Spy to Die For (Assassins Guild) by Kris DeLake Read Free Book Online Page B

Guild—but lately a lot of strange behavior had surfaced while she worked other jobs, behavior involving the Guild, behavior she didn’t understand.
    And because she didn’t understand it, she investigated. Unlike so many of her colleagues, she didn’t care if something happened to the Guild. In fact, she rather hoped it would.
    That way, she could get out sooner.
    Or maybe, just maybe, the right information might free her. And maybe Liora would lead her to that information, whatever the hell it was.

Chapter 8
    Jack stood outside the small fence that enclosed the Starcatcher’s open-air section. He felt shaken. He didn’t usually feel shaken. Tired, yes, or maybe even unsettled, but shaken was new. Or old.
    He hadn’t felt shaken since he was twelve. A horrible young couple had promised him they would adopt him, and then turned around and adopted another boy in Tranquility House. That boy, the staff had told Jack, was better behaved, smarter, and just plain nicer.
    Jack hadn’t talked to anyone for days. He felt like his entire world had fallen apart.
    And, oddly, he had felt like that since he left Skye.
    That coldness in her eyes as he got dressed reminded him of the couple. They had seemed so loving at first, and then they had rejected him.
    He knew he was reacting out of an old, old place, and Skye hadn’t rejected him at all. She had told him, right from the start, what she expected—and he had agreed to that expectation.
    The fact that the entire incident had disturbed him was about him, not her. And about his damn heart.
    He hadn’t realized how very vulnerable it was.
    He scanned the open-air section of Starcatcher for Rikki Bastogne. She had called this meeting and he had suggested the place, much as she hated it.
    She had been his only friend in the early years of Tranquility House. In fact, she was the one who suggested he stop waiting for someone to parent him, and to take care of himself. She had even told him to pick his own last name.
    He was glad he would see her today. But it seemed she hadn’t arrived yet. Most of the tables were full, but she wasn’t at any of them.
    Neither was Skye, not that he expected to see her again. If she followed her plan, she was probably gone already. His heart ached at the thought.
    He had no idea how to find her again, or how she would feel if he did.
    He wondered if she had thought the night as special as he had or if she had just led him on.
    Not that it mattered. It was one night. He had to remember that, and be grateful for that much. If he hadn’t had last night, he would never have known how spectacular lovemaking could feel.
    He took a table near the concourse, and ordered his favorite burger from the robotic server that floated near him. He also got a special soda this time and he would drink it. All of it.
    Hell, he might even treat himself to a beer later.
    Given the year he’d had so far, he deserved it.
    Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Skye. But when he turned, he realized he was looking at a woman who had the same body shape and wedge-cut dark hair. Other than that, she looked nothing like Skye. Her face was hardened, her mouth downturned into a perpetual scowl.
    She was a woman he didn’t want to cross, one of the many people on Krell he hoped he would never see again.
    The burger arrived. He took a bite, and then saw Rikki make her way down the concourse. Her hair was red instead of its usual rich brown, and she looked a little too thin. Something had shaken her up.
    He felt a momentary sense of disappointment. All morning he had been looking forward to confiding in her. But he didn’t think he’d have a chance now.
    He hadn’t seen Rikki look this upset since he’d met her. When she first arrived at Tranquility House she had been through such a traumatic experience, she hadn’t talked for weeks. It wasn’t until that night those horrible potential adoptive parents had rejected him that she had said anything, and then it had