Read Alliances (Guardians of White Light, #1) for Free Online

weapon.
    He refused to answer. Instead, she watched as he tightened his grip on the stake, exerting so much pressure that his hand began to shake. She watched in horror as the durable wood started to crack. And then it crumbled in his hands like flour through a sieve. What the hell?
    She let out an involuntary gasp and stepped back.
    “Are we clear now, slayer?” he asked, dusting off his hands in front of her.
    He watched her move to speak, but the words didn’t come. She just stared at him, incredulous. He stepped into her and his hand brushed her thigh. He felt her flinch at his touch. Their eyes met and the unsettling sensation that had assaulted him back in the parking lot resurfaced. Touch her , it beseeched him. There was such power to it, such heat that it arrested his movements for a few seconds. He felt it trying to violate his rational thought. He fought to regain control even as he leaned into her. Stop! The mission! He summoned every ounce of sanity that he could to break the spell. He looked away and gripped the knife in the holster at her thigh. He withdrew it abruptly and placed it in her hand.
    He moved away quickly and studied her. What had just happened ? He cleared his throat. “Wield that instead,” he instructed, reemploying his brusque demeanor.
    She glared at him and gritted her teeth to suppress her ire. “Fine.” She didn’t take orders from anyone. He was trying her patience.
    He grunted with impatience and turned back around, focusing on the task at hand. They made their way into the next room.
    And what a room it was. Huge intricately carved bookcases lined every wall of the massive space. A small bar sat off to the left and a large seating area in front of a fireplace took up the rest of the room. White leather wraparound couches and matching over-sized chairs surrounded a rectangular marble coffee table. She noticed two tall windows at the rear of the room. She looked closer and caught sight of a doorknob, realizing quickly that they were patio doors. Heavy cream curtains covered them, hiding the gardens beyond.
    Mathias’ eyes were drawn to the clothing and blankets thrown across the back of one of the couches and the glasses of clotted blood atop the coffee table. He drew closer and reached for a red silk robe that lay crumpled on the floor.
    “I warned her not to come here,” he muttered bitterly.
    “Who?” Jenna asked, as she continued to scan the room.
    “Gabriella.”
    “Girlfriend?” she asked over her shoulder as her attention was drawn to something over by the patio doors. Ashes.
    Mathias scoffed at her assumption.
    She looked back at him for a second. “I see. One of your groupies.”
    Mathias shook his head. Did she have to keep using that terminology?
    “Just company.”
    “You don’t have to defend yourself to me.”
    Mathias caught himself. Was that what he was doing? Defending himself? Gabriella wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the armory. Perhaps he didn’t want a reputation of screwing bimbos plaguing him. Yeah, that had to be it.
    His thoughts were rudely interrupted by Jenna calling him to her. He moved to where she knelt over a pile of ashes. She held a folded note.
    “Looks like this is what’s left of your girl,” she said, handing him the note.
    Mathias eyed the ashes and shook his head. “She was a fool.”
    He opened the note and read:
     
    Brother,
    The youngling has revealed your true whereabouts. Stand down. Should you fail to do so, Immortalia will come at you full force. No mercy for my enemies. The choice is yours.
    S.
     
    Mathias balled up the note and tossed it into the fireplace.
    Jenna climbed to her feet. “He doesn’t want you dead,” she said, surprised. “The two of you must have been close. Brother? ”
    Mathias nodded. “Brothers in arms until he created Immortalia. And then…”
    Jenna looked at him expectantly. “Go on.”
    “We should get going,” he said, scanning the area anxiously. “He has spies