Kindled (Book 3 The Kindred Series) Read Free Page A

She just needs time to work it all out . I know Cassie as well as I know myself. I know she’s still in there somewhere and that she will come back. She has to come back . ”
       “And if she doesn’t ?”
       “Are you always so pessimistic?” Devon couldn’t help but smile at him as he shook his head. “I can’t let myself think like that. I just can’t. It means that I’ve lost her too, and right now I can’t deal with that. So yes, I have to believe that Cassie will come back to us, you should too.”
   Devon ran his hand through his hair, nodding slowly as he mulled over Chris’s words. He was right; Chris had to have hope that Cassie would c o me back to him. However, Devon knew it was better if he didn ’ t. He could not allow himself to have such hope, not when he knew that Cassie’s decision was probably for the best. In the long run they could not be together, and there was a good possibility that he w ould end up hurting her , no matter what Chris believed . No, Chris needed his hope, but Devon couldn ’ t share it. He couldn ’ t crush it either.
       “Why didn’t she want to join you?” Chris asked softly.
       Devon shrugged absently. “Her parents , and now her grandmother , have all been killed by vampires . She was bred to hate what we are . Y ou were all created to destroy my kind .”
       “Yes, but she doesn’t have to be a murderer like them. ”
   “I know that , and so does she, but it ’ s still frightening to her . Plus, s he would also have to give up the sunlight, the warmth and wonder of its rays.”
   Chris was silent for a moment. “Eventually she could return to it though.”
   “Maybe, but she would have to spend hundreds of years in the dark with no guarantee that she could ever go back into the light. Just because two of us have been able to do it does not mean that others will be successful. ”
       Chris nodded as he plac ed his coffee cup down. “That would be awful for her, but I’m sure she would adjust.”
   “There will be no need for her too.”
   Chris smirked at him as he shook his head. “Man you’re depressing.”
       Devon grinned back at him. “ There’s nothing more depressing then being dead, which I am.”     
       Chris laughed as he nodded his agreement. The soft patter of footsteps turned both their heads toward the door. Chris’s mother was shuffling through it, her hand rest ed on the door frame as she steadied herself , the ice in her glass of scotch rattl ed as she moved. “Christopher, what are you doing here? I thought you would be staying with Cassie, and your people.”
       Chris stiffened; his feet plopp ed loudly o n the floor. “ Luther and Melissa are with her. I thought it best if I returned home .”
       “Oh, this is your home now. You never act like it. In fact it’s more like a stopping ground where you keep your clothes.”
       “Mom…”
       “I have company,” she interrupted sharply.
       “Of course you do,” Chris mumbled.   
       “What did you just say!?” she demanded, her voice taking on a near hysterical edge.
       “Nothing mom.”
       “Don’t you talk to me like that! I gave you life, I created you! I took care of you even after I discovered what abominations you and your bastard of a father were ! ”
       Devon sat in stunned silence. Chris ’s face color ed in shame , his eyes darted briefly to Devon as his head bow ed down. His look in Devon’s direction caught his mother’s attention as she finally realized that Chris was not alone . She turned toward Devon, her eyes widen ed in surprise as the furious , alcohol induced glaze slipp ed swiftly from them. Disgust twisted through Devon as lust bloomed heavily from her.
       “You didn’t tell me you had a friend here,” she hissed to Chris.
       Chris’s jaw locked tight, his eyes narrowed as his nostrils flared slightly. She might well be one of the most repulsive women