Inevitable: Shifters Forever Worlds (Only After Dark Book 5) Read Online Free

want to say much, Tante.”
    Lucia nodded. “Quake has rules. No interactions with types other than your own. No fighting between types, species, or individuals. And no questions about Quake.”
    “No problem.” Leandra acquiesced.
    “I’m surprised my mother never brought you here.”
    “I don’t like coming to town. Mémé didn’t force me.”
    Lucia began a forward trek toward the red door. “You’ll have to tell me what your plans are. Surely you can’t stay in the cabin on the swamp.”
    Why can’t I?
    Leandra wasn’t going to ask her, but she could imagine nothing else she’d rather do.
    Lucia opened the red door.
    “Why this door?”
    “You’re not a shifter. I’m descended from witches.”
    Leandra accepted the explanation and stepped into a room that was floor-to-ceiling black curtains with barely any lighting other than two sconces with candles on the wall to the left and to the right. Across from the door they’d just entered through was another door.
    A woman stepped forward, clad in a black gown that matched her ebony hair. Her skin appeared luminescent. Leandra tried to study her without giving it away that she was doing so.
    The woman gave off preternatural vibes but wasn’t a witch, nor was she a shifter.
    Her face was a forbidding mask, unwelcoming though she was supposed to be a hostess, or at least that’s what Leandra assumed.
    “Lucia.” A smile appeared on the woman’s unemotional countenance. “I’m not sure where to seat you.”
    “Where you always used to.”
    “He’d kill me if I did.”
    Leandra glanced from one to the other. What was this about?
    Lucia rolled her eyes. “Witch section then, but the room closest to the shifters, if you don’t mind. I’ll feel more comfortable closer to my own kind.”
    “Absolutely. I’ve missed you.” The stoic hostess wrapped her arms around Lucia.
    Leandra picked up Lucia’s discomfort with the touch, but Lucia didn’t move away.
    “I’ve missed you, too, Bethany.”
    Bethany pulled away. “He’s missed you too.”
    Who the hell is that? Who is he , Leandra wondered. She glanced at Lucia for answers, but it was clear that Lucia was avoiding eye contact with her.
    I’ll get to the bottom of this, sooner or later.
    “I don’t need to review the rules with you, do I?” Bethany asked.
    “Not unless you were told to remind me.”
    “He doesn’t know you’re here.” Bethany glanced upward. “Yet.”
    Leandra’s gaze followed Bethany’s to the black ceiling.
    Of course, there was nothing there.
    “I’d heard he was out of town. Guess I heard wrong.” Lucia gave a one-shouldered shrug.
    Leandra reached for Lucia’s hand and squeezed her fingers. “What am I missing?” She whispered as low as she could.
    Bethany glanced at Leandra, clearly she heard.
    Lucia shook her head. No answer was coming from her.
    Bethany led them down a red-walled corridor marked with doorways every few feet until they’d come to a point where the red ended and turned blue. She made an abrupt left at a doorway and entered the tiny alcove of a room.
    The room held three tables, each with two chairs. The tables, as well as the room, were empty. The only lighting was a hurricane lamp on each table. The artwork was subdued and unidentifiable, even with her preternatural vision.
    Bethany pulled two black scrolls from a wrought iron latticed holder next to the door jamb. “As close as I can get you without actually putting you in the shifter section,” she explained. “They may accept you, but there’s no way they’d be accepting of Leandra.
    Leandra did a double take, eyes narrowed.
    How the hell does she know my name?
    Bethany smiled, as if she knew what was on Leandra’s mind. “Enjoy your visit.” She set the scrolls down on the table.
    Lucia took a seat, indicating for Leandra to join her.
    Leandra dropped into the velvet covered plush chair, reached for the scroll and unrolled it.
    “This is the menu?”
    There were no prices, all