The Becoming: Redemption (The Becoming Series Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

him. “You, scared?” she said. “You can’t be scared. You’re not
allowed.”
    “It happens occasionally,” Dominic said. He
pulled her closer, hooking an arm around her waist and holding her
against him. He took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together
and extending their connected hands like they were dancing at a
ball. Remy smiled and slipped her hand up his chest to settle it on
his shoulder in the appropriate position. He returned her smile.
“I’ve been scared plenty of times in my life. I’ve been in so many
situations that I almost didn’t make it out of that I had to learn
very quickly how to live with that fear.”
    “How did you learn to live with it?” Remy
asked.
    He spun her around and pulled her close
again. “That is one of the things I wish I could teach you,” he
murmured, brushing his lips against her cheek with a smile.

Chapter 4
     
    The group that
gathered in Cade’s bedroom later that day was dreadfully small.
Dominic did a headcount of the people in the room with him, and his
heart sank. They were down to eight people. Eight people out of
over fifty. The low number was disheartening, and he fervently
hoped that some of the others had managed to slip out of their
houses and get out of Woodside before the military bombed the
community.
    Dominic did a sweep of those present, and
despite his disappointment over them being so few in number, he was
pleased with what they did have. In the center of the room,
as if she were the showpiece, Cade sat on the bed, reclining
against the pillows, her newborn baby cradled in her lap. Her thin
fingers brushed against the sleeping infant’s forehead,
rhythmically and soothingly, though Cade appeared unaware that she
was doing it. Her sniper rifle, always within arm’s reach, rested
against the wall by the bed, close enough that she could lean over
and grab it if need be.
    Remy sat at the foot of the bed, leaning
against one of the bedposts with her legs crossed. She had a
short-bladed knife in her right hand, twirling it between her
fingers. Her dark hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, and
she looked relaxed. Dominic wondered if the aspirin she’d taken had
finally helped her headache ease off. She caught him looking at her
and smiled, then twirled the knife and tossed it into the air,
catching it by the hilt. He returned her smile.
    Jude and Sadie sat against the edge of the
dresser, side by side. Jude had his arms folded over his chest,
staring at the floor as if he were deep in thought, an unhappy
expression on his face. Sadie had her hands braced against the
dresser, and she stared at Cade with a look of determination almost
equal to the other woman’s. Her expression surprised Dominic. He
hadn’t known she felt so passionately about Cade’s cause—she barely
knew any of them. Still, the look was there, and it was undeniable.
Both of the twins were outfitted as if they were ready to go to
war, their Kevlar vests Velcroed on and their weapons holstered and
sheathed and strapped in place.
    Keith was propped against the wall beside the
dresser, his foot braced on the wall, knee bent, his head bowed as
he wrote on a notepad with a stub of a pencil. Every few words,
he’d pause and squint at the ceiling as if he were thinking, and
then he’d return to the notepad and start writing again. Dominic
assumed he was making a list of something—supplies, perhaps—for the
trip that some of them would be taking in the near future.
    Derek and Isaac were the last two in the
room. Both men stood near Cade’s bed on the opposite side from
Dominic, Isaac looking at Cade intently and Derek looking annoyed.
Dominic wondered who he was annoyed at, and he figured the likely
culprit was Cade. She was stubborn enough to inspire annoyance in
virtually anyone who crossed her path.
    The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop,
the only sound everyone’s steady breathing, and no one seemed
willing to break the silence. They all appeared content to