Warrior's Angel (The Lost Angels Book 4) by Heather Killough-Walden Read Free Book Online Page A

Moments later, she was back in the bedroom, crawling between the sheets of the king sized bed.
    She took a moment to enjoy the feel of them against her skin, and drew a deep, cleansing breath. Then she closed her eyes once more.
    As exhausted and drained as she was, s leep came nearly at once.
    B ut it was troubled.
    In the midst of the shadows t hat invaded her mind was a shape… tall…and strong.
    She saw it through a fog, at the end of a tunnel, just around a corner. She chased the image, curious and frustrated. And then she saw it clearly, but only from behind.
    He was standing at a cliff’s edge, wearing some kind of uniform that she didn’t recognize. It seemed partially constructed of metal, like armor, with scorching and scarring that spoke of a great battle. His fair hair was wind-blown, and blood, bruises and cuts of varying degrees marred the thick, corded muscles of his arms. He was carrying a sword that gleamed so sharp and bright, it hurt her eyes.
    She wanted to see his face.
    And she also didn’t.
    The dream had an aura to it, one of frightening finality, one of warning.
    Rhiannon found herself standing on dry, cracked ground behind the stranger. She stepped back, but her legs moved slowly, tied invisibly to the planet of her dream as limbs so often were. She forced them, though, pushing harder, and managed a foot. Two.
    As if sensing her there, perhaps hearing her footsteps, the man’s head cocked slightly to the side. He turned, just a little, and she caught a strong chin and Roman nose.
    And then alarm shot through her, forcing her heart to race, making her gasp for breath, as he began to fully turn around.
    It was a face, not of any of the dozens or even hundreds of people she had liberated or healed over the course of the last several years. It was the face of a stranger – a perfect, beautiful, terrifying stranger.
    He had eyes that pierced the darkness of her dream to spear through to her core.
    Rhiannon felt something welling up inside her. She opened her mouth – and jerked awake in her bed when her cell phone began to ring in the other room. It was on low, but she had very good hearing, and she was a light sleeper.
    Blue….
    Rhiannon felt her forehead to find it hot and wet. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and sat up straighter on the mattress. The phone stopped ringing. And then started up again. She knew the tone; it was her employer.
    Blue , she thought again, or saw it there in the re-play of her mind. His eyes had been so, so blue. Rhiannon had only ever seen eyes quite that vivid once before in her life. They hadn’t been the same color. But they were just as memorable for their stark vividness.
    Rhiannon pushed her covers aside and made her way, not to the living room, but to the bathroom. There, she turned on the light and looked in the mirror. From beyond the bathroom, she heard her phone continue to ring. And she continued to ignore it.
    She leaned forward over the counter top. For the ten thousandth time since she’d had the contacts specially made for her, she’d forgotten to take them out before going to sleep. It wasn’t a big deal; they were designed to last weeks of continued wear, through showers and crying fits, without the aid of eye drops, moisturizers, or cleansers. It was amazing what money would get you sometimes. And her boss had connections, as good disguises were often very important.
    But when she could, she tried to remember to remove them anyway for their own sake. She didn’t want to destroy them, after all.
    Now, Rhiannon leaned further over the counter top and looked closely – really closely. They were very good contacts. They covered her eyes completely, edge to edge. Not a hint of her real color peeked through.
    She reached up with both hands, peeled apart the lids of one eye with the thumb and forefinger of her left hand, and gently pinched the contact lens between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand. It came away immediatel y, revealing