Allegiance (The Penton Vampire Legacy) Read Online Free PDF Page B

car window. “I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to talk, Mel. We need to . . .”
    His voice trailed off, but she knew what the rest of that sentence should be. We need to settle things between us. “I know. Tomorrow night, maybe.” She looked back at Mirren and Fen. “I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about that guy. I’m not sure we should trust him.”
    Cage looked past her at his old acquaintance, whose nonstop prattle was likely putting Mirren in a homicidal mood. “Don’t worry, love. I never fully trusted my old pal Fen when he was human. I surely don’t trust him now.”

   CHAPTER 3   
    R ob Thomas scratched his head, causing the bright late-afternoon sunlight and shadows to create the effect of a golden halo above his red hair. “What’s this say? Who taught Mirren Kincaid how to write, anyway?”
    “Probably somebody who died about four centuries ago and didn’t speak any version of a language we’d recognize.” Mark Calvert took the notebook from Rob and blew out a frustrated breath. He bought and sold stocks, calculated investment risks, and monitored trending start-ups. He didn’t build military training facilities. Well, not in normal times.
    Penton had blown way past normal almost a year ago.
    The chicken scratches on the notebook made no sense whatsoever. How Mirren could be such a talented artist and yet write in gibberish, he didn’t know.
    But Mirren Kincaid and the rest of the vampires were snoring happily away in daysleep while the Penton business manager stood in the broiling sun, trying to wrangle enough warm bodies to build the new Omega Force training center to Slayer standards.
    Mark shoved the notebook back at Rob. “Damned if I know. Call Glory at the Chow House, and see if she can decipher it for us.”
    Rob stuck the clipboard under his arm. “I’ll just go down there and ask her in person. Maybe you and Max can finish putting up that wall while I grab something to eat before she packs it all away for the day.”
    Mark nodded. “When are Will and Randa coming home?”
    “In a week if everything goes as planned. Never thought I’d say this, but I’m ready for Will to take over this project, big mouth and all.” Rob was the human brother of Penton lieutenant Randa Thomas. Randa’s mate, Will Ludlam, thrived on this type of planning-and-construction project, leaving the humans who toiled through daylight hours with neat printed instructions, diagrams, and explanations.
    “So he’s definitely having the surgery?” Mark asked. Will’s left leg had been mangled in one of his father’s attacks on Penton and had healed badly. Using a little admittedly unethical enthrallment, Aidan had managed to get an Atlanta orthopedic surgeon to take a look at Will after-hours.
    “If the doctor thinks he’s a good candidate,” said Rob. “All they’re doing tonight is shooting X-rays and hoping the doctor doesn’t see anything weird. You know, like fangs.
    “Randa says Will is being one pain in the ass because he can’t start training with us.” Rob laughed. “Wait. Will is always a pain in the ass, so let me rephrase that: he’s being a bigger pain in the ass than usual.”
    Mark smiled. “Yeah, but he’s a lot better than Mirren at this construction stuff. Not that I’ll be sharing that opinion with the big guy.”
    “No shit. He won’t hear it from me, either. The man’s like a bad attitude with feet.”
    Mark had expected a combat-tough Army Ranger like Rob to be a total hard-ass like his father. Colonel Rick Thomas, who headed up the Omega Force project, could out-grouch Mirren.
    Rob was cool, though—a lot easier to get along with than their other Ranger-turned-Penton-resident Max Jeffries. Max constantly tried to prove himself bigger and badder than any vampire; as Mark could tell him from long experience as one of Aidan’s closest friends, he was wasting his time. The only way for a human to outfight a vampire was to cheat.
    If a human