Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1) by D. H. Sidebottom Read Free Book Online Page B

hand.
    “It’s cool, Elina. He’s okay. Got you both out of there. Everything is okay.” He grimaced, showing me a vast amount of his teeth as his face contorted. “Well, his apartment isn’t really . . . o-kay.” He drew his words out, his grimace deepening into a wince.
    “Oh my God.” My heart sank as a ball formed in my throat and I dropped back into the chair. “His pictures.” Jonah lowered his eyes as tears sprung in mine. “Oh. Jonah, what have I done?”
    “Hey.” He reached across the gap between us to take my small hand in his huge one. “This is not your fault!”
    “But . . .”
    We both turned when the door opened. My pupils melted as they came to rest on a hard, sweaty, panting, hard, sweaty and heavily panting Reid.
    My jaw dropped, my brows shot upwards and a funny sound left me as my eyes raked over his firm body. His grey sweat top clung to his damp chest, his nipples stood rigid on the mounds of his pecs. His abs protruded through the thin material, each sculptured rise and fall causing my mouth to fill with saliva. His trim hips were sheathed by thin black sweat shorts, his thighs rock—fucking—solid. Shit, even his knees made my womb weep. But it was the sheer power radiating from him that made my thighs tremble.
    I swung my eyes back up, slowly of course, until they came to rest on the furious steel of his. I gulped. And then I gulped again. His glare made me cower and I realised he was panting due to fury, not his morning run.
    I dropped my eyes, concentrating on the white towel that was looped around his neck, each of his strong hands holding an end. “Hey.” How stupid? Hey? Hey?
    He didn’t return my greeting as he strode to the fridge, opened it and grabbed a bottle of water. Jonah smiled at me, well actually he winced again when Reid remained silent and walked out of the room.
    My heart hurt. Jonah grabbed my hand again. “Sugar. This isn’t your fault. At all.”
    “Yes it is.”
    “Elina,” he said, but I shook my head and stood up.
    “Thank you, Jonah.” I smiled.
    He shook his head in exasperation. However, he held his tongue when I walked away.
    Reid stood with his back to me, leaning on a desk with his fingers splayed as he looked over some papers scattered in front of him when I quietly slipped through the door to Jonah’s office.
    He knew I was there but he didn’t turn to greet me.
    “I’m sorry.” My voice was quiet but I knew he heard me. “For your home . . . your pictures.”
    He hesitated, swallowing noisily. “They’re just pictures.”
    “No,” I whispered as guilt tore through me. “They’re memories. Snapshots of loved ones when the mind sleeps.”
    He spun around so fast I instinctively took a step back. He stepped into me, pinning my back to the door as his huge body loomed over me. I squeezed my eyes closed, not wanting to witness the grief in his.
    “My mind never sleeps, Elina. Never. It was programmed so it could never sleep!”
    His fury was choking me, his hard body pressing me harder into the door. I felt his hands thump the wood either side of my head as he leaned into me further.
    “Look at me.”
    I shook my head. “I don’t want to see,” I whispered.
    His breath flooded my face, a smell of sweat and cigarettes assaulting my senses, and bringing my body to life with the closeness of his. “See what?”
    A tear slid free and I gritted my teeth, hating its liberation. I didn’t want him to witness my weakness. I wanted to be strong. It wasn’t that I was scared of him. Far from it. It was that I wasn’t scared of him that scared the living shit out of me.
    “Your hatred . . . for me.”
    I opened my eyes to find him even closer, the silver glint in his eye darker than ever.
    “You think I hate you.” He pushed against me and my mouth fell open when he pressed his erection into my belly. “Little—girl,” he finished, with a growl that poured lava into my veins. “Does my cock feel like it hates you?”
    I shook my