Darkness Wanes Read Online Free Page A

race must eventually take up the role of policing the sups of the world. They had a lot to learn before they could do that, but at least they’d eventually be allowed to live semi-normal lives.
    Emily took some tissues from the glove box and cleaned the blood from her face. She hadn’t been wounded as badly as he’d originally thought. The swelling was already starting to go down, and the cut on her lip was closing. Melena’s blood must have quickened the healing process. By the time she finished wiping her face, you almost couldn’t tell she’d been in a fight.
    “I want to go home.”
    “I think not,” he said, shooting her a dark look.
    She was quiet for the next few miles and didn’t speak again until they were leaving the Fairbanks city limits. It would take almost an hour to get there. They’d built the training facility in a remote location to reduce chances of human detection, though it had magical protections concealing it as well.
    “I miss Mel,” Emily said, breaking the silence. Her voice came out soft and sad.
    He understood her pain, though he tried to hide his for her sake.
    “She’ll be home soon,” he replied, attempting to sound optimistic.
    If only he knew the exact date, but Remiel refused to answer that question as of yet. Lucas’ chest tightened at the thought of what Melena must be enduring. He had known her for more than a decade, but he regretted the fact he’d spent much of that time despising her. Not just because she was a sensor or that he’d been forced to protect her, but also because she beguiled him. Melena was beautiful, strong, and brave. Perhaps he’d known on some subconscious level that she would be his undoing if he ever let her get too close to him. Lucas had done everything he could to keep his distance and make her hate him. Yet the attraction always lingered.
    For many years, he fought and denied the pull between them, but over time she’d broken past his defenses. After he’d finally given in, every force imaginable conspired to keep him and his sensor apart. Their relationship was both the best and most difficult period of his very long life. He wished he could whisk her far away from all their troubles.
    “Have you dreamed about her?” Emily asked, peering over at him through the fall of her hair.
    Lucas fought the urge to grip the steering wheel and give himself away. She knew that when he’d been in Purgatory Melena had dreamed about him, but only when he was in intense pain. If he admitted to seeing Mel in his sleep, Emily would know things were bad. Yet he couldn’t lie to her, either.
    “Yes, but not often.”
    She swallowed. “How bad is it?”
    “It could be worse.” That much was true. The guardians watching over Melena were not nearly as cruel as Kerbasi had been to him, but he’d rather not see his mate hurt at all. Of course, it would help if the blasted woman wouldn’t antagonize her jailers. He’d seen that part as well. Melena was no better than him at behaving well with her captors.
    “Are they torturing her?”
    “Not exactly,” he paused, not wishing to go into the details, but not certain how to put the teenager off. “But they have put her in solitary confinement for stirring up trouble.”
    “Is she purposely pissing them off?”
    Lucas took a turn too fast, and the wheels skidded for a second before regaining traction. Emily squealed. He forced himself to slow down and take it easy. If it were only him, he wouldn’t care as much, but he had to bear in mind the teenager sitting next to him was far more breakable.
    “Yes,” he answered a minute later.
    She ducked her head, but he thought he caught a glimpse of a smile. “I’ll bet she’s giving them hell.”
    He grunted. “Let us hope not too much.”
    “Remiel promised he’d watch over Mel,” Emily said, sitting up straighter.
    Lucas wished he could feel the same confidence in the archangel, but there was too much bad blood between them. He wouldn’t ruin