Synnergy, Chaos Time Book 3 by Marie Hall Read Free Book Online Page A

her neck to look at him over her shoulder.
He was as serious as she’d ever seen him, and her heart almost
broke at the fierce protective gleam in his eyes. No one had ever
looked at her like that before.
    “Why do you care? I wouldn’t have let anyone touch
me. I can protect myself.”
    He closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t
know why, I just do.” His stare was penetrating. He wasn’t simply
looking at her, Sable Ray, crazy girl from the insane asylum, he
saw her . The real her. The monster, the budding woman, and
he liked it. And she loved that he liked it. She shivered.
    She tipped her head and turned back around, holding
her breath as his strong fingers undid all thirty buttons along the
seam of her back.
    Cool air splashed over her sensitive skin and his
hands were pushing the dress off her arms. Once the sleeves slipped
off her wrists it dropped in a scarlet puff at her feet. He kept
hold of her hand, helping her out of the pile, and she stood there
unsure what to do next. All she had on was a cream-colored frock
thing, which she guessed was what passed as bra and underwear in
this time. It was totally unattractive.
    His gaze traveled from the crown of her head to the
tips of her still booted feet. He closed his eyes a quick second
and his hands flexed, then with a deep breath, he opened them.
“You’ll have to take off your boots yourself,” his voice was
throaty.
    Slayde fell back on her mattress and flung a hand
over his face with a soft groan.
    She frowned, unsure if she’d done something to
displease him. Confused, and not a little stung by his obvious
dismissal, she sat down on the edge of Arianna’s bed and unlaced
her boots. She threw them down a little harder than she needed to,
and then looked back at him.
    He hadn’t moved. She started to lie down on Ari’s
bed.
    “Come here,” he growled, still not looking at her. “I
promised,” he said softer.
    There was a feeling, in the pit of her stomach that
if she got up and went to him—if they continued to do this—they’d
get to a point where it would be impossible to undo this.
    She got up and walked to her bed.
    He rustled around, pushing down the quilt, and then
scooted against the far edge of the wall.
    Sable’s heart stuttered as she slipped in beside him,
curling into the warmth of his big arms. He crushed her to him and
it would be a lie to say it was anything other than perfect. His
chest moved against her back as he inhaled and exhaled, the rhythm
was soft and lulling.
    She wiggled deeper into him, feeling borderline
desperate to touch every inch of him. He threw one of his legs over
hers and she could swear electricity jolted from his skin into her
body when their bare feet brushed.
    She was never going to fall asleep like this. She was
simply too aware of him. His fingers were curled around her ribcage
and it was crazy uncomfortable, but it didn’t matter because he was
holding her and it was nice.
    So she lay there, his leg getting heavier and
heavier, making hers go numb. Her side tingled because she couldn’t
move or roll over to relieve the pressure. In her head she heard
the tick tock of the invisible wall clock counting down each
passing minute.
    Sometime later, Arianna entered the room on tiptoes.
Alone. Silent. She heard her lay down in a rustle of skirts and
knew she hadn’t undone her gown.
    Sable had no idea how much time had passed. Slayde
was asleep, softly snoring beside her. She nestled her face against
the crook of his elbow. His hard bicep made a rotten pillow. She
smiled.
    After a few minutes Arianna started snoring, she was
surprised. Having slept in the same room with Ari before, she knew
she was usually a quiet sleeper. She wondered what, if anything,
the healer had found out. But there would be no questions
tonight.
    Slayde shifted, finally pulling his leg off her,
blood rushed back in tingling relief. He moved his arm, but held
tight to her hand.
    She needed to talk to Hunter. She chewed on