Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (29 page)

   Laughter filled the air;
Cassie nearly choked on
her shake as
a
satisfied gleam lit Melissa’s
onyx
eyes. Then she glanced past Cassie, her
forehead
furrow
ed
as her eyes narrowed sharply. Cassie stiffened, turning slightly to follow Melissa’s gaze. Surprise riveted her to the spot.

   Luther stood on the other side of B’s and S’s, his
eye
brow
s
raised disdainfully as he watched
Jason climb onto the table. His glasses slid down to the edge
of his nose
to
perch preca
riously
upon the tip
. The loose fitting jacket he wore hung off of his slender shoulders, making him appear even thinner than he was.

   “What is he doing here?” Chris asked softly.

   “I don’t know
.
I’ll go find out.”

   Melissa slipped past them, skirting the group gathered
around the picnic tables. “Who is that?” Devon inquired softly.

   Cassie shifted slightly, not at all sure how to answer that question. “It’
s Melissa’s dad,” Chris told him
.

   “
I thou
ght Melissa’s parents were dead,
”
Devon
said
.

   “Adopted father,” Chris amended, glancing briefly at Devon. “But he
’
s raised her since she was a baby
, so it’s her dad.”

   “I see,” Devon said softly, his eyes coming swiftl
y back to Cassie.

   Cassie swallowed heavily, barely managing a slow nod. It was not
e
ntirely a lie
.
S
he should not feel bad, but she did.
Tearing
her gaze away from his
,
she
tr
ied
to keep her breathing
,
and her heart
rate
,
under control. “Were Melissa’s parents with yours in the car accident?”

   Cassie’s mind fumbled with an answer for that, she knew what she was supposed
to say, what they had been
told
to say, but her tongue could not get the lies out. “No, Melissa’s family was in Egypt at th
e time
.
H
er mother died in childbirth,
and
her father was killed in the
line of duty
.”

   Again, it was not entirely a lie, but it was Chris who uttered the words, not her.
“Line of duty?”

   “Yeah,” Chris answered his gaze intent upon Devon’s. “He was in the British armed forces, stationed in Egypt, where
he met Melissa’s mom. Luther and he were good friends
,
so Luther
adopted Melissa
when she was orphaned
.
T
here was no other family.”

   “I see.” Devon nodded slowly, his eyes slightly distant as he gazed
down at Cassie.
“How sad for you all.”
   “My mother is still alive,” Chris reminded him, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice.

   “Chris…”

   Chris’s
anguished
eyes swung toward her.
She knew Chris
loved his mother, but there was so much pain and anger between them that
Cassie
feared
their relationship could
n
ever be repaired. Her words trailed
off;
there was nothing that she could say. Though he was grateful that his mother had been spared
t
he
massacre
of that
awful night
,
she knew he would give anything to be free of her, and his household. He was eager to flee town as soon as they graduated.

   A gentle breeze wafted over them, tickling the hairs at the nape of her neck, blowing strands of it across her face. Devon stiffened beside her,
his hand still
ed
on her waist as he turned slowly toward the woods behind
the
m.
N
ostrils flar
ing
slightly, his eyes narrow
ed
as he studied the shadowed forest. His jaw clenched
fiercely
, a muscle jump
ed
in his cheek. The hand upon her waist tightened
as
he moved protectively closer
to her
.

   Confusion swirled through Cassie
. She turned toward the woods, her gaze intently searching the darkened interior for some hint of what had caught his attention
and upset him so
. She glanced back at
him;
his eyes had
turned
a dark
leaf
green color
, the tight
clench of his jaw looked
painful.
She frowned, not understanding what had him so tense
,
and focused upon the forest.

  
Cassie’s attention was torn from him
as
Melissa c
a
m
e
back to
ward
them;
she
look
ed
grim as she weaved gracefully through the crowd. A chill of foreboding traveled down Cassie’s spine. Melissa’s
dark eyes met hers briefly, a strange hollowness
radiated from
her usually bright gaze. “Is everything ok?” Chris asked
quietly
.

   Melissa shook her head, her
attention turned
briefly to Devon. He had turned away from the woods, but he was still wound as tight as a bowstring. “No, Luther just received some bad news
.
I’m afraid I have to go.”

