Dragon Rising by Jaime Rush Read Free Book Online

Jeremy’s apartment.” He wiped the blood—her blood—from his chest.
    Lyra settled back on her heels, hands on her thighs. Hurt played over her expression and his heart. Let her think he was an ass, like most Crescents did. Those snobby, asexual Caidos who think they’re better than anyone else because they came from those closest to Luca, the highest god on the island. They also paid the biggest price for betraying him.
    His wings brushed the wall. For certain skills, like healing, he had to transform to angel. Now that she was healed, he had to become human again. “Excuse me a second.” He swallowed any expression of discomfort and pulled in the energy of his wings.
    She was watching in fascination. “Did you shred your shirt?”
    Archer sank to the edge of the bed, fatigue gnawing at him. “It’s in tatters with your clothes in the garage. We’ll pick everything up when we leave.” Fortunately, he still had on his pants.
    “It probably looks like there was a sex frenzy down there.”
    And thank you for putting that particular picture in my mind, me tearing off your clothes…
    She wrapped her arms around herself. “Those things were creepy. You said wraiths were dead Caidos.”
    “If a Caido isn’t properly interred after his death, his soul becomes a wraith.”
    “I hate to even say this, but could one of those wraiths we fought be Jeremy?”
    Archer’s stomach tightened. “I thought about that, too. There’s no way to tell. All of a Caido’s individual features are gone, everything that makes them who they are.”
    “But they had a will. They definitely wanted to kill us.”
    “As though they were following orders.” His gaze fell over her, remembering her fighting them. His emotions—fear, desire—pressed uncomfortably against his soul. “Do you still want to go into your memory?”
    “Yes, please. Maybe if I know the note contained nothing incriminating, my brother and Ellie will forgive me. There might be a clue as to what happened to Tara, too.”
    “You said the note was at your bakery. It would be optimal to go there.”
    The farther away they could get from his bed the better. Because the temptation was getting to be way too much.

Chapter 6
    A whole slew of emotions battered Lyra as they drove from her apartment, where she’d grabbed a change of clothes. She noticed that, as she ran through all the craziness of the last few hours, Archer leaned away from her.
    Caidos were enigmas, but she had never bothered to care about their mystery. Until now. She had some ideas, just enough to tantalize her. One thing she knew for sure, at least as far as Archer was concerned, he wasn’t asexual. When she’d placed his hand to her throat, not only had his eyes glittered, but his body had responded, too.
    So he was what? Too stuck on himself and his Caido status to deign to admit he liked her? No, it was more than that. He cared about her, even in the way he glanced over to check on her from time to time. How he’d watched over her, fought to protect her from the wraiths.
    She loved the way his hand felt on her, electric and right, and that had nothing to do with his Caidoness. Damn but she wanted to touch him, too.
    He was wincing now, his fingers gripping the wheel.
    “Are you all right?” she asked.
    “Just…thinking.”
    She was going to ask about what but decided against it. He probably wouldn’t tell her anyway.
    He pulled up to the curb in front of Lirin’s Bake Shop.
    “Lirin?”
    “It’s a combination of my and my brother’s names. My parents thought it would be cute.”
    “Ah. Cute.” He said the word “cute” as though he’d never used it before.
    She glanced at her watch. Three in the morning. “I’m supposed to be at work in an hour, along with the early shift.” Then she would work right on through the afternoon shift, too, because her father’s absence left a big hole in the schedule.
    Archer got out, and she swore he was going to walk around to her side to