Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance by Tara Shuler Read Free Book Online

bending down
and poking her harshly in the forehead.
    Hillary’s head fell back, and her mouth hung
open almost comically. She looked as if she might start snoring at
any moment. I pushed her chin upward and her teeth snapped
together. Then I stood up and turned my attention back toward
Alexi.
    “Look, they may need help out there, so let’s
all go together,” I decided. “You grab Hillary, and let’s go.”
    “Fine,” Alexi agreed, hoisting Hillary into
his arms.
    “Lead the way,” I told him, and he headed
down the corridor.
    I took Kai’s hand firmly in mine, and we
followed Alexi out into the compound to survey the damage.
Fortunately, we discovered things weren’t as bad as we thought.
    Alexi and Liam’s grandfather was indeed dead.
He’d been killed trying to buy us time to get to the bunker. He
managed to stall the wraiths while the others mounted a defense,
but he’d succumbed to their gas. A few others had been injured, but
most survived. They’d cast some sort of spell that banished the
wraiths. They hadn’t even been sure it would work, as they’d never
had to face wraiths before. Fortunately, it did. The wraiths were
instantly zapped back to Dmitri’s compound.
    “You know what this means, right?” Liam asked
me.
    “Do I know what what means?”
    “Our grandfather is dead,” Liam clarified.
“You know what that means.”
    “Oh. I heard Hillary say something about me
being Chancellor. How is that possible?”
    “Our father appointed you his successor, and
he was Grandfather’s successor. Since Father died, that means you
are Grandfather’s successor,” Liam explained.
    “I don’t even know what the Chancellor does ,” I groaned. “How am I supposed to be the
Chancellor?”
    “Well, you were supposed to have had a lot
more training to prepare you for this,” Liam said. “We didn’t
anticipate you needing to take on the role so soon.”
    “What am I going to do? I’m so overwhelmed,”
I lamented.
    “Do not worry. Liam and I will help you,”
Alexi interjected. “You will never be alone in this.”
    I smiled weakly.
    “Wait a minute,” I said suddenly. “I
overheard something before… when I was in the coma… Kai was
training for something. What was that about?”
    “Oh!” Kai gasped, suddenly excited. “I’ve
been wanting to tell you all about that!”
    Kai laced his arm through mine and began to
drag me toward the stairs.
    “I’m going to show you the room I picked out
for you!” Kai said happily. “And I’ll tell you all about my
training!”
    Kai led me upstairs and down a long hallway.
He opened the door, and we walked into a room that was very similar
to my room at home – the home I’d once shared with my mother and my
brother before all the craziness in my life began. It was dark and
cozy, and the bed was very similar to my own.
    “It’s perfect,” I gushed.
    “I saw this one and I knew it was perfect for
you,” Kai told me proudly.
    “It is, Kai,” I said. “Thank you!”
    “My room is right across the hall, and
Alexi’s is down the hall to the right. Liam is one door down from
Alexi’s, and Max’s is on the other side of yours.”
    “So, your training… tell me about it.”
    “Oh! Well, for one thing they’ve been
training me in combat. I’m learning how to use hand-to-hand combat
so I can be more useful in protecting you. I just started, so I
have a long way to go, but Alexi said if I’m going to be with you I
need to learn how to help defend you. And I completely agree. I’m
tired of not being able to do anything.”
    “I can take care of myself,” I pointed out.
“And I don’t want you in harm’s way, anyway.”
    “Well, that’s not all, though. They’re also
trying to see if I have any latent abilities that might be
useful.”
    “Abilities? Really? You mean you might have
abilities that could be trained?”
    “It’s possible. Alexi said most vampires have
innate abilities, but if they don’t use them from an early