Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (24 page)

   He rolled his eyes, his arm tighten
ed
briefly on her shoulder. “There’s the optimistic Cassie I love,” he teased lightly. She
frowned
at him
, slightly wounded by his comment, but knowing that he was right
.
She was far to
o
pessimistic most of the time.
“But seriously, Luther thinks you are one of the best Hunters to ever come along, I’m sure that will
make
your lifespan
longer
.”

   “Yeah
, you’re probably right,” she
atoned
just to get him to stop talking about it, but she was not fooled into thinking he believed her.

   His arm remained tight around her
shoulder
s
as they walked
on. “Just be careful ok.” At
her questioning glance he expanded further. “I don’t want you
to
get hurt
by him
.”

  
She bristl
ed
slightly over the fact that he didn’t think she could take care of herself.
“
I won’
t
get hurt
.”

   Chris sighed
as he
sh
ook
back his shaggy hair. “I mean it
Cass;
you don’t have much experience
with guys
so
just
take it slow here
.
”

   She shot him a fierce look. “I
have
dated before Chris.”

   He grinned annoyingly down at her
, his arm slid forward to drop around her neck
as he
hugged
her
against his chest
for a brief moment
. “Yeah, but you’ve never really
noticed guy
s before…”

   “Of course I have,” she interrupted sharply.

   “Not like this. You’ve
paid attention to them before,
the same attention you would give a puppy,
but you have never really
noticed
them.”

   Cassie’s nose wrinkled slightly at his analogy. She did not treat
boys like puppies, and of
course
she had noticed them before, she just hadn’t felt anything for them. Not like she felt for Devon, nothing even close to that.

   “Not like you notice him,
”
Chris continued softly.

   Cassie
was
pulled back as
Chris
stopped walking.
His arm fell from around her as his intense sapphire eyes burned into hers. Cassie shifted uncomfortably, she and Chris shared everything, but this was a topic that had never come up before, and she had never seen him this concerned.
“Chris…”

   He held up a hand, fending off her words. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt. I have to pull the older brother caring bit, even if I’m not your brother.” Though he smiled, it did not reach his eyes. “Ok?” She managed a nod.
“I would expect you to do the same.”

   She grinned up at him, but she did not feel lighthearted
as she punched him lightly in the shoulder. “But you notice
all
the girls,
”
she reminded him.
   Chuckling softly, he draped his arm back around her shoulders
and
pull
ed
her along. “That I do, that I do.
You
are
going to have to pay more attention in training
,
and especially in the field.
”

   “I know,” she
said softly.
“I will. I won’t
ever
let anything happen to you or Melissa.”

  
He grinned at her
.
“Of course you won’t, but you bette
r not let anything happen to
you
either.”

   “I won’t,” she told him, knowing that it was a promise she couldn
’
t keep
.
A
nything could happen to them.

   They walked
the rest of the way in silence.
Music drifted from Chris’s house, t
he
sound
was
muffled by the loud laughter bray
ing
from inside. Chris groaned in disgust, his arm f
e
ll away from her shoulders. “I’l
l have grandma make you a plate,
”
Cassie told him.

   He
nodded before making his way tiredly toward h
is
front door. Cassie watched after him, dismayed by the sad, weary slum
p of his shoulders. No matter what life thr
ew
at him, Chris retained hope. She wished that she could be the same way. She wished that she could have the inner strength that Chris and Melissa possessed, the fierce hope, and will of steel
they radiated
. She may be the strongest fighter, but she was by far the weakest of them.

   Shrill shout
s
rang from Chris’s house
;
his mother
started
screaming at him for some unknown slight
.
Cassie winced; her heart ached
for him as
the shouts propelled
her faster
to her house
. She wanted to get his plate ready, the mattress out, and the
baseball
game on before he arrived. It would be another silent night, but she felt that they both needed
it
after today.

