Ashes (Book 2 The Kindred Series) Read Online Free

said
softly.
    “Do you?”
    He stared at her for a moment before
rising swiftly and moving slowly over to the bed. Behind her closed
lids, Cassie’s eyes moved as unconsciousness held her deep within a
dream realm. Delicate blue veins were clearly visible on her lids;
her skin was still unnaturally pale. However, her heart beat with
strong, reassuring thuds that he heard clearly, and kept finely
attuned to. She looked better than when they had first arrived, but
it was still not enough. He wanted her awake, he wanted her
speaking, and he wanted to know that she did not hate him for what
he was.
    His hands clenched as terror tore
through him. He had dealt with, and overcome many things in his
long, event filled life. But he knew that he could not handle
Cassie’s hatred, or condemnation. He needed her smile, her
brightness. Now that he knew what it was like to have her light in
his life, he could not bear to part with it. He could not go back
to that world of loneliness and self hatred.
    He would not survive it
again.
    “You also saved her life then,” he said
softly, his gaze darting back to her grandmother as he tried to
distract himself from his despairing thoughts.
    She studied him for a long moment,
disbelief and curiosity flitting across her delicate features.
“Yes, I kept her safe, hidden, protected. I kept her alive through
The Slaughter.” Pain radiated from her bright eyes as she turned
away from him, her hand tightening upon Cassie’s.
    “Thank you,” Devon said
softly.
    She blinked at him in surprise, and
then a small smile curled the corner of her full mouth. “You really
care about my granddaughter, don’t you?” She sounded completely
mystified; it was hard for her to compute that he, a vampire, could
care about anything. Let alone that he could care about a Hunter,
which was a realization that still mystified him. How could he have
not known what Cassie was? What they all were?
    Love was truly blind, or at least the
people in it were, he realized.
    The image of her standing at the side
of that clearing, her eyes blazing with hurt and fury, her hand
clenched tight around a stake was burned permanently into his mind.
She had not been shocked to see him there, not as he had been to
see her standing there. Though she seemed to have figured out what
he was, he had not been able to put all of the pieces of the puzzle
about her together until that moment.
    And the pieces of that puzzle were ones
that he almost wished did not fit. The woman that he loved, and
cherished, was also his sworn enemy. The woman that had brought him
back to life had also been created specifically to end it. He still
couldn’t quite understand it, and the twisted irony of it was not
lost upon him.
    Devon met her inquisitive gaze,
confusion and hope radiated from her. “Yes,” he admitted honestly.
“More than I ever thought possible.”
    Her delicate forehead furrowed in
confusion as she turned back to Cassie. “I don’t understand any of
this,” she whispered.
    “We are not all monsters.”
    Her gaze darted quickly back to his,
her eyes widening slightly as she studied him carefully for a long
moment. “No, I suppose not. I’m just going to have to figure out
how to process that shocking bit of information.”
    He nodded, his hand briefly stroking
over Cassie’s arm, relishing in the feel of her satiny skin. She
had been out for far longer than he liked. Turning, he moved away
from her, stalking toward the door. Pacing back and forth, he tried
to lose some of the restless energy clinging to him, even though he
had not slept. He wanted her awake, and he needed to know what her
reaction to him would be.
    Still acutely attuned to the beat of
her heart, he felt when it picked up, when she stirred slightly. He
froze instantly, his mouth going dry as he waited for his fate to
be handed to him. She could not reject him, he would not survive
that.
    She had to forgive him.
    Her grandmother rose swiftly, leaning
eagerly over her