Read Darkness Rising: The Dark Angel Series: Book Two for Free Online

wasn’t going to tell me. I squashed the flare of irritation and glanced at my watch. It was nearly ten thirty, so I had to get going if I wanted to make my appointment with Catherine Alston. Given that she was a high councilor—and generally you had to have a few hundred years under your belt to even be considered for the local council—I suspected it would be a bad move to be late. I met Azriel’s gaze again. “Are you going to be present at the interview?”
    “Do you wish me to be?”
    I hesitated, then nodded. “We both know you’re going to be listening in anyway, and I think I’d feel safer if you were an actual, physical presence.”
    “Meaning you do not trust this vampire?”
    “Right now, I’m not much into trusting anyone.”
    He studied me for a moment, his face as impassive as ever even if I felt an odd sense of fierceness emanating from him. “Even me?”
    Especially you,
I wanted to say, but that wasn’t entirely true. “I wouldn’t be asking you to watch my back if I didn’t trust you to do it.”
    “Which does not entirely answer the question.”
    “No, it does not.”
    I gathered my things from the table then brushed past him and headed down the stairs. No footsteps followed me, but I felt his presence nonetheless. And this time, annoyance seemed to mingle with the fierce heat of him.
    Although why he’d be annoyed I wasn’t entirely sure. At least I was being honest—which was a lot more than I could say about
him.
    My phone rang as I neared the front door. I tucked everything under my arm, then dug the phone out of my pocket with my other hand.
    “Tao,” I said, as his handsome features appeared on the vid-phone’s screen. “What’s up? Is there a problem at the café?”
    Tao, Illiana, and I weren’t only best friends who shared an apartment together, we also co-owned RYT’s—a café situated right in the heart of Lygon Street’s famed restaurant and club district. We had a prime position near the Blue Moon, and had been so busy lately that all of us had been working extra shifts. Not that I particularly minded; the more I worked, the less time I had to think about Mom. Butit also meant I had less free time to spend with Lucian, who’d come to my rescue a couple of months ago and had quickly become my lover. He’d never be anything more than that, because—like Reapers—Aedh were unemotional creatures. Lucian might be a sexual being, but he didn’t want or need anything more. Which was okay by me. Having suffered the heartbreak of one broken romance, I wasn’t ready to step into another. Sex for the fun of it was all I wanted right now. And with Lucian, fun was
always
guaranteed.
    Tao laughed, the warm sound jarring against the cold stillness of the house. “Can’t I call my best friend without her expecting something to be up?”
    “Tao,” I said, a touch impatiently as I slammed the front door shut and coded the alarm, “it’s your day off and it’s only ten thirty in the morning. So there
has
to be a problem if you’re already out of bed.”
    His warm brown eyes were twinkling, which meant the problem—if there was one—wasn’t major. “Hey, maybe I just never got
into
bed.”
    “Oh, you were in bed,” I said wryly, “but whose is the million-dollar question. And if you say Candy, I will kill you.”
    “Then I won’t say Candy.”
    “Tao! She’s the best waitress we’ve got, and she’s not a wolf.”
    “So?”
    “So you know humans take sex more seriously than wolves, and she’s just going to quit like all the others when she realizes that you’re never going to be anything more than casual.”
    “And if Candy herself doesn’t want or need anything more than casual?”
    “How many times have you heard humans say that, and how many times has it actually been true?” I said impatiently. “Damn it, Tao, we have a hands-off policy for a reason.”
    The humor in his eyes faded at the testiness in my voice. “I know, and honestly, I didn’t