Redeeming Rue AP4 Read Online Free PDF

can’t work tonight.”
    She followed him out into the bar and stood just behind him and slightly to the side so she could scan the bar.  Her gaze roamed the patrons quickly, and the moment that she saw two males from her past, her heart almost fell out of her chest.  She clapped her hand over her mouth to smother the gasp of surprise and couldn’t believe she was staring at her cousins, Nelson and Rich.  They were part of her parents’ clan, a few years older than her, and ones who had seemed almost happy to watch her punishment be carried out.  Two females were with them, but she didn’t recognize them.
    Rue turned and walked out of the bar and back into Titus’ office.  Lifting her purse from the drawer, she fished her keys from the front pocket and squeezed them in her fist to stop her hand from shaking.
    “I do need to go, Titus.”  Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry in front of her boss.
    He nodded.  “I had Patty eavesdrop inconspicuously, and she said they were talking about a place called Ashland and a ceremony of some sort.  I passed by to drop off some beers to another table and an iPad they were looking at on the table had a map of Indiana on the screen.  It sounds like they’re just passing through, so you should be fine to come back to work on Monday night.  I’ll let you know if they show up again, though.”
    She hugged the big male tightly.  “Thank you, Titus, for everything.”
    “Go on, then, Rue.  Enjoy your weekend and don’t worry about your past out there in the bar.  Just focus on the future for you and your son,” he said gruffly.
    She didn’t leave, though.  She pulled her car around to the front parking lot and noticed a fifth-wheel camper attached to a pick up.  Parking a few rows away, she watched the door, and when her cousins and the females walked out an hour later, she wasn’t surprised when they got into the truck.  She marked the license plate down on an old receipt and watched as the truck pulled out of the parking lot.
    She stared at the entrance to the parking lot for a long time, making sure they didn’t come back, and then she went home.  After showering off the heavy perfume from her skin, she put on a sleep shirt and robe and went out into the family room.  Dom brought her a glass of milk and asked what she was looking up on the computer.
    She explained about seeing her cousins and opened up the Internet program and typed Ashland, Indiana into the search bar.
    “So they’re going to a wedding or something?” Dom asked, looking over her shoulder.
    “Titus said ‘ceremony’ so I’m thinking bonding ceremony.  The clans will gather from all over for a ceremony.  They’re normally performed on Saturdays, so if they’re heading there now, then the ceremony is most likely next weekend.”
    “What’s a bonding ceremony?”
    “That’s usually what the young panthers do when they’ve found their mates, but they’re not twenty-one yet.”
    “Twenty-one?”
    She looked over her shoulder at him and realized how little she’d told him about his heritage.  It hadn’t mattered in a way because they would never be part of a clan again, so she had never bothered to tell him.  Swiveling around to face him, she said, “Panthers don’t mate until they’re twenty-one.”
    His nose wrinkled as he frowned in thought. “So everyone stays a virgin until they’re twenty-one?  Why?”
    “Not everyone holds off on having sex until they meet their mate.  Males and females can be promiscuous if they choose, but once he or she has found a mate, if either of them are younger than twenty-one, then they have to wait to have sex.  It’s just the way of panthers.  If mates meet before they’re twenty-one, they’ll have a bonding ceremony.  The male will ink his mate’s name and his clan name on his back, and he’ll give a ring to the female.”
    “Like a promise ring or an engagement ring?”
    “Exactly.”
    He made a humming sound and looked