ThirteenNights Read Online Free Page A

didn’t shy away, he wrapped
his arm around hers and drank in that corny, silly way that lovers do. It was
perfection.
    “Why do you let me break the rules?”
    “I seem unable to resist.”
    “For someone who’s like no other Amazon I’ve ever met, your
battle record is one of the most impressive I’ve seen.”
    “Amazons will forgive their best fighters a lot.” She
stroked his cheekbone, a sad smile hung on her face.
    “You’ve spent your life in hiding, haven’t you?” As soon as
he said it, he knew this to be true.
    Her body shifted, turning away so that her back faced him. After
placing his drink on the table, he slid his arms around her, pulled her stiff
body between his legs, his hold firm, possessive but tender. He alternated
butterfly kisses, aggressive bites and healing licks down her neck to respect
the strength of the warrior and romance the gentle woman she suppressed.
    “Tell me what you hide so deeply, Annie. Don’t you feel that
I’m your ally?”
    Her sigh floated along the breeze on the open terrace and
her body shifted positions. If she hadn’t been Amazon, he would have said she
was fidgeting. Warriors were trained to an economy of motion. He remained
quiet, using the silence to allow her to open up but continued tender caresses
along her arms, soft kisses on her throat. Only stillness had the power to draw
out secrets held for a lifetime.
    “Yes, I truly feel you are my ally. I’m a low-level empath.”
    It was Tai’s turn to sigh. For as different as he was he
knew that to feel the feelings of others could cripple a warrior. He made a
mental note to delve more deeply into her virtual trail. “Ah baby, how do you
survive?”
    “I earn income as a highly specialized bounty hunter
tracking sociopaths, the criminally insane—the Hannibal Lecters of the world. They
are either so cold that they don’t trigger empathy or so angry that it feeds
the warrior. For the Amazons, in addition to any fighting duties, I serve as
their chief negotiator. My abilities to differentiate words and actions from
underlying emotion make me hard to beat.”
    “How do you endure the city?” He stroked her arms, back,
trying to soothe, to signal his support for her, whatever she did, whoever she
was, whatever she needed.
    “I like cities. So many feelings bombard my senses that I
can package them together as white noise and ignore them. It’s one-on-one with
humans or small groups of them that strain my ability to control it.”
    Tai strengthened his embrace, bracketing her in the steel of
his arms and legs, letting her know at every level that he would care for the
vulnerability she just shared with him. No warrior ever handed another a
weakness—it was a gift he would protect. “You’re dealing with humans now,
aren’t you?”
    Her nod, quirky and out of rhythm, spoke volumes. “My house
is between two families, their love a chronic low-level buzz, always in my
system.” Her voice lowered to a whisper so low, only his enhanced hearing
allowed him to pick it up. “It makes me want it, but why do you?”
    His body stilled, her declaration a surprise, although not
an unwanted one. “You can read me.”
    She nodded.
    “This appears in your medical records as a genetic anomaly but
the precise talent is not identified. How have you kept it under the radar?”
    Her shoulders stiffened. “You’ve seen my records?”
    Time for quid pro quo—vulnerability for vulnerability. “I
hacked into the database. I wanted to ensure that you were matched with me. You
weren’t. Because of that anomaly, human genes were forbidden, so I switched the
pairings. I would only accept you.”
    “If you’re ever discovered, that carries a death sentence
under Amazon law.”
    “Not under Gargarean law. Don’t worry, they’ll just make me
do extra guard duty.”
    She leaned her head against his shoulder and turned to look
him in the eye. “If you partnered with another Amazon, maybe, but I’m from
Hippolyta’s