Rising by Holly Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

something. He’d been tracking the half-human and her male companion all evening. He shook his head over the name he’d heard the human call her. Sara. In Atlantian, that name meant princess. Right. She was no princess. She was a criminal.
    Xanthus growled like a trapped animal as his eyes once again shot over to Sara’s building. The adrenaline-rich blood pumping through his body told him something was wrong.
    His brain didn’t know what to think.
    He ’d followed Sara most the night. Ron turned out to be full of surprises. After the concert, he’d taken Sara to a club filled with retched humans. Xanthus had barely escaped the place with his shirt on. The human women were so persistent, pressing in on him. He’d barely glimpsed Ron leaving with Sara—nearly losing them as they left. When they’d reached her apartment, Ron carried her into the building as she slept.
    Xanthus’s instincts had been in overdrive the entire night. Ron’s hands had been on her, touching her, holding her, and that had driven Xanthus to the brink of madness. It took a concerted effort not to seize the human by the throat and rip out his windpipe, but that had been the hormones talking. Sara was his target, not Ron. Why couldn’t he remember that? He had been consumed with irrational thoughts all evening.
    From what he could tell, Sara didn’t seem to like Ron. She’d worn a sour expression the entire night, but she’d fallen asleep in his car. She may not like him, but she must trust him enough to sleep in his presence.
    Still, human men could be unpredictable.
    Ron should have simply put her in bed and left. Xanthus had been waiting for that opportunity. This chance would not slip by him. This honorable soldier had an execution to carry out. He wouldn’t hesitate again.
    If only the human would leave.
    Xanthus glanced at his watch. It’d been five minutes. Ron should have been out by now, shouldn’t he? Hades. Xanthus didn’t know. Maybe he was overreacting, but as the time ticked on without Ron leaving, Xanthus’s animal instincts clawed at him. He took one more glance at his watch. Six minutes. He couldn’t wait any longer.
    He was going in.
    Xanthus stood in front of Sara’s apartment door and knocked. Her scent filled his nostrils and his mind. Then he caught another scent—much milder, but it had him nearly blind with rage. A male pheromone. Ron was aroused. Depending on what he found, Xanthus might have to kill the both of them tonight.
    He nearly splintered the wood as he pounded his fist on the door.
    “Who is it?” Ron asked, clearly annoyed.
    “Open the door .”
    Ron yanked the door open, his eyes burning with fury. “What…” His voice choked off as he saw Xanthus’s hulking figure fill the doorway. Xanthus ducked under the doorframe and stepped inside, his eyes searching, trying to catch a glimpse of Sara. Ron stumbling as he stepped back.
    “Who do you think you are? You can’t just barge in here.”
    “Where’s Sara?” Xanthus said, towering over Ron.
    “She’s in bed.”
    “Are you sharing the bed with her?”
    “That’s none of your business. You’re not her father. Sara’s an adult. She can have whomever she wants in her apartment and in her bed.”
    “Your kind is not worthy to be in the same room as her, much less in her bed.” Xanthus snarled while he pushed through her bedroom door.
    He looked down at her lying across her mattress. His breath caught at the sight of the Dagonian woman this close. She was beautiful, stunning. Black hair haloed around her head and across the pillow. Her shirt lay open, exposing flesh covered with reddened splotches and reeking of Ron’s scent. Yet, somehow, she slept peacefully—no, she was unconscious. Xanthus growled at that realization. She was innocent in this situation and it appeared her innocence remained intact. Her wrap and skirt still covered her—untouched. He sighed in relief.
    Xanthus heard Ron scrambling through the kitchen in an attempt