Avenger by Su Halfwerk Read Free Book Online

nothi—” Luke grew tense, the muscles in his neck tightening. He tilted his head, listening to something Pru couldn’t hear then jammed the chart in its place, flashed silently to a corner, and disappeared.
    He was gone. How did he do that?
    “Where did you go?” Pru exclaimed, following him to that corner, tentatively reaching out with both hands like a blind person. An intense sense of blissfulness slammed into her, shocking her into stepping back. She could easily get hooked on that addictive peace and purity. At that same moment the door opened and the night shift nurse walked in. She checked the intravenous fluid level, took blood sample on a small device that peeped, updated the chart, and left. A mechanical task performed with hardly any emotion. Pru didn’t care, she was still reeling from that bone-melting heavenly feeling. She wanted more of it.
    “I told you before, don’t do that!” Luke said, his voice husky and dangerously dark.
    Pru gasped and jumped back. He spoke right next to her ear. “D-do what?”
    “Touch me, whether I’m invisible or not.” He glared at her. Shaking his head, he slunk to the door and peered through its small window.
    “Invisible? I thought you left.” At hearing her words, Pru felt their stupidity. He wasn’t like her, melting through doors and walls. Yet, he was something different. People didn’t just disappear into thin air.
    Torn between believing him—and her own eyes—and listening to the dictations of her logical thinking, Pru filed that argument for later. “Anyway, I don’t touch anything, I go through everything.”
    “Then don’t go through me.”
    Luke was the unearthly pleasure that just engulfed her thinking and feeling? Sweet! Now even if he went invisible on her, she could find him.
    “What’s so funny?” Luke asked, agitated, his dark gaze locked on her smiling lips.
    She shrugged, feeling a blush creep on her. Luckily, in her current bodiless state it wouldn’t show.
    Talking about bodies, Luke had shifted his attention to hers, not the ethereal one, but the real one.With two long strides, he was next to the bed, studying her. She wasn’t one of the must-have-her-now type of girl, but she’d had admirers and could recognize an appreciative look. A bewildered one, however, was her first. To her utter surprise, Luke reached out and touched one of her curls spread on the pillow. Thoughtfully, he rubbed that strand between his fingers.
    A tingling sensation went from Pru’s hair roots to her neck, a delicious feeling she wanted to last forever. Then she remembered her defenseless situation and gulped.
    Would he be sick enough to cop a feel? Pru took a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly. “Uh, yeah, my hair was a hassle when I was mobile and is a hassle now. I heard a couple of nurses discuss cutting it.”
    Luke’s hand, the one by his side, fisted. “No.”
    “In a way, I can understand what they go through when they clean me. My hair is a jungle of curls. Too much work to wash, dry, and comb.”
    Luke stiffened, a visible tremor ran through his body. Through gritted teeth, he said, “No one should cut your hair.”
    Pru narrowed her eyes. “Is this a rule? Like, for your people. I mean, will cutting my hair affect my aura? Or maybe I won’t be able to return to my body?”
    Luke blinked at her, and let go of the curl he’d been massaging between his fingers. “Yeah. Something like that.” He turned as though to leave.
    “Wait. Please don’t go.”
    Luke Paused.
    In a smaller voice, Pru added, “I don’t want to be alone.”
    Every corded muscle from his shoulder blades to his lower back reverberated, shook, and adjusted itself. Without turning, Luke exited the room.
    She’d opened up to him and this was her reward?
    “Arrogant smart-ass,” she mumbled under her breath and rushed after him.

Chapter Eight
    Aurora’s light chased away the darkness that settled over the city, leaving the world in semi darkness, or semi