dark faerie 04.5 - without armor Read Online Free

into him, daring him to keep on. Now that was a woman I could entertain for more than just a spell. She was tough as nails and didn’t take any shit from peons like Ciaran. It made me remember exactly why I’d been infatuated with her in high school. She was nothing short of irresistible.
    Ciaran didn’t argue any further. Instead, his frown deepened as he turned away, stomping off to check on their friends. It was a pathetic group really. I’d never been around such a weak bunch. They barely oozed of fey blood, but they had it still. I wondered how they defended themselves against attacks from the Unseelie or hell…any other faery for that matter. Their power combined might be enough to keep others from harming them and at bay, but barely just. I had more magic in my smallest toe than they all had combined.
    With the exception of Isolde.
    She was the glue that held this operation together. That much I could see. Maybe she had figured out a way to combine their efforts and amplify their defenses when threatened. Yes…that was something she would’ve come up with. She was brilliant in a way I’d never seen in others. Almost like a female MacGyver. A wild child, young and free.
    We weren’t so different after all.
    “Don’t mind Ciaran. He’s just protective of us all, and you’re a stranger. Not too hard to categorize the threat you could be to us, Benton.”
    The way she said my name jerked me into the past like a wormhole. I watched her move about the room, her slender body with womanly curves hidden under the long trench coat wrapped around it. I remembered every inch of it, and I closed my eyes as the dark moments rushed back into the front of my mind, where I’d banished them from lurking ever again.
    She was my first love. Probably my last.
    “Benton?” Her voice pulled me back to the present, and I peered upon her gorgeous face again. Her eyes shined under the dim moonlight slipping through cracks in the roof. Her pale skin told me she didn’t go out in daylight much and avoided crowded places, even now. She was always an outsider, a loner in every definition of the word, but that’s what I’d loved about her. Nothing ordinary would do for her. Maybe that was why she’d chosen me to be her boyfriend in high school.
    And I had thought it was because she liked me so damn much.
    I chuckled before answering, giving her a five-star grin.
    “Yes, Isolde?”
    She returned the smile with one that lit up her face brighter than any sun. It made my heart jump.
    “There you are…are you sure you’re alright? You seem to be lost inside your head. That was a nasty bump on the head you got from the blast. Do you need any healing?”
    I laughed but cut it off immediately when I saw her smile drop from her face.
    “Sorry but…I’ve seen what you have in your arsenal of groupies here. I doubt any of them can help me much, let alone heal. Besides I have my own healing magic.”
    Her face crinkled into a scowl but instead of walking away, she stepped closer, pressing her lovely chest into mine.
    “You best not insult m’comrads. They’re family. You’re not. Remember that.” She pushed at me and I took a step back, only because she had set me off balance. “Don’t ya forget I’ve saved yer ass more dan once? I keep score.”
    She shoved a finger into my shoulder right where I’d hit it earlier. I winced but didn’t retaliate. Her accent grew stronger with her anger and had me hung up on her proximity, completely intoxicated. I was a miserable fail at resisting her charm back in high school and even more so now.
    Pathetic.
    Isolde turned on one foot and headed toward the rest of the group. I blew out a breath, knowing how unsmooth I’d been with her. I enjoyed a feisty woman, but Isolde wasn’t a fool. She’d never return to me after the way I’d left her so long ago.
    I rubbed at the spot she’d stabbed. It just occurred to me that it hurt like the dickens. I pulled at the shirt and stared down at a