Charity Rising (Charity Series Book 2)

Charity Series Book 2

By

DeAnna Kinney

Charity Rising

Copyright © 2012 by DeAnna Kinney

Ebooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

Al Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the owner.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are fictitious. Any

resemblance to persons, living or dead, places, or actual events are purely coincidental.

Thank you to Dandria Young and Sandy Ray for checking behind me and taking on the role of editors for this book.

Thank you to Laura Hudson for cover design and eBook formatting.

Charity Rising is Book 2 in the Charity Series.

Other books by DeAnna Kinney include:

Charity Moon (Charity Series Book 1)

Table of Contents:

Prologue

Part One

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Part Two

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

I lay in my hammock completely stil ; my body total y relaxed and free of al tension as the early morning fog hovered, whispering softly across

my face. There were no signs of the stress from prior weeks, only peace as I watched the most beautiful man I’d ever seen step out of the forest and slowly approach me, arms extended in a loving command. I jumped to my feet and went to him without hesitation. I’d never wanted anything more.

The feel of him was so familiar—so comforting. I found myself longing for it at every possible moment. As I stepped into his embrace, his arms

closed around me, enveloping me in warmth and security. My dad would be happy to know that this man was my life now; a man of such character

and dignity of which I’ve never known before. Nothing would please my dad more than to know that I would never want for anything. Al I could ever

desire or need was right here—in my arms.

I lifted my head and stared into his bluish-purple eyes, the piercing beauty of them captivating me, putting me into a trance-like state of

euphoria. He put his hand into my hair, gently massaging my scalp. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel, as he ran his fingers effortlessly through the length of my dark strands. His soft lips caressed my neck with sweet kisses, working their way to my ear where he whispered, “I love you, my sweet

kitten.”

With eyes stil closed, I smiled at his lovely voice and the words that possessed the power to melt me. I never wanted this moment to end.

He continued to trail kisses across my cheek, my eyelids, the tip of my nose, and final y capturing my lips with his in a kiss of such sweet

passion. The heat building between us was bordering on dangerous—almost deadly, and yet we eagerly welcomed it. I was sure no one had ever

felt like this before—not like this. We were so swept up in the passion that at first we didn’t feel the tugging, too subtle an action to distract lovers on the edge of incoherency.

Suddenly his lips were ripped from mine as an urgent tug jolted us.

“Levi?”

His smile was reassuring me that everything was fine. But with the next jerk his smile faded. I stood on tiptoes and peered over his shoulder,

gasping at what I saw. It was Levi—only in a ghost-like embodiment, and he had a grasp of my Levi’s arm, pul ing on it with much effort.

“Let him go!” I screamed.

But the figure just laughed at me, pul ing harder.

At once I felt hands wrapping tightly around my arms, squeezing as they pul ed. I looked down but there was no evidence that anything had a

hold of me at al .

“Levi!” I screamed as the invisible force began to rip at us, pul ing us apart.

Levi held onto me with al his strength, pul ing me against his chest. I felt the hands release me, and I wrapped my arms tightly around his

neck, sighing in relief. My Levi would never let us be broken apart. I should know that. But the hidden forces attacked again, this time more

aggressively, pul ing harder and harder, now wrapped around my waist—jerking and pul ing.

“Charity!” Levi’s voice faltered as his eyes fil ed with pain and something else that stopped my heart—fear.

I began to panic. “Levi! Don’t let them separate us! Levi!”

We were pul ed apart then, only our hands stil grasped in a death grip of desperation.

“Levi! Don’t let me go!”

“I’l never let you go, Charity! I love you! I’l never let go!” he yel ed, his hands holding mine so tight it was painful. Then, in one last, hard pul —

he was gone.

“Noooo!!!” I screamed, jolting straight up in my bed, a stream of sweat trailing down my face, neck, and torso. My eyes searched my room

frantical y. A dream? I sighed then. Yes—it was only a dream. It meant nothing. Then, in desperation, I dropped to my knees on the hard wood floor

as I prayed—Please, God, let it only be a dream—just a sil y dream. It meant nothing. Please, it meant nothing.

Levi’s Descent

Prom night—and I was stil alive to participate in it. Wel , two weeks earlier things were looking quite differently, what with my kidnapping

from Raven, the most feared of al vampires. Luckily it turned out al right, and I was alive, healed, and happy; a little traumatized perhaps, but here nonetheless.
Who knew the bloodsucker had a secret marshmallow center
.
Apparently, not even him
. Truth be told, Levi was the real reason I was stil alive, and wel , I guess I was his reason too.

Levi, my husband and werewolf extraordinaire, and I, have this thing cal ed a heart-connection, where our hearts are so in tune that if one of

us dies the other wil soon fol ow. It’s a werewolf thing and slightly creepy to be honest. At the same time, I like being unique, and Levi says we’re the first human/werewolf pair to have ever had one. As a result of our heart connection we both had blue vine-like symbols growing on our palm,

mine on my left, and his on his right. If we hold hands they overlap causing a tingling sensation.

