Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

Bones had given her all the powers a Siren could possibly have. Enhanced eyesight, impossibly fast reflexes, strength that a woman her size shouldn’t have. She no longer was a magical creature held captive in a human body.

Her ponytail whipped around her body in a graceful trail as she flung herself at him. She feigned to the left and lifted her leg to strike hard against his ribs. She didn’t assume it would hurt him too much. And if it did, he would heal.

Except her foot did not connect with his body. Instead, she whipped around as the only thing in front of her was air.

“I’ll tell you one more time. You don’t want to do this.” His deep voice rumbled.

“Oh yes I do.”

She spun on her heel and shot a fist towards him. He was directly behind her; she could tell by his voice. But again, he was nowhere near her once she turned. Lyra was disoriented now as she spun and tried to find him in her relatively small room.

“Are you hiding from me?” Lyra taunted.

“No.”

His voice was directly behind her. She could feel the heat of his breath against her ear. This time, he caught her wrist when she turned upon him. He squeezed the delicate bones but she was beyond pain.

Her other fist struck towards his stomach only to be caught again by his free hand. She grunted and tried to knee him. Pitch seemed to know every move she was going to make before she made it. She couldn’t touch him.

Again and again she tried; until eventually, she grew tired. Her entire body folded against him. Sweat slicked the fine hairs around her forehead to her skin. She could hardly catch her breath as both mental and physical exhaustion overwhelmed her.

He held her through the entire ordeal. This was a familiar scene to her. Pitch had done the same thing in the kitchen. And though it was not a situation that felt sexual, he appeared to understand that she needed physical touch in this moment.

“Better?”

“No,” she sobbed. “No, nothing is better.”

“Did you think this was going to be easy?”

“Yes. Yes, I thought it would be easy. I would find him; I would bring him back; we would save the world.”

A chuckle rumbled through his chest and made her cheek bounce against him. His hand rubbed a circle across her back. “Even you can hear how foolish that sounds.”

“Why are you here?”

“Because I am invested in what you do.” Pitch’s finger curled underneath her chin to tilt her head up towards him. “Now, what are you doing here?”

“This is where I live.”

“You should be with Wolfgang.”

“He threw me out.” She sniffed loudly. “And he doesn’t like you by the way.”

A smile spread across his pale face. Lyra hadn’t noticed how cruel that smile looked. Pointed teeth that were pristine white looked like a predator’s smile. She had forgotten again that Pitch was not known to be a kind man.

“No, I imagine he doesn’t like me. Very few do.”

“Care to explain why?”

“None of the Lords do. They consider themselves to be the big bad wolves of this world.” That feral smile spread further across his face. “But even they are afraid of me.”

She should be as well. Hadn’t she already learned that dangerous things were not meant to be toyed with? Of course, she was still toying with Wolfgang. So perhaps that lesson hadn’t truly sunk in yet.

Perhaps it was her destiny to always end up in the arms of dangerous men. She certainly had found herself there enough in her life. Lyra reached up to dab at her face and pulled away from him.

“You know what I would like to know? Who do you work for?” she asked.

His gaze met hers, but he remained silent.

“I’m not telling you a single thing until you tell me the answer to that question,” Lyra said angrily. “You’re showing up on my doorstep. Constantly. I find that odd when everyone I know says to not trust you.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Wolfgang I see. Paranoia does not suit you.”

“But lies certainly suit you,” she responded with a glare.

“I only do as I am bid.”

“And who is doing the bidding? Because it’s not the Five. The hate between you and them is mutual.”

“That’s information you don’t get to know.”

Slowly, Lyra blew out an angry breath. She was going to explode on him again even though she knew it would get her nowhere. She couldn’t manage to hit the bastard.

“Fine,” she said. “Then why are you here?”

“Because you’re going to run.”

“No, I’m not,” she scoffed. “Excuse you. You don’t know me.”

Pitch crossed his arms over his chest. The muscles of his arms and chest flexed as he moved. She would swear he almost glowed he was so pale.

“I can’t let you run.” His words rang true. It was the truth in that muttered phrase that instantly made her uncomfortable.

“You can’t control what I do. If I want to run, I’m going to run.”

She didn’t need to look around her to see how he had come to that conclusion. She was trashing her apartment. The last time she had done this, she had booked it out of Bones’ house and run away with Jasper. They had come here. Haven. The first place in the world she had felt safe but now felt like a prison.

“You can’t run,” Pitch said while shaking his head.

“Why not?”

“Because you have important things to do here. Things I need you to do so that everything works out the way it should.”

Lyra shook her head. “There are runes on my back, Pitch. When he uses Blood Magic, he uses it through me.”

“And that frightens you.”

“It terrifies me. I shouldn’t be talking about this with you of all people.” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “I need to find Jasper. I need to tell him everything.”

Pitch reached out to wrap an arm around her waist and press her back against his chest. “You can’t do that.”

“I have