The Rising by Kelley Armstrong Read Free Book Online Page B

as calmly as I could. “We’ll get something there and find a private place to sit. It’s been hours since we’ve had any food, and I don’t know about you, but these guys eat like they’re in permanent training.”
    â€œSo what’s your excuse?” Corey said to me as we started out.
    â€œIt’s the cougar shifts,” Daniel said. “They take a lot out of her.”
    â€œAbsolutely,” I said, grinning at him.
    Ash snorted. “It’ll be awhile before you need to worry about that.”
    â€œUm, no,” Corey said. “She’s already shifting.”
    Ash’s look darkened—telling me he wasn’t shifting yet—and I quickly said, “It’s only been a few times.”
    He glowered at me, as if I was bragging, then he fell back beside Corey and walked in silence behind me.
    Great. Just great.
    I inadvertently screwed up again at the café. Daniel, Corey, and I had pooled our money so we were taking turns grabbing stuff. Since it was my turn to buy, I naturally asked Ash what he wanted.
    â€œI pay my own way,” he said, with a scowl that I was beginning to think was as much a part of his normal expression as Daniel’s smile or Corey’s grin.
    â€œDo you want me to grab it for you?” I asked.
    â€œNo.”
    As he stalked off, we watched him go, making sure he didn’t bolt.
    â€œDon’t let him get to you,” Daniel murmured. “Whatever his problem is, it’s not you. He just met you.”
    â€œI know.”
    He leaned closer, squeezing my hand, and whispered, “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t how you’d pictured it.”
    I could say that I hadn’t pictured it—there’d been too much going on for me to even think about my newly discovered brother. Yet that was a lie. I had thought about meeting him. I’d thought about what it might be like to have a twin. Everyone said they shared a bond beyond mere blood.
    I looked at Ash, standing in line, glowering.
    Nope. No bond there.
    I joined the line behind Ash. He must have known I was there but didn’t turn, not even when I cleared my throat and said, “Ash?”
    I tried again. “Can I, uh, ask you something?”
    He glanced back. “What?”
    â€œYou are by yourself, right?”
    â€œSaid that, didn’t I?”
    Actually, no. He’d never answered the question. But I didn’t point that out.
    â€œSo she’s not with you,” I said. “Our, uh, mother?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œYou left her behind?”
    A look. One I couldn’t decipher. “Not exactly,” he said, and turned away.
    â€œIs she . . . dead?”
    He paused so long I thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he said, “No idea,” and stepped up to the counter to place his order.

NINE

    M Y BROTHER HAD NO idea if our mother was alive or dead? That made no sense. I’d been told she’d kept him. He’d grown up with her. Had he run away? Or was “no idea” just his way of saying “piss off”?
    At the table, Ash ate his wrap, but not without complaint. Wraps? Seriously? In a park ? Where were the burgers and fries? Damned West Coast.
    â€œSo where are you from, then?” I asked.
    From the look he gave me, you’d think I was asking for his home address so I could send a death squad.
    â€œAround,” he said.
    â€œSo where did you get the email address?” I asked.
    â€œFrom the person you gave it to, obviously.”
    I shot a look at Daniel.
    â€œWe called the number for Cyril Mitchell,” Daniel said. “That was the emergency contact another skin-walker gave Maya. The woman who answered said he was dead. She claimed to be his daughter. Is that true?”
    â€œYeah, he’s dead. Yeah, she’s his daughter. But if you expected any help from that dumb bitch, you’re even more clueless than I