Read Silken Rapture: Princes of the Underground, Book 2 for Free Online

elbow and cocked it in preparation for a jab. She didn’t have a chance to strike at her captor again, however. He abruptly set her down on a step as if he were dropping a sack of doorknobs. Her teeth struck together like clacking pebbles in her head. She immediately reached for the knife she’d dropped, but he kicked it away from her gloved hand with a negligent tap from a rugged black boot.
    She scrambled up from the step and backed away from a dark, menacing tower of male brawn. She paused next to the banister and watched him warily, her heart beating so loud in her ears it felt as if her whole world had become the sound of her fear.
    “I remember you. You-you—” she broke off, panting in rising agitation as she tried to gather her fragmented memories. “You were there…with that…that thing, that crystal—”
    She broke off in rising confusion, her mouth hanging open.
    No, that wasn’t who he was. Was it? She swam in confusion. This man…surely she knew this man?
    Her memories seemed as strange and unlikely as her entire experience since waking up in the luxurious room.
    She couldn’t pull her gaze from his eyes. They were singular—not green, exactly, but green, amber, gray and brown blended, hundreds of thousands of tiny crystalline dots. The first impression was of dark green until one took a second glance and was drawn into the depths.
    Agate eyes.
    The eyes were the same as her nightmare’s, butthis man possessed hair—beautiful hair, thick, black and glossy. His jaw was shadowed with whiskers. He was tall—much taller than most men. His jean-clad legs seemed impossibly long from her sitting position, his torso was lean and sinewy. He gave the impression of power leashed, strength coiled tight. He arched one raven brow at her words, the subtle expression striking her as surreal on a face that otherwise might have been carved in rock.
    “I was there, with the crystal,” he said.
    “You-you kidnapped me. Why?”
    “I never kidnapped you,” he said in a quiet, seething tone. “Do you think I’d choose to have you here?” He looked away from her, seeming impatient, edgy. “I have brought you to Sanctuary as my prisoner, but it wasn’t me who wanted you.”
    “But…I saw you. I remember your face, only—”
    She hesitated as she studied him again with growing wonder. He wore faded jeans and an untucked, dark green cotton T-shirt that ghosted his lean torso. His height and dark, piratical looks would certainly peak interest on a London street, but he could still pass as… normal. He might have, anyway, to most people. People who didn’t have her special sight.
    “You’re not him ,” she mumbled in disbelief. Even though her mind doubted the truth of her words, her spirit knew what she said was true. That other male had possessed no life force. She recalled the pure terror she experienced at witnessing the bizarre anomaly. Nature didn’t allow such monstrosities, did it?
    The fact that she’d also been drawn to that nightmare creature like a helpless planet to a black void in space horrified her even more.
    This man’s aura, on the other hand, was…extraordinary—dark, yes, but also more meticulously detailed than the most breathtaking tapestry in the gallery surrounding them. What effect would sunlight have on his multi-faceted, complex soul? She had the ability to tune out ephemeral energies and focus on the physical world, and she used that skill now, but with great effort.
    “The other one,” she muttered. “His head was shaved. He was dressed like a prince. He was—”
    Cruel.
    Beyond cruel, really, she added dazedly in her thoughts. He possessed no soul . The man in her memory was unlike anything she’d ever encountered before, a creature who took pleasure in fear and death, who found his greatest joy in robbing human beings of their life force.
    “Morshiel,” the dark, satirical angel said.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Morshiel. He kidnapped you. I found you afterward