Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1) by Selene Charles Read Free Book Online Page A

talking about.” Abel groaned, eyeing the sandwich forlornly.
    He was eating a lot. The change would come upon his brother soon. Cain clenched his jaw, remembering who he was, not a beast. A man. Breathing heavily through his nostrils, he fought the red haze trying to creep through his vision.
    Abel didn’t know.
    He didn’t know.
    “Stay away from her,” he growled, sweat gathering on his brow as he fought to keep it together. Something about the girl made him this way.
    Her scent, her look, and the way she’d leaned in at the lunch table today. Her sweet breath mingling with his, her pupils dilated and her skin flushed with blood. That wild hair that reminded him of flame—deep red with hints of gold.
    She should fear him, just the way others did. They sensed the darkness in him, but not her. She’d leaned in and her eyes had begged for something he couldn’t understand but desperately wanted to.
    Violence again crowded his vision, tried to claw its way out of him. But he wouldn’t let it. He was still a man. Still human.
    “No.” Abel scooped up the sandwich and dumped it in the trash can. “If you don’t like her, that’s fine. But I invited her to the hole and she’s coming.”
    “You did what?” Cain roared, barely hanging on to his sanity. His skin prickled with a violent rush of heat. He gripped his skull, counting slowly to ten. “She doesn’t belong among us, Abel. We don’t know her. She could be dangerous.”
    Abel laughed, wiping up the last smear of mustard on the floor. “Yeah, all one hundred pounds of her. Get bent, Cain. It’s my life, and I’m not gonna have you or Dad telling me what I can and can’t do.”
    If he didn’t leave now he was going to pound his brother to a bloody pulp. The veins in his arms and neck throbbed with a liquid rush of adrenaline. Cain yanked open the door, inhaling the fresh scent of the night, the cornfield-sweet aroma and humid Tennessee air, letting the smells roll through his nose, smoothing his frayed edges and bringing back the sanity he could barely control anymore.
    Abel was right; he didn’t used to be this way. He could laugh at one time.
    Hand gripping the knob, feeling the metal soften beneath the flex of his hand, he asked, “Did she really call me that?”
    Abel laughed, the sound harsh. “Wait. Do you care? Oh please, tell me—”
    Cain slammed the door, rattling the trailer behind him.
    Janet was running with Rhiannon in tow. They were giggling, twirling, and laughing breathlessly. “I hear she’s a walker, and a flier annnd throws knives. It’s ridonkulous. Come look.”
    Rhiannon nodded, her blond hair trailing behind her like a banner in the breeze.
    Cain knew everyone in the family, and he’d never heard of a flier and walker. He stepped in front of Janet, crossing his arms. “Who’s that, Ja?”
    She stopped, the smile on her face freezing in place, brown eyes wide as she shook her head. “Cain.”
    The smell of her punched him in the gut—lilac and lavender, the scent of Flint was all over Janet.
    An icy fist rammed through his heart.
    “Where is she?”
    Janet wasn’t stupid, she knew who he meant, and she didn’t try to deny it. “In the big top.”
    He shook his head. “You know better, Ja. Abel might not. But. You. Know. Better.”
    Fury sparked in the depths of her rich brown eyes, a flash of the beast that lurked within the façade she wore. “She’s not like that.”
    “You don’t know that. You don’t know anything about her. Why is she here? Why now? You don’t think it’s suspicious?”
    “Chill, Cain.” Rhiannon’s voice rolled through him like warm honey. She had her arms crossed in front of her. “She’s just a little bitty human. What could she possibly do to the big bad rager?”
    Disgusted, he turned his back on her smirking face. “Ja, come on. You know how these things always end.”
    “She might be who she claims to be. I ate lunch with her today, and I detected no deceit. I’d know.