Marked for Danger by Jennifer Leeland Read Free Book Online Page A

her skin? She couldn't explain it. Granted, four years undercover doing Brotherhood dirty work had begun to take its toll, but she usually had better sense.
    These back alleys, these black streets were her home, her safe refuge. Why had she risked it all for Xandros Jasper? The man didn't give a shit about her. He'd marked her to track her movements easier.
    The appearance of Teran Five black ops hadn't surprised her. The Brotherhood had pushed its luck, and now the TIF had begun a campaign to take them down. Rina was infamous, her killings spectacular feats of theater. They all required meticulous planning, and this meeting on Muerte had been no different.
    Plan B was in place. Carina found a vidphone. She dialed the required number and waited for an answer.
    "What do you require?” a voice asked.
    "Team location and a nontrac handheld.” She glanced down the side street, her senses alert, her gut churning. It was unusually quiet. There were no people, no movement at all. Even at this time of night, there should be someone.
    "Maintain your position, Assassin Rina,” the voice instructed.
    Her instincts screamed that something was wrong. Had she had visual clues from the person on the other end of the vid call, she might have seen something, but the screen was deliberately blank.
    The attack, when it came, was quick and decisive. She got two blows in before she was overcome.
    By her own team.
    Xandros fell to his knees, pain ripping through him. A red haze dropped over his vision, and he clenched his fists. The anguished cry torn from his throat was completely out of his control. What the hell?
    Rage. Need. Kill. His mind shut down every thought except one. Rina. Someone...touched her?
    "Look at his eyes,” Leo said, his voice far away. “Xandros? Can you hear me?"
    Xandros jerked his gaze to the man, his anger needing a place to land, a fist to sink somewhere.
    "It's the rage,” the princess said softly. “I've never seen it across this much distance, this soon,” she said. “Usually, the marked mate has to be in the same room in close proximity."
    "Something's wrong,” Leo said sharply. “Xandros? Where is she?"
    It couldn't be. He'd always thought the Nyral rage was a myth, a fairy tale. Romantic but completely false. Yet, he couldn't deny that he had an intense need to rush after Rina, find her, protect her, and kill the ones who touched her.
    Danger! Danger! Danger!
    He sensed her peril, the smell of death. “I have to find her. She's—” Pain struck him, fresh and new. They were hurting her. Why? What could he do?
    He didn't wait. Frantically, he sprinted to the door of the hotel room. Blocking his way was Shaun. “Get out of my way,” he shouted.
    "No. It's a trap. You'll be—"
    Xandros attacked. His mind focused on Rina's pain, her confusion. Everything else was fuzzy. Then something odd happened. For a brief moment, his head cleared.
    In the grip of the rage, he had lashed out at Shaun, but the man countered his moves and gripped his neck. Shaun jerked him closer. Xandros forced Shaun against the door, his fingers tight around the man's wrist.
    Shaun's held Xandros close, taking all the emotion that rolled through them both. Energy poured from Xandros, and Shaun seemed to absorb it. Cerebrally, Xandros knew the rage was a surge of adrenaline, a force of energy, some holdover from Nylar's ancient history when protecting one's mate was a matter of life or death. But subconsciously, he needed to find his marked mate.
    The red curtain over his vision seemed to clear slightly. He sensed Carina was no longer conscious.
    Calmer, he leaned his forehead against Shaun's. “I have to go after her."
    "I know that,” Shaun answered.
    "I'm not sure I understand what's going on here,” Leo said behind them.
    When Xandros released Shaun and turned to face Leo, he wasn't sure he could explain it either. So much had happened that he hadn't planned. The mark wasn't supposed to mean anything. It just meant he'd fucked