Braving the Elements by K. F. Breene Read Free Book Online Page B

any amount of time with her. That chick ain’t no spy!”
    Jameson shook his head, his glance passing by Stefan. He worried. Hell, so did Stefan in the beginning.
    The blockage cleared suddenly, and just like that, he felt her again. Her misery, her depression, her utter hopelessness. Stefan’s heart constricted. He started to run.
    *****
    I came awake slowly, my body sore and the grief still fresh. I’d run for a while, blasting through underbrush and dodging around trees, but my directionless plight finally sank in. Until I got on my feet, I needed Stefan’s hospitality. The only other people who could possibly take me in were my foster family, and they’d already done so much of that my whole life, I couldn’t ask for more.
    Hopelessness washed over me again. I needed to get a job. I had to quit the crappy school job I had when I took up this gig. I had renter’s insurance, so I probably had some sort of money coming my way, but I needed a steady income to live. That was probably step one. Except, there was that tiny problem of monsters tracking me down and dragging me away to a group of people even less hospitable than Stefan’s clan…
    Sitting up painfully, having slept for an indiscriminate amount of time on jagged rocks, I sensed a presence in the failing evening light. My head swung to the left as my midsection gave a lurch. I recognized the supportive, luring feeling of the link between us before my eyes hit his perfect face. Stefan stood some ten feet away, leaning against the tree, staring at me with his striking, dark eyes.
    My body immediately leaned forward, wanting to go to him as I always had before. My mind, however, rebelled.
    “You’re angry.” His voice was so deep and thick. It coated me in pleasure just by reaching my ears.
    I mental ly slapped myself and retorted, “Did the scowl give me away?”
    “That was one indication, yes. Plus, I can feel you as you can feel me. I can sense you as you can sense me. Always have been able to, but now it’s clearer since you’ve taken large quantities of my blood in a short period of time.”
    No problem. I imagined myself lifting a giant, rubber drain stop and smothering that blasted pit in my chest that constantly asked to be filled with him. I may learn incredibly slow ly, but eventually I do learn, and since doing it in the height of my emotional crazy, I knew what to do now.
    His head ti lted and his eyes hardened. “That trick is not supposed to be possible. How do you do it?”
    “A woman never tells.”
    His eyebrows lowered a fraction, his long black lashes casting shadows over his eyes as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. I’d lost a whole day atop a pile of rocks. “I wish you would leave it open. Let the connection last. It’s comforting.”
    “So you know I’m not in enemy hands? That I’m right under your nose where you can keep tabs on me? Like a pet.”
    “Yes. Be thankful it isn’t a shock collar.”
    His chiseled face remained impassive, as did his eyes. I couldn’t tell if he was joking.
    Lifting my chin like it didn’t matter, I climbed to my feet and dusted myself off. “Well, you’ll be happy to know I have decided to stay on for a while until I can sort myself out. I will put up with your crap—to some extent. I will take the classes, and I will even bear the a-holes who call me your pet.”
    “I am delighted to hear it.”
    Again with the impassive delivery. It was almost as if he mocked me somehow. Or shared a joke that I didn’t find funny. This was unfamiliar ground with him. Usually, he was stodgy and leader-like—super commanding and dominating. And while he was still dominating (that trait seemed built-in) he seemed more relaxed. Relaxed enough to joke?
    Did he joke?
    I surged on with my agenda. “I’ll only be around for a while, though. And when I want to leave, I’m leaving. You know I can.”
    He studied me for a long moment. “I don’t usually have this much problem with minions following