Vampire's Forbidden Territory (Sídhí Summer Camp Series #2) Read Online Free Page B

breathing without anyone noticing her actions.
    Jared chuckled. Sliding his hand into hers, he gently pulled her closer. “Use me to rest against, Mia Cara. Less than a week of hiking will not get you in shape. Anyway you're only a few days past puberty.”
    She relaxed against him. For once, pleased when he didn't keep his arms wrapped around her. She worriedly glanced into his smiling face. She wondered if she'd let her mental shields slip around the others.
    “Am I leaking?” Katie asked, nibbling her lower lip in worry.
    “No, love, not at all. I know how important that is to you. I would've warned you if you had of.” He kissed her temple. “I didn't need to hear your thoughts when I could feel your growing disgust each time we had to struggle up a rough patch.”
    She grinned at his tongue-in-cheek words. “You mean when I struggled up a rough patch.”
    He grinned, rubbing her arm in what she'd learned to connect with his attempt to comfort her. He usually rubbed circles around her back, but the big red backpack was in the way.
    Katie wistfully looked toward the trail. The narrow, dirt path split, one part going up the rocky mountainside, the other part dropping into a tree crowded valley. From the raised voices, she concluded they might be stuck under the hot sun for who knew how long.
    Six bullheaded teenagers gathered around the splitting trail. The first few words had been simple comments. The teens soon dropped the appearance of having a civil discussion and started arguing.
    The group stood in a loose circle. Several sported clenched hands. Rumbling growls merged with heated words. The topic of the argument was ridiculous.
    “Look Mutt, we can’t go up the mountain,” Mitch insisted, glaring at Beth. “The trail is off limits and probably for a darn good reason like a werewolf nature preserve or something, not that you wouldn’t fit right in with your furry kin folk.”
    “Look moron, shifters are not related to werewolves. Anyway, if you’ll just look at the map you’ll see those warning signs are wrong,” Beth argued, waving her hand toward the map Nick studied. “Obviously, halflings are denser than concrete, because your head is so thick you’ve forgotten the meaning of common sense.”
    Katie heard Jared chuckle softly.
    She didn’t blame him. Six near-adults couldn’t agree on which trail to take without squabbling like five-year olds. Katie shook her head in disgust. Leave it to her cabin mates to make a simple decision difficult.
    Mitch wasn’t helping matters by insulting the shapeshifters. She knew he didn’t trust them, but his over-the-top reaction was too much. She just didn’t get his spine-stiff anger. He loved teasing people and tried his best to get a rise out of them. His aggression toward Beth was different.
    Katie could literally see anger reflected in his green elfin eyes each time he looked at Beth. It was like the young shifter had killed Mitch’s puppy or something. Weird.
    Katie glanced past the group of shouting teens, her eyes following the mountainside trail. The nearly unmanageable path continued its steep climb up the mountain. She really didn’t want to continue up that path. The upper route was bare of vegetation except for the occasional shark plant or scrubby weed. There was not a single shade in sight.
    The lower route, on the other hand, was thick with trees and undergrowth; shade, pure wonderful gloom filled the view. The shade-drenched trail also had the dragon’s stamp of approval.
    Relief filled her, because all the red warning signs covered the steep trail going up the mountainside. She stepped toward the lush valley, trying to see down the trail that disappeared beyond a screen of thick trees.
    Sarah grabbed Katie's arm, quickly pulling her away from the valley and all that wonderful cool shade. “No,” Sarah said firmly, “stay away from there.”
    Jared instantly growled at Sarah.
    The dangerous vampire glanced at Jared and slowly released