Read NocC 026 - Lauren Hawkeye - The Darkling's Desire - Harlequin 2012-11 for Free Online

spoke in sweet, innocent tones, Jasper could feel Anastasia
tense beside him.
    He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and to
remove her from danger. He wished that he could wrap them both in shadows. Petra
might have been an Amazon, but she was human. She would never be able to match
his speed.
    He could not pull Anastasia close, though. Petra may not have
been fast, but she was cunning. He had learned that firsthand.
    Petra began to move, waltzing toward them with that slow sway
of her hips, the one that had seduced him before.
    “That’s far enough!” He barked out his words. Even if the past
hadn’t happened, there was something about the woman, something dark seeping
from her very core, that set his animal instincts screaming.
    Petra pouted, her teeth worrying her glossy lower lip.
    “That’s not very nice. Especially not when I’m here to do us
all a favor.”
    “What favor? Why are you here, Petra?” Jasper felt…was it
proud? Yes, proud that Anastasia kept the tremble out of her voice, even though
he could hear her pulse quickening. “I am doing my job.”
    “Oh, that.” Petra waved a dismissive hand in the air. “That
will be done. But first…” Moving faster than Jasper had thought that a human
could move, Petra materialized beside Anastasia, taking the younger woman’s hand
in her own.
    “Doesn’t she remind you of someone, Jasper? Someone you knew
once?” Deliberately mimicking, Petra cocked her head like the younger woman,
mirrored her stance. And suddenly Jasper could see it, the hints of resemblance.
The curve of the cheek, the shape of the eyes.
    How had he not seen it before? Even seeing, he didn’t know what
it meant.
    He was sick of the bullshit, and said so.
    “Petra, cut the crap. What the fuck are you doing here? What do
you want with Anastasia?”
    Petra reached a hand out for him again, as if to stroke his
face. He gnashed his fangs at her.
    She laughed, a sound as light as fairy bells. Then her face
hardened, her age becoming more apparent in the lines that formed harshly,
bracketing her lips and eyes.
    “Anastasia is my niece. Her mother, my sister, was raped by a
Darkling just like you.”
    *
    Anastasia felt as if she had been struck in the stomach
with the nunchakus—those heavy wooden bars attached by a chain— that Petra had
always favoured and she never had.
    Her niece? She was Petra’s niece? The information coated her
thoughts like sludge, viscous and slimy, poisoning every memory that it touched.
She wanted to lean in close to Jasper, to glean comfort from his touch, but the
glint in Petra’s eyes told her that that would not be a wise move.
    “What…why?” Anastasia reached for the empty blade sheath at her
hip, her eyes flicking to where the silver laid in the mud when she found the
worn leather barren. “You’ve never told me this. I’ve known you since I was a
child.” What she neglected to say was that this explained why she had never felt
completely at ease around her mentor. Though she had always treated Petra as
tradition dictated that she must, she had always found the other woman’s
presence…unsettling.
    She had never trusted her as much as she felt she should, had
always blamed herself for the lack.
    “It was for your own good, child.” Anastasia gritted her teeth
at the so-called endearment, the noise audible to Jasper’s ears.
    “Petra. Get on to it, or we’re going. We have things to do,
missions to accomplish.” Jasper sounded bored, but Anastasia thought she
detected the slightest hint of upset beneath his words. This time he did reach
for Anastasia, his fingers resting lightly on the small of her back.
    Mine, was what his touch seemed to
mean, and though Anastasia wasn’t sure if it was genuine or if it was just for
her protection. Mine, and fuck with her at your own
peril.
    Petra chuckled once more, as if to prove a point, and then her
face sharpened, honing in on Jasper like a blade.
    Anastasia’s mind whirled, her