But back to the Prom, it had arrived, and I was thril ed for two reasons; one, because Prom meant that Graduation was right on its heels. And

two, Graduation precedes my long, uninterrupted life with Levi.

Ashley, my best friend since kindergarten, and I, had spent the entire day together, tanning, and getting our hair, makeup, and nails done by

Sissy, the hair stylist for the pack. Unlike last year where al us girls went together, this year we al had dates of our own. Stacy’s date was a guy named Todd. Delaney had reluctantly agreed to go with Toby, our other friend who’s been crushing on her for over a year. We couldn’t believe it

when he told us that she’d final y agreed to go with him. I’m guessing she got tired of him singing the “Henry the VI I” song to her. He copied the idea from the movie
Ghost,
but I guess we were happy for him. But if she even thought about hurting him I’d take my fist to her. Honestly, I’d always wanted a reason to. The sweetest member of our group, Missy, had accepted a date with the second hottest guy in school, our head quarterback,

Jackson. Cal me crazy, but something told me she wasn’t that excited about it.

“I have to admit—these dresses were a great choice,” Ashley said, appraising herself in the mirror. “That color is amazing on you, Charity.

Levi’s going to pass out cold when he sees you.”

“Yeah, wel , Josh wil do a little panting of his own when he gets a look at you in that dress. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look more beautiful, except you’re too thin. Have you been trying to lose weight, because if you are you need to stop?”

“No, just wanted to look great in my dress. That’s al .”

“Wel , that you do.”

We both squealed in delight as the doorbel rang. Okay, wel , I didn’t actual y squeal, more like smiled real y big, but Ashley squealed. We

made our descent down the staircase as Mom snapped off a few pictures of us before heading to the door.

Once Levi and Josh stepped inside—they glanced across the room at us and froze.

“Wow, we must look better than we thought,” I whispered to her.

She giggled, and then nodded, sending one of her loose curls bouncing up and down. Both of our dresses were made of satin and clung

tightly to our forms. Mine was strapless in a powder blue, accenting my eye color; hers was one-shoulder in a soft pink, accenting her rosy cheeks.

After our guys regained their composure, which to my enjoyment took a few minutes, I laughed as Levi had to wipe bubbly drool from his

chin. “Sorry,” he shrugged, grinning from ear to ear. The sight of him was nothing short of magnificent with his wavy brown hair, disheveled and

swept to the side, and a dazzling, flawless smile along with those amazing dimples that were always my undoing.

“You are breathtaking,” he said, stepping closer and tracing his fingers gently down my cheek as his gaze studied every inch of my face. “I

love you,” he whispered. I knew he meant it, it was written in his eyes, which I was sure mirrored my own. Our eyes were locked, saying things we

couldn’t say out loud and didn’t need to.

Suddenly we were snapped out of the moment as my mom was there with her camera, snapping away, tears in her crystal blue eyes.

“Geez, Mom, we’re coming back. You’re acting like we’re about to be featured in one of those tragic Driver’s Ed. movies.”

“I know, sweetie, but al of you look so wonderful. I want to remember this moment for a long time. But I guess you better get going.” She

dabbed at her tears. “You don’t want to be late.” She gave us al a quick peck on the cheek before ushering us out the door and into the cool air of a lovely May evening.

I wrapped my arms around myself as we rounded the porch. I could’ve worn a sweater but opted out.
You know, beauty comes before

comfort and all that.
At once, Ash and I stopped and gasped. There, in the driveway, was a long, black limousine. I’ve always wanted to ride in a limousine, and Levi knew it. I turned and peered up into his lovely deep blue/purple eyes and smiled approvingly.

He beamed back at me, taking great pleasure in my expression. He’d done wel , and it more than pleased him.

As we approached, the driver, dressed in a black uniform, was standing at our door, opening it for us as we al piled inside. The interior

smel ed new, and our dates looked on in amusement as Ashley and I played with the windows and buttons for most of the ride.

We were in the middle of making a rap song with the window noises when Ashley squealed, bouncing up and down on the seat as she noted

us pul ing into the parking lot of a very elegant restaurant cal ed Tal ey Ho’s. Stepping inside was like entering a classy restaurant for the exclusively rich. The admirable glances I usual y evoke when alone were nothing compared to the ones we were receiving with Levi, in al his magnificence, by

my side. The gaping mouths alone humored me, but I drew protectively closer for good measure, my arm wrapped tightly through his. I heard the

whispers as we passed table after table. I knew Levi could hear their comments, but as long as they were about him and not me, he ignored them.

He was such a good man in that way.

At dinner I couldn’t help but notice how little Ashley ate. Was she that concerned about the way she looked in her dress? She’d never worried

about that before. I made a mental note to be more observant.

Ashley and I have always looked out for each other when no one else would. We’ve even accompanied each other to al our doctor visits,

and when she had her tonsils taken out—I was there. She glanced up in time to see me staring. I didn’t look away. She smiled but looked slightly

nervous. Wel , we were on our way to Prom, after al . I shrugged it off and pul ed out my raspberry ice lip balm and applied a generously thick