Blood Love (God Wars Book 4) by Connie Suttle Read Free Book Online Page A

deal. What if you do need to uh, change your shorts? So what?"
    I'll admit, that made me laugh. Trajan was doing it on purpose, too. I felt as if I were sixteen again, and as inexperienced as I'd been back then.
    "You mean I'll drop my wad in my pants? Is that what you're saying?" I asked.
    Trajan bent over, and it took me a moment to realize he was holding back laughter. Finally, a loud guffaw escaped and he fell to his knees while laughter poured out of him.
    Yes, he'd been incredibly stressed when he had no idea whether Breanne would survive. Now that she was back and things were looking up, he was releasing all the tension in booming laughter.
    "Bro, I could hear you from two miles away," Trace folded in to stare at his older brother.
    "He's releasing some steam," I shrugged at Trace. "Look, we may have an option to help Kay and Breanne. At least I hope it'll work. We just have to convince Breanne when she wakes," I said.
    "What's that?" Trace was interested immediately. "Chessman asked about her when I took Frank home."
    "Ashe is gonna give Bree some blood." Trajan stood and grinned at his brother.
    "Seriously? Sounds like a cool idea. Hope it works," Trace lifted a speculative eyebrow at Ashe. "How long has it been since?"
    "We were just discussing that, and the inevitable necessity of changing my underwear," I replied, feigning indifference.
    "You could always talk to Aedan, too," Trajan pointed out.
    "Yeah. I guess I could talk to Dad," I agreed. "See ya." I folded away.
    * * *
    "Son?" He looked up as I approached. Aedan Evans, the only father I would ever know, looked up from the seedling gishi tree he was planting.
    "Dad, I need some advice," I said.
    "What kind of advice?" He was surprised—I hadn't come to him for advice in two hundred years.
    "About the bite."
    "Ah. How is she?" he asked, going back to his task and settling dirt around the fragile stem. "Breanne," he added. Everybody at SouthStar knew. It didn't matter—they couldn't pass the barrier anyway. Not without permission and somebody powerful enough to ferry them through. Only three people could do that, and the other two wouldn't do it without my knowledge or consent.
    "Better, but really, really weak," I replied.
    "So you think to allow her to take from you."
    "Yeah. It was a thought and worth a try, since Kay may benefit in the long run."
    "Breanne can help Kay?" Dad turned his full attention to me, then.
    "Yeah. She says she can, anyway, and there's no reason not to believe her."
    "Is there any way?" he began. I knew what he wanted—he wanted to have things as they were before with my mother.
    "Dad, I don't know." What I did know—and had never told him (or my mother) was that Breanne had already helped them a great deal. The fact that they hadn't been honest with each other was what eventually drove them apart. I still had hope that they'd set that aside someday.
    I felt guilt, too, that Breanne had come to my defense in the past. I felt more than guilt, actually, and wished for perhaps the thousandth time that I'd recognized her when Trajan first brought her to SouthStar. Those things she'd done for me—and my parents—would come about in her future, but I still held hope that she wouldn't be so upset with me that she'd withhold the help she'd given.
    That didn't even touch on the fact that she could have helped Kay immediately—if I'd only allowed Trajan to keep her here. So many things had gone awry and I had little reason or explanation for it, other than blaming my own fucking temper.
    "Dude?" Sali appeared at my side and watched as my father planted another seedling.
    "Sal?" I turned to him.
    "How's everything up at the big house?"
    "Some things better, some things the same," I shrugged.
    "Nothing new with Kay?"
    "Not yet, but we may be able to fix that soon. Actually, Breanne may be able to fix that soon. When she gets her strength back."
    "I'd like to meet her."
    "Come up to the house for dinner. Graegar said she'd be awake by