   Running up her steps, she froze at the edge of
t
he stoop
as
the hairs on the nape of her neck st
ood
up. Her hand on the knob, Cassie turned slowly to survey the darkened
night. Though she could see a hawk in its nest, and a
fox
at
the edge of the woods, she
saw no one amongst the tree cover
. Yet she
could not shake
the unsettling feeling that something was watching her, that
some
one
was watching her.
It was the same feeling that had encompassed her
the other
night.

  
Though s
he sensed no hostility
from the presence out there
,
she still hurried into
t
he house
.
She was
eager to escape the eyes she couldn
’
t see, but knew were there.
  
 
 

***

   Cassie
pulse
rate picked up, her
heart
trip hammer
ed
loudly
as she watched the Challenger drive slowly by
. She waited breathlessly, her h
ands resting lightly on the hood of Chris’s mustang as the Cha
llen
ger pulled into a spot three cars
away
.

   The door opened and
Devon
slid gracefully from behind the wheel. His eyes were shadowed by dark sunglasses, but she knew the moment that they locked upon her
.
The
constriction in her
lungs eased and she was finally able to draw h
e
r
first easy breath since they had parted
yesterday
.
C
los
ing the car door
, he
ignored the curious glances of the students as he
moved toward her with
mesmerizing
,
easy grace
.

  
The
strange urge to cry
with joy
t
oo
k
her
over
. Everything was better now; the hope was back, the world was
finally
right
again
.
There was no hesitancy as h
e took hold of her hand
, enfolding it in both of his. She breathed a sigh of relief, her hand tighten
ed
around his
as she
held
him, desperately needing his strength and comfort.

  
The
smile
that
lit his face
reveal
ed
his perfect
white teeth, and two small dimples she had not noticed before. Her heart lurched as she took an instinctive step closer to him
, needing to be as close to him as possible
. Chris st
udied them with a worried frown;
his eyes
were
intent upon Devon. Melissa stood beside him
,
a small, knowing smile on her face.

  
That knowing smile caused Cassie’s heart to plummet.
The sudden, awf
ul insight that Melissa had
received
a premonition about
Devon
filled Cassie
. Worry
crept through her, chilling the marrow of her bones. She did not want to be the object of Melissa’s prophecies, and she certainly did not want Devon to be a part of
them.

  
The last thing that
she
wanted was for him to
be hurt
,
or wounded
,
because he had become a part of her life.
H
er sel
fishness
not only put the three of them at risk, but
could also get
him
killed
. Her life was dangerous; no ordinary human could survive it.

   The chill inside h
er grew;
her body bec
a
m
e
hollow as
the
hope inside
her
curdled
like three
month
old milk. It was just as sour as
milk as
it sat in a tight knot in her stomach. She could not risk him getting hurt; she could not drag him into this
world
with her. Her world was horror and death
, it was cruel and brutal
; it was not fair to him.

   Melissa turned toward her, her
gaze
growing
questioning and curious
.
Though she did not possess Chris’s ability, Melissa’s insight into a person was uncanny and she did not miss a thing. She especially did not miss the sudden terror that was suffusing Cassie.
Cassie had not known that she had been holding her breath until it
exploded from her
. S
he
inhaled sharply,
drawing much needed air into her denied
, burning
lungs. Her clenched fingers began to ache, and she realized that she was holding
Devon’s
hand
so tight that her nails had dug into
the palm of his
.

   She eased her grip, but did not release him as she was not ready to let go. Not yet anyway.
She could feel his curious gaze upon her, but she did not look at him again. She was afraid she would start to cry, and never stop, if she did.

   Feeling like a wooden marionette, she followed stiffly as they filtered slo
wly into the school
. She
k
new that she was not going to make it throu
g
h this day.

CHAPTER 11

   Cassie
escaped from
the
school
the first chance she
got
. Bursting free of the large brick building, she sprinted across the baseball field
and
dart
ed
into the woods. Her lungs began to burn, but she kept going, leaping over fallen logs, dodging branches, and other dangers with the easy grace that those of her kind possessed.