Taken (Ava Delaney #4) Read Online Free PDF

well.”
    “Still in the
cells, you mean.”
    He shrugged.
“The heart still beats.”
    “And what about
the other candidate? The one that went missing? Gideon come up with
the goods yet?”
    “He claims it’s
a false rumour, that there was only one candidate other than Becca.
Talk of another was merely a mistake made by one of the Guardians.
Of course, they’re dead now, so we can’t exactly clarify it.”
    “Convenient. A
lot like the way he got off scot-free after everything he did.” I
glared at Gabe, still annoyed by the fact that the vampire Gideon
had managed to avoid his own trial, all because he had helped out
during the Becca fiasco. As if he hadn’t been the one to unleash
her on the world. As if he hadn’t used the vampire formula to
create a monster. And it wasn’t as though he actually helped get
rid of her.
    “Not everything
is in my hands,” he said, but he looked pretty pissed at the
reminder.
    “Can I go, or
do you have any other orders for me?”
    He pinched my
wrist, right on the burn, until I squirmed from the pain. “What did
you promise them?” he hissed through clenched teeth.
    “Safe passage.
I don’t plan on standing by and watching slavery happen.” I
wriggled out of his reach. “I’m doing what you should be
doing.”
    “As long as you
stay alive long enough to repay the favours you owe me, too.”
    He let me go
and allowed me to storm out as if I had stood up to him. I hadn’t.
We both knew I said what he let me say and did what he let me do.
Of everyone, he really did own me because he held my life in his
hands. He also held other lives in his hands. He had made it clear
more than once that he would happily send me back to the cells if I
didn’t do his bidding.
    One day, I
would be free, too. That was the deal I made with myself.
     

Chapter
Four
     
    Two nights
later, I ordered some Chinese takeaway and tidied up a little
before the others came over. Esther had gotten the information she
needed from Callista, and she wanted to come up with a plan with
Peter and Carl. She couldn’t turn to her own people; she had to
keep secrets, and we were the secret keepers of late.
    She arrived
first with two cardboard boxes full of stuff and dumped them in the
corner of my living room. “Food first. I could eat a horse.”
    “I really hope
you don’t know anyone who can shift into a horse,” I teased.
    She laughed,
and I realised it was the first laugh I’d heard from her in a
while.
    “How are you
doing?” I asked.
    She shrugged.
“Keeping on. I might as well be a trainee Guardian lately.”
    I handed her a
tray of noodles. “How do you mean?”
    “It’s like they
don’t trust me now. They haven’t demoted me, but my Circle’s still
down two members, we’re not getting any of the meaty assignments,
and even my own brother can’t look me in the eye. I’m sorry.” She
shook her head. “I shouldn’t be unloading like this. I’m just
frustrated.”
    I bit my lip.
Where was Carl when I needed him? “Maybe Aiden’s trying to go easy
on you, to make sure you’re okay.” Her over-protective,
shifter-alpha, Council-consultant of a big brother hated my guts,
but I couldn’t deny that he cared about Esther.
    “I’m already
okay,” she insisted. “Look, let’s just eat and go through the stuff
Callista gave me.”
    I opened my
mouth to try again, but Carl and Peter arrived and took over the
conversation. After we ate, we went through the boxes together.
They were filled with scribbled notes, mostly coded, along with
photographs, newspaper articles, maps, and some books that seemed
eerily familiar. Only when Carl lifted one did I remember that the
exact copy was in Eddie’s shop. Or had been once. The book was the
one Carl had hidden from me, as it contained information about the
more negative aspects of my tainted nephal heritage.
    “Sell that
recently?” I asked Carl.
    “I didn’t. But
I haven’t seen it lately. I’ll check the inventory on Monday