Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2), Emma Hamm [little red riding hood ebook free .TXT] 📗

to!” Lyra began to struggle against his hold. “He’s my brother! He has to know everything. I can’t keep lying to him!”

“You need to calm down.”

“No!”

Pitch lifted her from the ground. His hands snaked up her body to press both palms against her temples. “I need you to remember why you came here in the first place. I need you to remember why you are doing everything you are doing. Now.”

Her back arched as heat pierced through her skull. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as her eyes opened wide and memories slammed into her conscious as though she had hit a brick wall.

7 YEARS AGO

“Lyra!”

She was guarding the door into a special meeting room that held Bones and another of the Lords. Black leather encased her entire body. She was beautiful and deadly. Poison and wine.

There was a reason why she was dressed like this. She was supposed to be both alluring and intimidating. That’s what Bones wanted. But he didn’t understand that the outfit was hot, and she couldn’t scratch the sweat trickling between her breasts.

She wanted to go home. She wanted to relax on a couch in shorts and eat chips. However, that wasn’t her life. Bones said he wanted her to come with him, and she had to agree. There was no arguing with the man who had changed her life.

He had given her control. If any man tried to force her to do something she didn’t want to do, they regretted it. Instantly. Bones had taught her to have no remorse when she killed a bad man. He had taught her how to break bones that would cause incredible amounts of pain but would not be easily visible.

He had turned her into a weapon. Lyra was not ashamed to say she liked that.

“Lyra!”

Her head snapped towards the sound. Whomever was trying to get her attention would regret it. They had no place shouting at her in a crowd, not when she was supposed to be making certain that no one disturbed Bones while he was in his important meeting.

A big man was walking towards her. Too big. He would be someone difficult to fight if she had to. Her hands slipped to the small of her back where she kept her orbs. One quick move and painful gas would bring the big man to his knees before her.

Just where she liked men his size.

Except she recognized him. His hair hadn’t looked like that before. Jasper had never worn his hair long since she met him stealing things in the streets when they were little. He tended to enjoy close cropped hair in case someone tried to grab onto him.

She straightened. “You got bigger.”

“Now that’s the best way to make me feel confident about myself.” He grinned and patted his stomach. “What, you have no hug for me?”

“Of course I do.”

They were both grinning now. She reached forward to hug him around the waist. He held onto her even though her head barely reached his chest.

Lyra breathed in the earthy scent of him and smiled. “It’s been too long since we’ve seen each other.”

Longer than they had ever gone in fact. Yet another change in her life she could blame on Bones. He didn’t want her to have anyone reminding her of times when she was unhappy. Jasper himself had never made her upset, but he was a symbol of the girl she used to be.

He had protected her when she was in her parent’s grasp. He had provided for her at the escort house where the women were arm candy and nothing else. He hadn’t been able to get her out of that situation. Hell, he hadn’t been able to get himself out of the job where he was a bodyguard and assassin for a very bad man.

Now they were both working for different people who were arguably just as bad. They weren’t necessarily unhappy. They were surviving in the only way they knew how. But Bones considered him to be an enabler of her old life. Unhappiness came in many flavors, or so he said.

Lyra didn’t agree with him. She tried to see Jasper whenever she could because he was more family than her own. He wasn’t blood. He was something much more than that.

Jasper pulled back just enough to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “You know I always do my best to find you.”

She tilted her smile into his palm and muffled a laugh. “Yes, you do. On the other hand, I’ve been terrible at finding you. Where have you gotten off to?”

“I found our escape.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “Escape? Jasper you know that’s a pipe dream.”

“You’re in another prison. So was I.”

“I’m happy!”

So she told everyone. She didn’t want to mention that the contract she had signed with Bones was far from what she had originally thought. He had given her power. He had trained her. He had given her everything she needed to be strong and independent.

But she had never gotten that independence. Instead, he had convinced her to stay for another year. Just one more so that he could train her in combat. That year had become another. Now she was looking at fulfilling the contract without ever existing away from him.

Jasper rolled his eyes at her. “You know that’s a lie. Come on, Fish, I found us a home.”

“We don’t have a home. We’re not the type to settle, remember?”

Those were the words they had whispered to each other when she first ran away from home. She had been so young, and he hadn’t been prepared to take care of a little rich girl who wasn’t ready to be on the streets. But they had been adventurers together. And she had finally been free from her family.

Now he was saying he found them a home? They didn’t have the luxury of finding a home. They weren’t the lucky ones.

He seemed to understand what path her thoughts had traveled. Jasper shook his head and