Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) Read Online Free Page A

Robyn began blaring from my phone.  A man, dressed in scrubs, shot me a disapproving look, and I shrugged.  “What,” I said defensively as I pulled the phone from my pocket.  “It’s my mate.”
    I hurriedly slid my finge r across the screen to silence it.  “Talk to me,” I said as quietly as I could.
    “Val , how many times…You know what, I give up.”
    I chuckled and turned my back to the probing eyes of passerby ’s.  “I figured you would sooner or later.  So, what’s up, baby?”
    Irulan huffed on the other end, and I smiled in spite of myself.  I could almost see her rose colored skin turning another shade of pink , with frustration.  “Val, it’s ten baby.”
    “Huh?”  I spared a glance at the face of my phone and frowned.  “Hump, we've been here longer than I thought.”
    “What?”
    “Nothing , I’m just out of the office for a while, go figure.  I forgot to call and tell you.”  For the past few weeks, Irulan had been calling me every night at ten to break the monotony of my boring shifts.  “I was getting on Tam’s nerves, so he sent me out with Valerian as an escort.”
    “Well , that’s good, at least you're not stuck in your little cubby-hole, complaining.”
    “Yeah, I guess.”
    “What’s the problem, Val, you don't sound as enthusiastic as I thought you would be at getting out.”
    A nurse slowed down and cut her eyes in my direction.  I shooed her away and cupped my hand over my mouth.  “It’s not that.  It's the case that Vedo is taking,” I whispered.
    “Marcus didn’t give you any shit about being on the grounds did he?”
    “That’s just it, Ire, we’re not at the CMS.  We're at a hospital, and the client is human.”
    I could hear the sharp intake of Irulan’s surprise.  Even without our bond I knew what she was going to say.  “Constantine asked him to defend the guy,” I said, cutting her off before she could ask.  “Without our father’s knowledge,” I added.  “This is going to be a tough case if he decides to pursue it.”
    “W hat do you mean if?  He's there.  Why would he turn it down?”
    “I can't really explain here, but I’ll fill you when I get home.”
    “Alright, baby, have a good night and come home as soon as you can.  David wants to talk with you before the day sleep takes him.”
    I slipped my phone back into my pocket and stood to go and check on Valerian , when he came walking out of the busted doors.  He passed me without a word.  The lines of his face were tense and rigid.  I could feel the edge rolling off of him.  I fell in place behind him, and for a second considered drawing away some of his tension, but decided against it.
    Frying the doors was one thing.  I f I tried to feed from Valerian and couldn’t control it, I could end up hurting him.  As we stood there waiting for an elevator, it took every ounce of control I had not to jump into his head and see what was bothering him.  All bets were off once we were behind closed doors.
    “So , are you going to tell me what happened?  Are you going to represent him or not?”
    Valerian straightened his tie an d frowned.  “Of course I’m going to represent him.  Would I have come here if I wasn’t?”
    “So why the act, what purpose did it serve?”
    “I needed to gauge his reaction, Val.”
    “The man just lost his wife, Vedo, he's ready to die.  He doesn’t need you pulling his chain , jerking him around.”
    Valerian rounded on me, both eyes black as midnight .  “And I don't need you telling me how to do my job, Valeria.  I don't stand over your shoulder and commentate on your fucking t.v. screens, do I?”  His voice was a few octaves short of yelling.
    I hissed and took a step forward.  “No, but you didn’t have any probl ems showing up on my door with Dad a few months ago and telling me what case I was and was not going to take.”
    Valerian huffed, “Oh don't try that shit with me.  You would have been assigned to