Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) Read Online Free Page A

his beautiful
emerald eyes warming with love as he shifted her slightly, pulling
her tighter against him to drop a gentle kiss on top of her
forehead. Cassie cuddled up closer to him, meeting his lips for a
brief, sweet kiss that she wished was so much more. She wanted out
of this cramped vehicle, and she desperately wanted some time alone
with him.
    Not that she wasn’t grateful to see her
friends also, because she was, especially Chris and Annabelle, as
she’d feared that they were dead. Feared that Dani had done
something awful to them, but they were here before her, alive and
healthy. Tears filled her eyes as she stared at the back of Chris’s
blond head. He had always been her best friend, her rock, her
anchor in the world, but it was Devon that she needed now, and in a
way that she never had before. She had been kidnapped, tortured,
brutalized and changed in ways she didn’t even know. She needed his
goodness and caring and unconditional love more than anything right
now. She trailed a finger under his jaw, relishing in the very real
feel of his coarse hair against her skin. Loving the way his black
hair fell across his magnificent face, loving the way it outlined
the gorgeous contours of his refined features.
    Reluctantly she turned her attention
away from him as the SUV made a right hand turn onto a strangely
deserted street. Her eyebrows drew together as she frowned in
confusion. Though it was still dark out, the sun would be coming up
soon. There should be at least a few people moving around. Some
lights should be on in the windows as people brewed their morning
coffee, showered, and dressed for work.
    Her frown deepened as she sat slowly
up. Devon’s hands tightened briefly on her but when she made no
move to pull away he relaxed. “What is going on around here?” she
asked quietly as they drove down another deserted
street.
    “We don’t know,” Chris answered, his
sapphire gaze worried and questioning as he turned toward her.
Cassie frowned at him. He had been staring at her strangely ever
since she had gotten into the vehicle. He had hugged her, had even
shed a few tears, but he had not stopped looking at her as if he
didn’t understand her, or even know who she was.
    “Where are we going?”
    “The General store,” Melissa answered a
small quiver in her voice.
    Cassie frowned as she bit hard on her
bottom lip. “We’re staying here? We’re staying in this town?” she
demanded, unable to keep the tremble of panic from her
voice.
    “It will be ok,” Devon said gently,
rubbing her arms as he tried to soothe her.
    She turned back to him, her heart
hammering in fear. “No, those people are here! Those people and
those things are in this town! We can’t stay here! They’ll take us
back there if they find us! We can’t go back in there!”
    She was nearly shrieking by the time
she was done, and shaking so fiercely that her teeth were
chattering together. “Cassie…”
    “No!” she screamed. Clawing terror
seized hold of her. A sense of impending doom settled over her, her
chest constricted so tightly that she could hardly breathe. She was
gasping, choking, as she tried to get air into her tortured
lungs.
    Devon kept hold of her as she tried to
get away; she needed to be free of the vehicle and the pressing
weight on her chest. Julian leaned over him, grasping hold of her
chin and pulling her head forcefully toward him. “Enough princess!”
he snapped as Devon released a ferocious growl that caused the hair
on the back of her neck to stand on end.
    “Get your hand off of her!” Devon
spat.
    Julian chose to ignore him as he
continued to hold onto her. “We are not going back there. I promise
you that much, we are never going back in there. They will never
touch you again. You need to keep yourself under control because we
have got to learn what is going on here. We need to know what they
were trying to do to us down there, and what they have done to this
town.”
    Cassie bit her lip hard,