Forsaken by the Others Read Online Free PDF Page B

introspection long enough to notice that Wes kept
     glancing at his phone, and was occasionally typing something on it. E-mailing or texting.
    He shrugged at my questioning look and put the phone on the table. “Alec says he’s
     had a change of plans and will take a little longer than expected. He’ll be back as
     soon as he can.” At my dispirited nod, he continued. “Don’t look so glum. He’s bringing
     your friend back with him.”
    That got my attention.
    “Sara? He’s picking her up?”
    “Yes. So no running off while the master is out, eh?”
    That wasn’t a moniker I wanted to associate with Royce anywhere other than in my head,
     but the thought of seeing Sara again had me too happy to be upset about it. I grinned
     and leaned across the table. Wes jerked back from my touch, but I yanked him into
     an awkward, sideways hug anyway.
    Analie, smiling, gave my shoulder a pat. “How about we make some cookies for them
     while we wait? Christoph and Ashi wanted more of these things Jacques showed me how
     to make. They’re these cinnamon cream-filled pastries. . . .”
    I nodded and rose to join her at the counter, hoping the mundane activities would
     keep my mind off of all the craziness going on and busy enough until Sara arrived
     that the passing minutes wouldn’t feel like hours. Doing something so normal might
     also help distract me from little details. Things like my fellow chef’s being a werewolf,
     our babysitter’s being a vampire, that we were using a vampire’s kitchen to make goodies
     for other werewolves who occasionally doubled as walking Slurpees for the vamps, and—say,
     what did a vampire need a kitchen for, anyway?

Chapter 4
    A few hours later, Royce returned, and he wasn’t alone. By then, I had tried somewhere
     in the range of forty to fifty different kinds of cookies and pastries Analie had
     made. Somehow she got it into her head that all my worries about what was going on
     internally could be smothered by sugar and chocolate.
    And I’ll be damned if she wasn’t right.
    By the time Royce entered the apartment with Mouse, Christoph, Ashi, Clarisse, and
     Sara on his heels, I was near ready to explode from sugar shock. I barely registered
     the others—seeing Sara for the first time in a month was enough to stun me into immobility.
     Which is quite something considering how much I had been vibrating from the sugar.
    She looked fabulous. Not that she didn’t usually look like every man’s wet dream—damn
     her frizz-free blond hair, model-perfect body, blue eyes, and perfect skin—but whatever
     she’d been doing while I was gone really agreed with her. There was something different
     about her. A blush of health to her cheeks, a sparkle in her eyes, something not entirely
     tangible that I hadn’t seen before. Even though she was currently frowning and glaring
     at me from where she’d stopped in the kitchen doorway, giving me a look like I’d kicked
     her favorite poppy
    The others (except for Mouse, of course) had been chattering away, but that died down
     when I stood and took a few halting steps toward Sara. That awkward silence probably
     would have lasted longer if I hadn’t thrown my arms around her and hugged her hard
     enough to force all the air out of her lungs.
    She stayed stiff and unyielding at first, but soon gave in and hugged me back as best
     she could considering how her arms were pinned. Her voice was a bit thick as she wheezed
     out a few words.
    “Don’t you ever run off like that again. You had me worried sick, you bitch.”
    All the regret in the world wouldn’t bring back the lost time and resources or reverse
     the bad decisions I’d made over the last month. It had hurt to leave her behind when
     I had first abandoned her to Royce, but it hurt even more to know that she’d so easily
     forgiven me. I squeezed my own eyes shut so I wouldn’t start leaking tears all over
     her. In the last thirty days, I’d already cried enough to