Free Fallen by Kelley R. Martin Page B

with a sickening thud, the air rushing out of me on impact. 
    Get up, get up! Push through the pain!
    It was a miracle that I was able to stand, and I staggered a few feet before getting tackled to the ground from behind, his body shifting so that he took the brunt of the fall. Rolling me onto my back, he pinned my wrists above my head. 
    His eyes were wild as he said, “I told you, I just wanted to talk.”
    I thrashed underneath him, bucking my hips as I tried to fight him. “ Get off! ”
    He pinned my lower half with his hips, his erection pushing into my thigh. I gasped and stilled, feeling his breath on my ear. His stubble grazed my cheek as he rasped, “I like it when they run, remember?”
    My eyes slid closed and I swallowed. “What do you want?” I hated that my voice came out shaky.
    He shifted and I opened my eyes to see him staring down at me, his eyes intent. “I want you to tell me what the hell is going on.”
    My mouth pressed into hard line. “If I do, will you get off me?”
    “Only if you promise not to run.”
    “ Fine ,” I ground out. “I promise. Now get off .”
    He climbed off me and sat on the lip of the bathtub, folding his hands in his lap as he blocked my path to freedom. 
    I paced around the bathroom, gnawing on my thumbnail as my heart and mind raced. Thomas warned me to be careful about this, and here I was, bleeding all over the place, when apparently, Feeders didn’t bleed. How could I be so stupid? I knew they couldn’t get cut. Thomas had said so himself. So why the hell couldn’t I remember something so integral to my own species? I mean, Jesus, my life depended on playing the part right, and I’d just up and forgotten my line in front of a packed house.
    “Just spit it out, Em. You’re making me nervous.”
    Humorless laughter bubbled out of me. “ You’re  nervous? I’m about to sign my own death warrant over here. You should try feeling one iota of what I am right now.”
    His frown deepened. “What the hell are you talking about?”
    I sighed and stopped in front of him. “What do you know about me? About my parents?”
    He shrugged. “I know your mother, Vivienne—”
    “And what about my father? What do you know about him?”
    His eyes dropped, and a slight wince twisted his features as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Shit. I, uh, probably should’ve mentioned this sooner, but… He’s my boss, Em. He’s the one who assigned me to you.”
    I froze. “What?” 
    That was impossible. My father was a Healer. He had to be. That was the only explanation. So he couldn’t possibly have been Gabriel’s boss…right?
    I glanced down at my finger. There was no cut, just dried blood.
    “I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. “I should’ve said something—”
    “Your boss is a Feeder, right?”
    “Of course.” He said it slow, like I’d lost my mind for even having to ask. Maybe I had.
    I held my unscathed finger up for him to see. “Well, my father’s not.”

Chapter Eighteen
    GABRIEL
    I stared at Emily’s finger, at the unmarred pale skin under her dried blood. How was that possible? She’d been cut. I saw it.
    Then her words pierced through my WTF fog, and it made sense…sort of. Her father wasn’t a Feeder, which meant… “You’re a crossbreed ?”
    I thought those were mythical. Like the Easter Bunny, or Santa.
    Awe-struck, I stood, looking down at her like I was seeing her for the first time. I reached up to stroke her cheek, and she flinched. 
    Frowning, I reassessed the situation, seeing her wide eyes locked on me. Her body trembled. It was then that I noticed it, and for the life of me, I don’t know how I’d missed it: she was terrified of me. The lemony scent of her fear was so thick, I thought I might choke.
    No wonder she ran; she probably thought I was going to kill her. Jesus, the way I came after her like that, the way I threw her down on the ground… No wonder she was terrified. 
    I stuck my hands up in a non-threatening