Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (12 page)

   A surprising jolt of anger and jealousy twisted his gut. He had never experienced jealousy before
.
It was an emotion that had been utterly foreign to him, until now.
For most of his existence h
e had always taken what he wanted, when he wanted it.
He did not
like the
feeling
of
helplessness that filled him
, and
anger was an emotion that he
could not allow himself to
experience
.
It
was an emotion that he
ha
d
learned
to keep
tightly
under wrap
s
.
Anger
made him volatile, and when he was unstable, innocent people were hurt.

   Devon took a deep breath
as he tried
to
steady
the
pendulum of
emotions
that
sw
u
ng
through him
. He was beginning to realize that this
was
a giant
mistake. He
never
should have come here; he should not have placed himself in closer proximity to her. She help
ed
to salve the ache
and hurt
in his
soul
, but she also served to unhinge
all of the hard work he had done to keep himself under
tight
restrain
t
.

 
Being around
Cassie
unbalanced
him
. He could not allow that to happen, he could not risk losing control of himself and hurting someone, possibly even her.
Shockingly, t
hat thought was completely
intolerable to him. He would rather destroy himself than see her hurt in anyway, least of all by his own hand.

   Thou
gh he knew that he
should
leave,
h
e could not bring himself to move
. H
e was completely captivated by her
as
a
small smile spread over her full lips a
nd
she shoved playfully against the
blond s
itting
beside her.
T
h
eir ease
, and obvious affection for
each other
,
made
it hard to believe they weren
’
t together
.

   “Then who is that boy beside her?” he asked quietly, his voice tight with
the
tension
that pulsed through him
.

   M
elissa glanced toward the table;
a bright smile lit her exotic face. “Oh, that’s just Chris.”
He glanced at her in confusion
. “They’ve been best friends since they were born, more like siblings actually.”

   An immense
, startling
sense of relief flooded him as he glanced back at the table. Their
blond
heads were bent close together as they talked. Mark
, completely forgotten, shook his head and
turned away. “Come on, let’s get you some lunch.”

   He glanced back at Melissa, not surprised to see her shrewd eyes narrowed upon him.
He shook his head, not at all interested in the mounds of human food. He only
had
one interest, only one thing that he wanted
to taste
in this cafeteria. “I’m not hungry.”

   She nodded
and
led him over to the table. Chris looked up at him first, his
sapphire
colored
eyes widen
ed
slightly as he stopped speaking. Cassie‘s shoulders stiffened, her back straighten
ed
as she seemed to brac
e
herself.
Very
slowly
,
she turned
toward him, her eyes
clashing with his
.

   The full force of her gaze rattled him, shaking him to the very marrow of his bones as he once again felt an odd little skip in the
deadened
area
of his heart. She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen
. They were a bright
azure
blue with flecks of pure, deep purple speckled through
out
.
The most pure amethyst could not match the beautiful
purple streaks that highlighted
her irises
.
In all of his many years, he had never seen eyes the like.

   “Cassie, Chris, this is Devon.”

   “We were i
n homeroom too
Melissa,” Chris reminded her
gently.
“Nice to meet you.”

   Devon had to force himself to tear his gaze away from
Cassie
as Chris thrust his hand out.
He
took hold of it, noting the
thick
calluses
on
Chris’s
palm
as
they
shook firmly
. Chris’s eyes darkened slightly, his hand tighten
ed
around Devon’s as his gaze became sharper, more intense. His face hardened for a moment, the smile slipp
ed
swiftly
awa
y. Melissa stiffened beside him;
she
t
ook
a small step forward
as she reached out to grasp Chris’s
shoulder.

 
Chris shook his head;
his eyes dart
ed
away from Devon
to
Melissa
.
P
ull
ing
his hand away
from Devon’s
,
Chris
turn
ed
toward Cassie with a small
, worried
frown. Devon stared at them in
bewildered confusion, unable to understand what had just happened. For a moment
,
he could have sworn that
Chris had looked inside him, had seen something there, and it appeared
that
he had not liked it.

