Dark Alpha's Embrace by Donna Grant Read Free Book Online Page A

table.
    While he walked to River, Jordyn was busy crossing off the books on her list. Kyran took the book from River’s hands and closed it to set it with the others. Then he lifted her in his arms and strode from the library.
    He took her to a room Cael had set up for her. The chamber wasn’t large, but the bed was soft and warm. Kyran laid her down and removed her boots before covering her.
    River immediately rolled onto her side and sighed. He touched her face before letting a long strand of her dark brown hair slide through his fingers.
    What was it about her that pulled at him? It couldn’t be her strength, because Jordyn had that as well. It wasn’t just her beauty, though River was striking.
    Perhaps it was the sadness she tried so desperately to hide. There was a wealth of hurt and anger there as well. Kyran still couldn’t believe she agreed to help them.
    “Do you trust her?” Fintan asked from the doorway.
    Kyran looked over his shoulder at his friend. He glanced down at River before he walked to the door. “Aye,” he told Fintan before he moved around him.
    Fintan followed him down the corridor to the library. “No one else can read those words but her. How do you know she won’t lie to us?”
    “What would she gain?” Talin asked as he set his books down and faced them.
    Jordyn nodded. “Exactly. Why lie?”
    “She didn’t want to help. Listening to Kyran and Talin, she was ready to kill them at the library to keep them from taking the books.”
    Kyran folded his arms over his chest as Cael and Baylon appeared in the room with the last of the books. “What are you getting at?”
    “I’m saying she agreed too easily,” Fintan said.
    Cael leaned his hands on the table. “She doesn’t trust Fae.”
    “It could be a ruse.” Fintan lifted a shoulder.
    Kyran shifted his feet wider. “I get your point, brother, but I don’t think that’s our problem.”
    “You’ve already considered that?” Cael asked.
    Kyran rubbed his jaw as he tried to put his thoughts into words. “Not until Fintan said something. Talin and I spent the most time with her. There is a lot of rage there. It’s in her eyes, in her voice, in her very breath. She’s not a decoy of Bran’s.”
    “You’re assuming a lot from talking to her only a little,” Fintan stated.
    “Kyran’s right,” Talin said. “All she thought about tonight was protecting those books. She wanted us gone.”
    Cael jutted his chin toward Kyran. “There’s something that concerns you. What is it?”
    “If anything, River won’t tell us everything. As Fintan pointed out, she’s the only one who can read the books.”
    Baylon blew out a breath. “We need to earn her trust.”
    “That’s not going to happen overnight,” Jordyn added.
    Fintan motioned to the thirty books on the table. “We’ve no choice but to take her word for it.”
    “She’s here of her own free will,” Kyran pointed out. “I promised I’d find out who is hunting her family. I need to discover who it is, and stop them.”
    “That’ll go a long way in the trust department,” Cael said. “What did she tell you about them?”
    Kyran dropped his arms, unease running through him. Ever since he’d learned it was a Dark family, he’d had a bad feeling that churned in his gut.
    “It’s obviously the Dark killing off her family,” Fintan said.
    Cael’s forehead puckered. “Kyran?”
    “Aye, it’s the Dark,” he said.
    Baylon said, “Then our next step would be to find which of the Light fathered the first of her line and their connection to the Dark hunting her.”
    “That’s where we’ll hit a snag.” When every eye was on him, Kyran said, “It was a Dark who gave her family the Fae blood.”

Chapter Seven
    “A Dark?” Fintan asked in shock.
    Kyran ran a hand through his hair. “I’m fairly certain I wore that exact same expression when she told me.”
    Talin shook his head in confusion. “Since when does a Dark leave a human after one