Rebel's Desire (Iron Portal Paranormal Romance Series) (Iron Portal Series Book 4) by Laurie London Read Free Book Online Page B

Women here didn’t normally eat with such enthusiasm. Seeing her take pleasure in something as simple as a plate of food made him wonder what else made her happy.
    She must’ve noticed his amusement, because she looked embarrassed and covered her mouth with a hand. “Sorry, I’m really hungry, I guess. Can’t remember when I last sat down for a meal. Plus, their balsamic-glazed beef with homemade garlic noodles is one of my favorites.”
    “You’ve been worried. That’s understandable. Makes it hard to eat.” A fact he knew too well. He hadn’t been able to eat much the summer his father died. It took a long time to get his appetite back at the orphanage. Had his mother taken him in, it still would’ve been hard, but she wasn’t interested. After abandoning him and his father when Toryn was a baby, she wanted nothing to do with him…even after his father’s death.
    He shoved those thoughts away and turned his attention on his ridiculously tiny fork. He was tempted to use his fingers like they often did back home, but that wasn’t done over here. People would see that and instantly peg him as a savage, a barbarian from Cascadia.
    Despite the fork challenges, he eventually managed to make it work and he took a big bite. No wonder Keely was shoveling it in. The meat was tender and flavorful. And the noodles were delicious.
    He thought about their earlier conversation. “I’m not surprised to hear you are a Talent.”
    She looked around before turning her attention back to him. “Why?”
    “I felt the signs of it when you were kissing me,” he said, trying hard not to slip into his Cascadian accident.
    She lowered her eyes and concentrated on twirling noodles with her fork. “I…I’m really sorry about that. It was rude.”
    He wasn’t sure he understood her. “Rude?”
    “You know. Not polite. I shouldn’t have used my Talent on you without your permission.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kitten. It was not offensive to me.” Quite the opposite, in fact. It had been almost as intimate as that kiss.
    Her mouth quirked, not quite a smile.
    “You’re a Shield-Talent, aren’t you?” he asked softly.
    “Yeah, I guess so, but I’ve never had much of a handle on it. If you were to ask my father, he’d call me a manipulator.”
    “Whatever you did, I’m grateful. It prevented a Psychic-Talent thug from reading our minds.”
    She stopped twisting her noodles and looked up. “Are you talking about those guys chasing me?”
    He frowned. Didn’t she know? “One of them was a Psychic-Talent. I assumed that’s why you put up that mental shield. That you did it on purpose.”
    She shook her head. “I…I…don’t know what I did. I just kept wishing they would run past us…and they did.” She gazed at him, a curious look on her face. “Why are you grateful they weren’t able to read your mind?”
    He couldn’t exactly tell her that he was a warrior from Cascadia. People here didn’t look kindly on those they thought were terrorists. “Let’s just say had they known my intentions, they’d have been after me, too.” He needed to change the focus of this conversation. “So why did you say it was rude?”
    She shrugged. “That’s what I was taught. You don’t flaunt something that should be kept locked away.”
    “Locked away like a shameful secret? So your family doesn’t consider your Talent a gift?”
    Her laugh was bitter. “Hardly. When they found out about my sister and me, they kicked us out of the house. I was fifteen. Becca was seventeen. Given that my mom was permanently disabled by a bombing a few years ago, you’d think they would have called the army to see if they could use our Talents in their fight against the terrorists. Guess I should be thankful they didn’t.”
    He let out a slow exhale and let her words sink in. If she believed Cascadian warriors were responsible for hurting her mother—regardless of whether Keely was estranged from her or