Love and Decay, Kane's Law Read Online Free PDF

to Austen who let it slam shut once we’d all entered the
building.
    Reagan took her time adjusting to the dim
light, but I felt her awareness ratchet higher and higher. I
watched her face flinch and cringe as she took in the horrifying
scene in stages. Disbelief, refusal to believe, disgust, horror,
surprise sympathy, hatred, and then finally revulsion in every way,
shape and form.
    In an effort to ignore the disappointment I
felt with her feelings, I ordered Vaughan sent in with the other
prisoners. “Take him in with the others. I’m taking her to my
father.” I needed to officially claim her before someone else put
in a request. I wanted to cut this off before it ever began. I
couldn’t imagine having to make a trial out of this and lose her
for however long. I wanted her with me, in my house, in my bed as
soon as I could- which meant today.
    I grabbed Reagan’s arm and tried to pull her
down the hall after me. I could have explained to her where we were
going or why she had to be separated from her friends, but plain
and simple I didn’t want to. I just wanted her to obey.
    She struggled against me so I tightened my
grip. She continued to fight me, and I hated that she was making
this difficult for no reason. If she would just submit, then there
wouldn’t have to be a struggle between us. Knowing that she was
mostly concerned for her friends, I stopped trying to make her go
against her will and leaned down so I could whisper in her ear, “He
will be a hell of a lot safer if you come easily.”
    And that was true. She would be safer and he
would be safer. I whispered for the same reason. If Creed or Austen
picked up even a hint of what I was saying, they would gladly treat
those prisoners with less respect than they deserved. The soldiers
in my father’s army were mostly good men, if not a little bit
sadistic from the circumstances surrounding us; but mostly loyal
and determined to keep the Colony safe. But for whatever reason,
they also seemed inclined to be a little… extreme. They tended to
be ticking time bombs of rage, letting any small thing set them
off. They also tended to be a little bit twisted. They never minded
killing and I wondered sometimes if it mattered what they were
killing, or if they could find pleasure no matter the species or
circumstances. I tried not to linger over the idea that there could
be a correlation between the kind of guys that flocked to protect
my father and his town and the special type of psychotic sociopaths
that worshiped him. It would only lead me down a bad path.
    “Reagan,” her friend called after her. “I
love you!”
    “I love you, too,” she shouted back.
    Liars. Both of them. I could tell from
the first moment I saw them together they didn’t love each other. I
held back a snort of irritation. What was she trying to prove?
    More than likely her declaration of love was
an attempt to keep her from being bedded by one of us or protect
one of the other guys in her group, one that she might truly have
feelings for.
    That thought reawakened the dragon of furious
jealousy in side of me and I decided I would pay closer attention
to her and those prisoners when we walked back through.
    I felt her still communicating with the
prisoners, but steeled my emotions and let her. I wouldn’t gain any
trust by carting her around like I was a caveman. She had to
willingly enter into a relationship with me- she had to walk into
this with eyes wide-open. I didn’t want her to have Stockholm
Syndrome. I wanted her feelings to be real.
    And if I let her have enough time, they would
be.
    Eventually, she turned around and followed me
down the hallway. She stayed in the middle of the hall and kept
glancing back and forth from one side to the other, as if the
Feeders could jump out at any moment and make her lunch.
    I had resigned myself to silence when she
blurted, “They don’t smell.”
    I looked down at her and realized I was still
grasping her arm in my hand. It was almost