When Shadows Call by Amanda Bonilla Read Free Book Online Page B

would set and I would be free of my corporeal form. The shadows called to me, entreating that I join with them once again.
    “You look anxious,” Azriel said. His amused expression brought a smile to my face. I had no doubt he could tell what I was thinking. “Tell me why.”
    “I am anxious,” I said, “for the sun to set.”
    “Really?” He mused with such innocence. “Why is that, my darling?”
    “You know why.”
    His eyes drank me in and I felt the world melt away until there was only the two of us. “I want to hear you say it.”
    My God, he could entice a nun to sin with nothing more than his voice. I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. I could be as bold as he wanted me to be. “I crave the shadows.”
    Azriel’s answering smile was blinding in its brilliance. My knees went weak at the sight of him. “What shall we do in the shadows?”
    I answered him with a wicked smile. “We shall do whatever we please.”
    He kissed me once. “That’s my girl.”
    * * *
    As the sun sank over the western horizon, I could almost hear the contented sigh of my soul. Crimson red blazed a path across the sky, reflecting off the waters of Puget Sound and bathing Azriel’s skin in the warm glow of waning light. The waterfront wasn’t the safest place for two wealthy-looking tourists to be—especially after sunset—but Azriel said we had nothing to fear.
    Twilight came to swallow the last of the waning day, but my body refused to leave its solid form. I looked to Azriel and he threaded his fingers through my hair. “Not yet. After the gray hour, Darian. You must wait for darkness to descend, and not a moment sooner.”
    My body tensed with anticipation and pulsed with heat. I needed the release that only welcoming darkness could give me, and it could not come soon enough. I fought the urge to pace, to burn off the excess energy that pooled beneath my skin. Curious eyes watched from the pier, but I paid them no mind. I had spoken the truth to Azriel: I craved the shadows. Needed them. Now.
    “Move a muscle and I’ll cut you ear to ear.”
    I spun, the rustle of my skirt echoing in my ears like waves breaking on the shore. I tried to ignore the fascination with my new, preternatural hearing, but it still took a moment for my brain to process what I was seeing. A man, not much taller than Azriel but twice as wide, had one arm wrapped around Azriel’s shoulders. He held an old, rusty-looking knife against Azriel’s throat, the handle tucked below his ear. I took a tentative step back. And then another. The man smiled, revealing a mouthful of rotting teeth. The feral gleam in his eyes sent my heart beating a frantic rhythm, and I became light-headed as I realized that in my fear, I’d forgotten to take a breath.
    “If you don’t wanna see yer man bleed to death right here on the docks, you’ll hand over yer valuables.” He hitched the knife higher and a trickle of blood ran down Azriel’s throat.
    I swallowed down the fear that rose in my throat like bile. If this animal could take Azriel so easily, I wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Bigger, stronger, I would be nothing more than a helpless victim. “I-I have no valuables,” I stammered. It was the truth. Besides the new dresses that Azriel had bought for me, I had nothing. “Please, just let us go.”
    My statement earned a round of raucous laughter. “Yer nothin’ but a daft bitch if you think I believe that,” he snorted. “You come walkin’ down in these parts dressed like you are and you’re just askin’ for trouble. So don’t lie to me again, or I’ll make him watch while I take my knife to you .” Azriel stood still as a statue, his chest rising and falling in a calm, rhythmic way. How could he be so at ease when our lives were in danger?
    “Listen to the lady, my friend,” Azriel said, his voice constricted by his captor’s chokehold. “We have nothing to give you.”
    “Bullshit.” The tip of his knife dug deeper into