   Chris slid back in his seat, still frowning as he stared
at
his tray
of food
. Devon
shook h
is
crazy thought
s
off, he did
n
’
t car
e
what Chris thought of him.
She
was the only
one that mattered
.
Cassie was still staring at him, her head tilted slightly to the side as she watched him
from
slightly w
ary
eyes
. She did not extend a hand, did not move as he slid into the seat across
from
her.
Well, he thought wryly, at least she wasn’t bolting
like a rabbit
again.
Melissa
dropped her lunch on the table;
she
d
u
g into
t
he
cotton
bag as she hummed cheerfully to herself
. She
seemed
happily
oblivious
to
the tension thrumming through them all
.

   “Are you going to eat that
?”

   Cassie blinked in
surprise, looking away from Devon
as Chris leaned over her
to
point
at her brownie
.
She shook her head, her gaze focus
ed
upon the table as she pushed her tray toward him.
Devon
watched her for a few moments more, oddly fascinated by the way the light played over her delicate
features.

  
She was stunningly beautiful, but it was not desire for her that drew him to her like a moth to a flame. No, it was simply just her. Thou
gh he did want her
, he wanted even more to be
near
her,
and
make sure that she was safe. The
se
protective, tender emotions
were new
to him
, and slightly disconcerting, but he found that he liked them. He wanted them.

   More students wandered over to them,
they
dropp
ed
their trays down
as
their chairs squeak
ed
over the linoleum
floors
. “Man did you see that game last night?” one of the newer boys asked Chris.

   “Yeah,” he mumbled. “Jason, this is Devon.”

   Jason was well built, his letterman’s jacket stretch
ed
tight over his broad shoulders. Hazel eyes glanced inquisitively at Devon as he gave a brief nod. “Hey,” he greeted absently.

   “Hi.”

   “And this is Kara,
Susan
, Billy, and David
,” Melissa continued, pointing out the four
other
new people that had joined them.

   The boys nodded to him, the girls stared with open admiration. He could hear the increase of the
girl’s
heartbeats; sense the excitement that enshrouded them
as their blood pulsed more rapidly through their veins
.
His hunger perked slightly
,
but
drawing
on
his tight self control
,
he was able to bury it once more.
Though he wasn’t sure
how much longer he would be able to keep doing that.
Eventually the hunger would take over, and he would need to feed. He hoped he w
oul
d be able to make it through the rest of this tiring, draining day
first
.

  
“Where are you from?”
Susan
asked eagerly, crossing her hands
before her as she leaned forward. Her brown hair had been highlighted with streaks of light blond and twisted into a lose knot
.
Her light brown eyes were inquisitive
and
keen
.

   Devon lifted a
n
eye
brow, fighting a smile. He was from everywhere, but
he was sure that they would not appreciate that answer. “New York,” he lied easily.

   “Oh really, you don
’t have an accent. You must
hate
having to move to this small, nowhere town
after such a big place!
”
   Melissa and Cassie both sighed heavily,
drawing his attention briefly back to them.
Cassie’s gaze was still focused on her tray, but he could sense her disquiet.
“I was from upstate
New York
,
a
town smaller than this one
,
so it’s actually an improvement.”

   “Why did you move here?”

   Devon shrugged, he didn’t like to lie, but most of his existence was based on one giant lie.
“I needed a change of scenery
.”

  
“I hope y
ou’re not a Yankee’s fan,” Jason
muttered.

   “I don’t really follow sports.”

   Cassie glanced up at him, a small smile curv
ed
her full mouth
and
her eyes twinkl
ed
with amusement
.
He found himself lost to her, unable to think straight as her eyes took
him
hostage
.
“That’s great. Maybe I could show you around tonight or something
.
You know,
show
you where all the hotspots are,
”
Susan continued eagerly.

   “What hotspots?” Billy retorted
irritably
.

  
Susan
rolled her eyes at him. “
There are a few.”

  
“B’s and S’s?”