Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (18 page)

   “Hmm,” she grunted.
“You’re to
o
young for such responsibilities.”

   Cassie sighed softly as she heaved her backpack on
to
her shoulder. Chris was already parked on the street, waiting for her. He usually came inside in the morning, eit
her to say hi to her grandma
,
or
to
steal some food. The fact that he was not coming in led Cassie to believe that he’d had a rough night, and
he did not want her grandma
to pick up on that fact. Though sitting outside did nothing to keep it hidden.

   “You were younger than me when you learned what you were,” Cassie reminded her gently.
“And you had the same responsibilities.”

   Her grandmot
her turned toward her. “I
always
knew what I was Cassie. It was not a shock to me, and at the time we did not fear for our lives
as fiercely as
we have to now. At the time, we never
c
ould have imagined that such
a thing
as The Slaughter w
ould occur. You should not have had to know either.”

   “Grandma…”

   She waved her hand impatiently. “I know. I know
.
Luther h
ad to
find you;
it was part of your destiny after all. I just wish that I could have kept you sheltered from it.”

   Cassie hurried to her side
and
hugg
ed
her gently. “I know grandma, but there are things in life that we cannot predict
,
or avoid.”

   Cassie thought over her words, starting slightly as she realized that they could apply to her situation with Devon. She could n
ot
have predicted his arrival, and she was beginning to feel that it would be easier to stop a locomotive than to continue fighting her strong attraction to him. Fear and excitement tore through her; she trembled with anticipation at the same time her mouth went dry with dread. If she did this, there would be no turning back, but she wasn’t sure that she wanted to
turn back
anymore.

   “When did you get so smart dear?”

   Cassie blinked as she was brought back to the present. “
A
wise
person raised me.”

   Her grandmother’s face lit with her smile, her eyes twinkled with love. “And don’t you forget it. Now hurry up, get going, Chris had a rough night.”

   “Yes,” Cassie agreed.

   Cassie kissed her cheek again, squeezed her hand, and hurried out of the house. The day was bright and warm, the chill of fall
hadn’t
settled in completely, but the leaves were beginning to change.
Cassie glanced up at the clear sky, eagerly inhaling great gulps of fresh air as she tried to steady her tingling nerves and pounding heart. She had a feeling that after today there would
be
no turning back. That today would either be the day that everything changed, or everything remained the same
for good
. She no longer knew which one she wanted more.

***

   Cassie sat st
iffly at
her desk;
her shoulders ach
ed
from he
r
ramrod position
.
B
ut
it was impossible to relax,
not with
him
only mere feet
away
.
In fact, as long as he was near
, s
he was pretty sure that she was never going to relax again.
Not after that dream. Unwillingly, she pressed her fingers to her mouth. She could still recall the
heat
of his lips against hers, the h
ard
stroke
of his
tongue
,
and
the
press
of his solid arms wrap
ped tightly around her.
H
e had made her feel so safe and protected
,
and whole. It had been the strangest most realistic dream ever, and she desperately wanted to know what the real life experience would
be
like.

  
She had to force herself not to look at him, not to cast surreptitious glances his way. Not to stare at him.
Not to relive every moment of pleasure he had given to her last night. It was impossible.

   She clenched her hands tight
.
H
er nails d
u
g into her palm, her knuckles ach
ed
from the force of it. Her pen was
clasped
so tight
that
she feared it would snap.
Her body
crackl
ed with electricity
.
H
er pulse pound
ed
in her ears, her heart slamm
ed
rapidly against her rib
s
.

   She hadn’t heard a word Mr. Maddox had said since class started. Unwillingly, her gaze drifted slowly over
to Devon
. He was sitting casually in his desk, his long legs stretched before him as he stared straight ahead.
Those hands that had touched her so reverently last night were splayed before him, the long fingers lying upon the desk.
Though his posture was relaxed, she sensed a current of tension
and power
just beneath h
is smooth
surface.
The
power
that
r
a
n through him
seemed
complete
ly
out of place
for
a
normal
teenage boy in history class.

