From the Shadows (A Shadow Chronicles Novel) by Christina Moore Read Free Book Online Page A

he’d always thought my eyes were pretty. At the same time I was taking a breath, and I suddenly became very aware of how close we were, of how he still smelled like that funny mix of human and animal, but also very much like a man. Instinctively I leaned toward him to breathe his scent in deeper, infusing my memory with his very essence. I’d never forget what he smelled like now, not that I would ever want to.
    Perhaps because he was also caught up in the moment, Race lowered his head, capturing my lips beneath his , his hands on my shoulders tightening their grip—and then the moment was ruined as I suddenly flashed back to the Day of Hell. Martin and Peter had kissed me as they forced themselves on me, and even though Race’s pillowy lips were quite warm, and not at all cold as theirs had been, I couldn’t stop the memory from bursting across my consciousness and I pushed him away.
    “Juliette, what’s wrong?” Race asked.
    “I’m sorry,” I said, breathing heavily. I knew I was on the verge of hyperventilating, and I put distance between us to try and reign in my rattled nerves. “It’s not you—it’s so not you. I just…something happened. A few weeks ago, something happened. I don’t even…”
    Tears burned behind my eyes. How could I tell him what I’d been through? Race deserved to know, I knew that, but I had a hard time even thinking about it let alone saying the words. Deep down, I knew this was because I was suffering from post-traumatic stress for not having properly dealt with the kidnapping and torture and rape, but it was so damn hard . Thinking about it or talking about it meant having to re-live the pain and the fear, and I didn’t want to. It didn’t even matter that the men who had brutalized me were dead—I only knew that I didn’t want to think about it. Or talk about it. I just wanted to forget it had ever happened.
    “Hey, don’t cry,” Race said softly when the tears spilled over. “It’s obvious that whatever it was, it’s hard for you to deal with. Baby I get that, believe me. And not to freak you out or anything, but right now I’m having the hardest time not running over to you and cradling you in my arms and telling you everything will be alright, and I’m wondering if maybe it will help you to explain that to me.”
    I sniffled, thinking that having his arms around me was the most wonderful thing I’d ever experienced. I’d very much enjoyed being held by Race, however brief our first embrace had been. I wanted nothing more in that moment than for him to hold me again but I was afraid of having another flashback, so I forced myself to sit down on the same end of the couch I had fallen asleep on.
    “You’re feeling the effects of our bond,” I said slowly, wiping furiously at the tears. “The imprinting bond drives each shifter to make his or her mate happy above all else. A mate’s safety is of the highest importance, especially once the bond is completed. You’ll be compelled to spend as much time as you can with me, to take care of me. See to my every need. I know that not just because that’s what I’ve been taught but because I feel it too. I feel like I have hurt you by pushing you away and I want to make it up to you, but I don’t think I can. Not right now.”
    Moving slowly, probably because he could tell I was still feeling jumpy and vulnerable, Race walked over to my end of the couch. He lowered himself down to si t on the coffee table and positioned himself so that my knees were caught between his. Cautiously he reached for my hands. “If I’m too close, you just say the word and I’ll move,” he told me. “But I have to say I don’t want to move, Juliette. Whether it’s this bond thing or the fact that I’m ecstatic to have reconnected with an old friend—or even that I’ve finally met someone else with an impossible ability like mine—I can tell that you’re in a lot of pain, and I want so much to make it go away. But I don’t