   Cassie shifted,
pressing briefly against
Devon
in the hopes of easing
some of
his
rigidity
, but he did not relax
. He was so tense that he was not even breathing, she realized with a start. “Do you want us to come with you?”
Chris asked.

   Melissa sighed heavily. “Yeah, he’s pretty upset
.
I
t would be nice of you.” She glanced back at Devon. “You know he thinks of you as family and I think he needs all the comfort he can get right now
,
” she added for his benefit.

   A
cold shiver ran down Cassie’s spine again,
it
turn
ed
the blood in her veins to ice
as her heart lumbered to pump it through. Swallowing heavily, she managed a small nod.
“Of course.”
She turned slowly toward Devon, trying hard to keep the panic from her face as she met his fierce, dark gaze. “I have to go.”

   He nodded, but she could tell that his thoughts were elsewhere
, and that he was still unsettled
. Though he had started to breathe again, he was still as solid, and unbending
,
as a rock. His hand moved over her back, clenching briefly against her.
“
I
will
see you later.”
   Cassie blinked in surprise; the words had come out almost as a growl. The fierceness in his hard
gaze
and the intensity of his words caused goose
bumps to break out on her skin. She did not know what was going on tonight with Luther
,
or with Devon
, but her sense of foreboding kicked up a
nother
notch.

   “Yes.
”
S
he agreed simply because she didn
’
t know what else to say. His eyes burned into her
s, his hand was
firm against her. For a moment he
seemed to have
no intention of letting her go,
and then
his hand
s
slid away.

   “Be safe.”

   She frowned in confusion,
puzzled as to
why he would say that.
“Of course.”

   The intensity of his gaze did not lessen as she took a small step away
.
S
he thought he was going to grab hold of her
again
as he made a small motion toward her, but then he
stopped
. The quiet desperation in hi
m
tore at her, keeping her riveted. “Come on Cassie, we have to go,” Chris said gently.

   She nodded to him, swallowing heavily as she turned slowly away from Devon. She could feel his gaze boring into her back as they moved through the crowd. Another gentle breeze wafted over them,
but this one
carr
ied
the
strange
sense of wrongness
that had been present at
the beach
the other day
. Cassie
halted
;
she
turn
ed
slowly as the evil washed over her,
and
root
ed
her feet in place.

   Melissa and Chris stopped beside her, their heads turn
ed
slowly as their gazes fixed upon the woods. Nothing stirred amongst the darkness, but she knew that something was out there. Knew
t
hat whatever it was it was evil
,
and it was
thirsty
. She shivered, her arms wrapp
ed
instinctively
around herself in a useless attempt to fight off
the ice in her
veins
.

   The crowd of students moved and shuffled around her, their laughter loud in her frozen ears
.
T
heir joy
was
oddly out of place in the
pulsing
malevolence
encompassing her
. Whatever was out there, she could feel its eyes upon her. Feel it watching her.

   “We have to go,” Melissa said softly, her normally strong voice wavering slightly.

   Cassie to
re her attention from the woods;
her gaze instinctively f
e
ll upon Devon again. He was no longer watching her as he had turned back to the
forest
. His attention was riveted upon the
woods
, his body taut once more. A
jolt tore through Cassie as she realized that somehow, she didn’t possibly know how, he felt
the evil
too.

CHAPTER
13

   “I believe that an E
lder is here.”

  
Cassie
’s
legs ceas
ed
their swinging motion
on the island she was sitting upon
as Luther slapped the paper down in front of them
.
T
he large headline
blazed up at her in big black lettering.
ANOTHER WOMAN KILLED BY WILD ANIMAL.
Though she tried, s
he could not tear her gaze away from those words.
The
paper
had been on her counter
this morning, but she had thought nothing of it as she breezed by to grab
a
box of cereal.
Then again, s
he had not thought
abo
ut
much
since Devon had entered her life
.
B
ut now, for the first time since she had
met
him
,
Devon
was not
foremost
in her thoughts.

   Horror and nausea rolled through her
.
H
er stomach in a tumult, her body
broke out in a
cold sweat, and her
temples pulsed
with the fierce beats of her heart. For a moment she thought her life
was
flash
ing
before her eyes, but then she realized it was just
white lights
blazing because
she had forgotten to breathe. She inhaled sharply, the air burn
ed
through her
tortured
lungs.