his hand. “Come on, Angel.”
    “I hope you at least hid them. What if the other Rens saw them, or worse, the mortals?”
    He raised his hand in surrender as if she were standing in front of him.
    Angel was always the voice of reason. Thanks to her and her crew, the house’s had little chance of a slip-up over the years. Personally, she kept him in check with everything he needed to do to stay hidden under mortal eyes. She was, after all, the Necro Cerberus, roughly translating into ‘Gatekeeper of the Dead’. Coming from a long line of families who prided themselves on keeping a lid on any and all evidence of the immortals’ existence. Right now she was making a little too much sense for him.
    Jace tried to calm himself down with a sigh. “Yeah I know. I just—I just needed to do something quickly before someone caught us there. I didn’t have any preplanning time.”
    “Well, while you’re exercising your brain muscles I’m going to have to clean up your mess—yet again.”
    “Hey Ange—”
    “What?”
    He closed his eyes at the thick tension over the receiver. “Thanks. Don’t tell Julian, huh?”
    “I don’t have a death wish.”
    The line went dead. Jace