Succubus Ascendant: An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

Clan taught me how to control my ovulation and how to use my telepathic talents. Then, when I grew older, he became cruel. He told me that I wasn’t desirable anymore.”
    She looked up at her daughter. “I met Martin, and we fell in love. I don’t know how Sergei found out, but he did. He was furious. He beat me and controlled my mind. I woke up one day and discovered it had been almost two months since I went to sleep. I was pregnant. He said he needed a new woman, a younger woman, and I was going to give her to him.”
    Straightening and taking a ragged breath, she met Irina’s eyes. “It took me another two months to escape, to get away and call Martin. Using my talents and his connections inside the British embassy, we got out of Russia the next day. We came here, and you, my beautiful daughter, were born. As much as I hate my father, I’ve never regretted having you. I’m sorry, Irina. I hoped I’d never have to tell you this.”
    Irina sat back in her chair and thought about her mother’s story. After a few minutes, she said, “So now that he knows I exist, he’s trying to capture me to breed another succubus for him.”
    Her mother’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, Irina. No.”
    “Oh, yes. He wants to use me the way he did you. The pattern is too clear. Some men become addicted to succubi. It sounds as though he might be one of them. We also know,” Irina waved her hand toward her friends, “that the Russian Clans are experimenting with genetic engineering, and they’re buying telepathic women.”
    Irina gazed around the room, trying to find something to grasp out of all the thoughts running around her mind. “I guess I’m going to have to go to Russia,” she finally said, her face hard. Natalia gasped. “I’ll find him and kill him, and then we’ll all be free.”
    ~~~
    When Natalia discovered there were a dozen Protectors sitting just outside their property, she insisted that they come for dinner. Conscripting her daughter, Brenna and Rebecca, she set about preparing a feast. It took almost every chair in the house and adding two card tables in the dining room, but everyone had a place.
    “Russian mother syndrome,” Irina said with a grin. “No visitor goes hungry in a Russian home.”
    Brenna had been thinking all afternoon about what to do concerning Natalia and Martin’s situation.
    “Martin, Irina told me that you’re a civil engineer. Would you be open to taking a new job?”
    Irina froze with her fork halfway to her mouth. * What do you have in mind?* she sent to Brenna.
    *I think they’d be safer in the valley, don’t you? I have a lot of building going on, such as my lab, the school, new housing units. I could use a project manager to oversee it all. The guy doing it now lives in DC, and he’s not on-site all the time,* Brenna replied.
    Irina’s smile was all the endorsement that Brenna needed.
    “What kind of job?” Martin asked.
    Brenna explained what she was doing in West Virginia. “I think you and Natalia would be safer there,” she said. “Natalia would have the chance to live among other telepaths, and you would have work in your field.”
    “And we’d get to see each other all the time,” Irina said, looking back and forth between her parents.
    Natalia and Martin stared at each other, and Irina held her breath, knowing there was a silent conversation taking place.
    Natalia turned to Brenna. “If you don’t mind, I would like to see your valley. Martin can’t come for a couple of weeks, but if I like it, then he’ll come. Can you wait for a decision until we see it?”
    Brenna nodded. “Certainly. You can ride back with us if you wish.”
    ~~~
    Although their curiosity was boiling over, it wasn’t until they arrived back in West Virginia that Irina told her friends what she had learned from her mother.
    “No,” Collin said. “Absolutely not. You’re not going to Russia. That’s the stupidest idea I’ve heard since Samantha went hunting Gless.”
    Irina