   She was completely confused by him.
B
affled by e
verything that he represented, though she didn
’
t know what that was.

  
Seeming to sense her focus, h
e turned slowly toward her. She knew that she should
look away, that she should be embarrassed to have been caught staring
, but she couldn’t break
the magnetic pull
he radiated
. Her fingers twitched
,
they longed
to touch him.
It took everything
she had not
to reach across the short distance
between them
,
and
seize him
.

   He didn
’
t look away from her as he leaned slightly forward, shifting with an easy grace
.
His emerald eyes burned with intensity, and a hunger that left her breathless.
The slow
rippl
e
of
his
muscles
made her mouth go dry a
s
her body
erupted
with
tingles of
electricity.
She felt like a volcano bubbling beneath the surface, ready to explode in a torrent of molten lava that would certainly destroy her. But she
was certain that for a few brief moments she
would enjoy being buried beneath the heat.

  
Her wo
rld, her entire
being
, was focused upon him. She
needed
him.
The strange thought, and the absolute certainty that accompanied it, left her
shaken
and frightened. But this time
,
she could not bolt
,
and
she could not run
.
S
he could not turn away from him in order to do so.

   Somehow,
she didn’t know how,
but her pen was no longer in her hand, her hand was no longer clenched, and it was no longer upon her desk.
Her hand was now
in the middle of the aisle, reach
ing
toward him.

   She blinked, snapping out of the brief trance that had enshrouded her. Her face flamed red
,
heat
burn
ed
down the back of her neck
as the realization of what she had been doing
crashed over
her. He did not grin at her, did not look at all disgusted by her strange behavior as he leaned even closer
.

   She wanted nothing more
than
to reach toward him again, to feel him, but she could not bring herself to make such a forward gesture
once more
.
She could not believe she had done it in the first place.
It was not within her to make the first move, especially not with someone that she
didn
’
t even know
, and who now probably thought that she was crazy
. The f
ew boys she had dated had
always
approached her
first
.

   The loud ringing of the bell caused her to jump in surprise
; she
knock
ed
her forgotten pen to the ground.
Cassie groaned, disgusted with herself
,
and the entire situation. She needed to get her act together
before she completely lost it
. She couldn
’
t continue to let some stranger disturb her life in such a way. She couldn
’
t afford to be so
badly
distracted, so co
mpletely out of whack with
her
reality.
People would get hurt if she was.

   She shoved her book into her bag
and
ben
t
over to retrieve her
lost
pen
.
But i
t was no longer where it had fallen upon the ground. I
nstead
,
it
was held i
n a long fingered
,
strong
hand
that she
recognized
instantly.
Her gaze traveled slowly from the hand
,
to the man
now
kne
eling
before her. His bright eyes
clashed with
hers
.
There was a
fierce need radiating from
him
that caused her toes to curl, at the same time
that
fear tore
through
her.
There wo
uld be no going back after this.
I
f she took t
hat pen from him, if she
touched
him
,
she
knew
that
nothing would
ever
be the same
again
.

   She could not move
;
she was
frozen in place like a deer trapped in the headlights. A small
smile curv
ed the corner of his hard mouth;
a twinkle of amusement lit his eyes
. Anger spurted through her
in
t
he
face of the
challe
ng
e
he seemed to radiate
,
he was
daring her to take the pen
back
.
Taking a deep breath, Cassie
steeled herself
. She was probably overreacting
anyway
, nothing was going to happen.

  
Though she knew she was lying to herself, she also knew that she could not simply leave this room, and him, with her pen.

   Reaching slowly across, her heart hammered in eager anticipation as her fingers curled around the top of the pen, mere centimeters from
where
his fingers stopped. Though they were not
to
uching, electricity shot
through her, stunning her, leaving her breathless and shaken.
Vivid images of
the dream
sizzled through her
.
He did not release the pen to her
.
H
e did not move as the smile slipped from his face and his eyes
burned
with the
consuming
need she had seen
in him
before.