Rise of the Fallen by Donya Lynne Read Free Book Online Page A

in his breath as if he was sinking underwater.
    He remembered. Jackson, his fall into misery, his death
wish, the drecks beating the shit out of him in that parking garage tonight.
And then the crack of a gunshot and a woman's voice, followed by an image of…
    "It was you." Micah's awed words whispered out of
him as he sat back. She was the woman who had saved his life, even though he
had only wanted death.
    "Yeah. It was me, you asshole. I saved your life."
Her fear morphed into anger.
    Sam was a tough little doll. Micah approved.
    "What the hell are you and what did you do to me?"
She held out her bleeding wrist. Her expression was half terror, half outrage,
and her mind seemed to be dancing over the question of what in the hell she had
sitting on her floor in the middle of her apartment.
    Micah had screwed up, but he had been so delirious with
agony and hunger he hadn't been thinking clearly. He had failed to compel her,
and he could feel dawn's approach. He was never this careless.
    "What time is it?" He looked around for a clock,
knowing he needed to get home. Fast.
    "What?" Sam shook her head as if she couldn't keep
up with him. "Are you on drugs? Are you one of those weirdos with a
vampire fantasy who went and got his teeth altered?"
    Finding a clock and seeing he only had 15 minutes before
daybreak, Micah had to move fast. Sam's blood was already making him stronger,
and he could feel his injuries healing quickly.
    "Look at me," he said.
    She refused, but when he tenderly lifted her wrist to his
mouth and licked her skin to coat the bite mark with his venom, her eyes
snapped to his. Just as quickly, she sucked in her breath as the euphoria
entered her bloodstream. It wasn't enough venom to harm her, just enough to
take away the pain of his bite and heal the punctures. Normally, he would have
released the venom during the bite so that when he broke away, the mark would
heal instantly. Being that he had been so clumsy, this was the best he could
do.
    He captured her gaze and she fell limp as he locked her into
compulsion. Filtering through her memories, he was about to pull the plug on
everything that had to do with him when his heart skipped a beat at the way she
had reacted to the touch of his tongue on her wrist. The subtle intake of
breath and the surprised look in her eyes, as if she couldn't deny her
attraction to him, awakened him.
    God, she was beautiful. Full of fire, strong, courageous.
Micah's kind of woman.
    He caressed her cheek with the backs of his fingers as if
she was made of fine porcelain, and her warmth rippled through his hand.
    He couldn't do it. Micah couldn't strip away her memories of
him. He wanted her to remember him, so the next time he saw her, she would know
him. The bite memories would have to go, though. He quickly dashed anything
that had to do with fangs and him biting her, but left everything else.
    The healing bruises of his body protested as he lifted her
off the floor and laid her gently down on the bed then stood over her for a
moment to memorize her. She had short – almost boy-short – blond hair that
stood out in stylish, feminine spikes like she'd combed and plucked it with her
fingers. With a heart-shaped face and a daintily-pointed chin, her skin was
smooth and flawless, her body slender and athletic. She looked like a runner,
her stomach flat and her breasts small but perky under a rose-colored,
long-sleeved cotton tee.
    "That's a good color on you," he said quietly,
staring at her a little longer before checking the clock. He had to hurry.
    "Sleep, Sam," he commanded her. "And remember
me."
    On his way out, he paused as her duffel bag caught his eye.
A gun was poking out through the top. He reached down and pulled out a nice
looking Beretta. That was some hardware for a pretty thing like her. He glanced
back at her prone form on the bed and smiled then put the Beretta back in the
bag and pulled out her wallet. Samantha Garrett. That was the name on her
driver's license.