Lorelei by Celia Kyle Read Free Book Online Page A

burned her from ribs to upper thighs. Lorelei spent months at her sister’s side. Reading to her, playing games, and even when her mom told her to go to sleep, she’d always crawl into her youngest sister’s bed. She’d carefully hug Rebecca and promise everything would be okay. She promised.
    “I promise you’re safe. I promise .” Rebecca echoed Lorelei’s thoughts.
    Her sister glanced over her shoulder and called to the stranger. “Whitney?” The woman, Whitney, came closer and sat behind Rebecca, but still visible to Lorelei. “Lor, I want you to listen. I want you to listen and look at your hand and realize what you’re hearing is real. It’s the truth.”
    Truth.
    Lorelei looked at her hand, at the halo of light that hovered above her skin. Then she looked at the matching glimmer that encompassed Whitney.
    “Okay.” She swallowed past the ball of emotion clouding her throat. “Okay, I’ll listen.”
    And she did listen.
    Lorelei listened as Whitney— her cousin —explained about werewolves. Told her there were stronger wolves, those that were different because of their dominance or ability to wield magic, and they weren’t like regular werewolves.
    Alpha Pairs and Warden Pairs.
    Alphas needed a female to keep their dominance in check and those human women carried a Mark on their skin. Wardens required a shared mate to strengthen them, but they didn’t have visible Marks until they met their mates.
    At one point, it was thought that Warden Pairs didn’t have mates, but in truth, they were hidden by a twisting perversion of magic. Now, they were revealed and summoned to the Gathering.
    Whitney was the mate of the Ruling Wardens.
    Rebecca was mated to two alphas.
    “You have a Mark?” Lorelei kept her attention on Rebecca and tension filled her sister’s features.
    “Yes, it was… destroyed in the fire.”
    Lorelei squeezed her sister’s hand. “Oh, Rebecca…”
    “It was on purpose, Lor.” A tear trailed down Rebecca’s face and her sister brushed it away. “No one knew about Warden Born women, but our family has a history of producing Alpha Marked girls. Grandma had a bad mating and…” Rebecca brushed another droplet from her face. “They burned me on purpose. If they’d known about Warden Born, I’m sure they would have done something to you and Paisley as well.”
    Lorelei felt the words as if they were a physical blow to her gut. “You’re sure? I mean, that they… and me and Paisley are…”
    “I have no doubt. They sent…” Rebecca trembled. “Some of the Wardens are better at certain things than others. A set was dispatched to speak with our family last night.” Her sister nodded. “It— The fire was set on purpose. They put something on my skin to ensure that part of me was nearly destroyed.”
    Lorelei was tugged back to the past, to Rebecca’s soaked bandages and tears and the pain that filled a three-year-old girl. Then on to the way she’d always hung back, how she lived a half-life because the scarring made her so self-conscious. And the way Grandma always glared at Rebecca. Glared at her little sister as if she’d gladly see her dead.
    Lorelei wasn’t one to hold onto hate, but right then, right there, it was nothing but hate pumping and throbbing through her veins. It demanded she hunt that old woman down and tear her into tiny pieces. What kind of person did that?
    “Whoa, let’s slow that roll there…” Whitney drew her attention and the woman’s gaze met Lorelei’s before lowering to her arms. Lorelei’s glowing and pulsating arms. “We need to be real easy. You’re exhausted from being brought here, hiding and then finding the guys. Raging homicidal desires won’t help anything.”
    Lorelei fought for calm as Whitney asked, searching within herself and hunting for a soothing thought. One image sprung to mind, the two men standing side by side in that hotel room. Zeke and Dylan. Sexy as all get out and complete opposites. She kinda liked