Haunted by Your Touch Read Online Free

the time in the world if he chose to wait me out.
    Something stirred the grass ahead, about thirty feet in the distance. I didn’t charge right toward it but did a wide circle, not wanting to startle my target into hiding.
    Yes
. A definite disturbance in the grass. I tightened my grip on my gun until my hand ached.
Come out, Ashton, where I can see you
.
    My heart began to hammer as a tall form stood up where that disturbance was, revealing himself from the concealment of the grass.
    Thank you!
I sighted down the barrel and—
    “Mara.”
    I jerked the gun up just in time. That silhouette strode toward me, starlight faintly reflecting off golden-crimson hair as he drew near.
    Rafael. He’d been out here searching, too.
    “Did you see anyone?” I demanded in a low voice, half wondering if he’d tell me the truth if he had.
    “I saw no one.”
    Something in his tone made me narrow my eyes. “He’s out here,” I said crisply when I diagnosed what that tone was.
Doubt
. “He might have headed into the woods.”
    Rafael turned to consider the tall, forbidding forest ahead of us. “Go on,” he said finally. “I’ll watch out for you.”
    I shouldn’t have found that reassuring, but for an inexplicable reason, I did. Maybe it was because I hoped I was wrong about Rafael’s involvement with Purebloods, even if the cynical part of me doubted I was wrong. Or perhaps it was my frustration at the thought of Ashton skipping through the woods, chortling to himself over how I was too chicken to follow. Caution urged me not to trust Rafael, but desire for revenge had me spurring the horse into the ancient forest with a firm kick.
    Just like before, three-quarters cautious human was no match for one-quarter reckless demon.
    I bent close to the horse’s neck as I navigated the woods, trusting the animal when he sidestepped over dips in the ground I couldn’t see. I’d only gone a couple hundred yards before I realized my chances of finding Ashton in this pitch-black maze had gone from bad to worse. The trees towered above, shutting out most of the light and making only the immediate area in front of me faintly visible. If I’d been human, Icouldn’t have seen my hand in front of my face, but I didn’t have enough demon in me to see as clearly as Ashton could. Still, I kept going, hoping he’d be arrogant enough to show himself or try something.
    Of course, if Ashton was in league with Rafael, these darkened woods would end up being my tomb. I didn’t like the idea of rotting here forever, so I discarded that thought. I’d chosen to trust Rafael—for the moment. So for the moment, I’d believe that if Ashton tried to ambush me, Rafael would step in long enough for me to get off a few good shots.
    Then,
oh, then
, I’d make the Pureblood pay for what he’d done to Gloria.
    But as my internal clock told me that more than an hour had ticked by since I’d first glimpsed Ashton at Bonecrushers, even my dim hopes of catching him waned. There simply were too many places he could hide in these woods. I kept my senses as sharp as possible, straining to hear the slightest sound that wasn’t a natural part of the woods, but nothing stood out. No telltale footfalls, no snapping branches, no indication of the Pureblood who’d gotten away for far too long.
    Still, I didn’t stop but kept steering the horse grimly in the direction that I hoped was the right one. Getting lost here would be easy, with no real way to identify landmarks, and forget about navigating by the stars. I only caught the barest glimpses of them through spaces in the canopy of leaves above me.
    Just when I thought that I was indeed hopelessly lost, something loomed ahead, as black as a snapshot into oblivion. My pulse picked up as I realized what it was. The barrier. I hadn’t been going in circles; I’d steered the horse right to the end of Nocturna and the wall that marked the boundary between it and the next realm.
    That wall loomed above the trees,