Mine to Take by Dara Joy Read Free Book Online Page B

to her forehead. Surely she could not hear him from this distance? She took a deep breath. It seemed to calm her. She made her decision. Better to die in the attempt at freedom than be caged with Karpon!
    Guessing what she was about to do, Karpon hissed, “Do not, Jenise! You will be killed!”
    Throwing her leg over the sill, she turned back to Karpon to give him a last insolent sneer before she jumped.
    As she fell through the air two things crossed her mind at once; the sound of Karpon yelling “nooooo” and the hope that this Gian would truly be there to catch her. She had put all of her faith in him, a man she barely knew.
    He caught her and held her fast.
    The impact of the fall brought him to his knees but he held her securely in his arms. Jenise burrowed her face into his warm throat. She hugged him tightly in response.
    Against the innocent press of her lips, she felt thevibration of his strong heartbeat. The steady, sure beat comforted her in a way no words could. She thought his lips grazed her hair in answer.
    “Come, we do not have much time.” The deep, smooth voice spoke gently in her ear. She nodded against him.
    As they ran from the courtyard behind the keep, Jenise glanced up at the window she had jumped from. Moonlight silhouetted Karpon’s harsh features as he watched them flee.
    Even from this distance she could see the look of fury stamped on his cruel face. It spoke of revenge.
    Two pathways opened up before them. One led around the left side of the keep; the other straight into the fields. Had Gian’s senses not been partially dulled by the drugs they had given him, he might have discerned a faint, barely audible moan coming from a heap of flesh that had once been a vibrant young Familiar.
    It came from just around the corner of the keep, not thirty paces away.
    But fate, being the capricious riddle that it is, decided that Gian Ren would go on his way, unknowing. He guided Jenise not to the left but to the path that led straight through the meadows.
    And so a page turned and one young man’s life was forever altered.
    “We may rest here shortly.”
    The Familiar finally released her hand. He had refused to do so numerous times as they raced across the countryside, Karpon’s men in close pursuit.
    Taking in great gulps of air as she tried to regain her normal respiration, Jenise sank down wearily onto a boulder by the edge of a stream. “Did we lose them?” she panted.
    Gian smiled inwardly at the use of the term “we.” Itappeared the creamcat had linked her fate with his somewhere along the way. Still, she had much to learn of him. And he of her.
    “For the time being.” He, who was aptly named Guardian of the Mist, had led the pursuers on a false circle hunt, the likes of which he was sure they had never seen. Gian chuckled to himself. “It will take them some time to reorient themselves. You may rest awhile here.”
    Jenise watched him in wonder as he squatted in front of a nearby stream, cupping cold water in his palms. He was not even winded, while she could barely catch her breath.
    He stood in the moonlight, walking towards her. Truly, he was breathtaking.
    The silvery light illuminated his burnished golden hair; the sculpted masculine features; the perfectly delineated physique. Even barefoot and shirtless—wearing nothing more than the black breeches which molded to his muscular thighs—there was an aura of uncommon sleekness to him. In everything he did, the man moved with an elegant feline grace.
    He knelt before her, offering her a drink of cool water from his hands.
    Jenise was touched by his attentive gesture. Cupping her hands over his, she greedily drank the sweet offering.
    Gian waited until she had drunk her fill before he partook of his own refreshment. It did not go unnoticed by Jenise that despite his own thirst, he had seen to her comfort first. The revealing action said much to her.
    He looked intently into her eyes before speaking. “There may be some systale