Tangled Innocence Read Online Free PDF Page A

he hoped so, but he let her keep those thoughts
to herself.
    For now.
    “When the lightning hit,” he began and hoped he was going in
the best direction, “you and the others started your transformations.”
    Nadie nodded as her eyes slid to Jace.
    “He knows about what happened, Nadie. There aren’t many
secrets between me and Jace.”
    Her eyes widened, and she let out an “oh.”
    Jace’s gaze met his, and Dante let out a breath. “I’m
getting ahead of myself here.”
    “And yet you’re not getting anywhere,” Nadie mumbled, and
Dante choked off a laugh. He loved it when Nadie spoke her mind and actually
used the attitude she was born with rather than the quiet one she tried to pull
off.
    It hadn’t helped that he’d had to put distance between them
after the lightning struck. It had taken all of his control not to claim her as
his right then.
    If he had, though, it would have been for naught.
    If he had, he’d have left Jace behind, not completing the
mating in truth and only hurting the three of them more.
    Only Nadie hadn’t known that.
    “No, I guess I’m not. Well, shit, okay. So when the lightning
hit, you were able to start to feel what it was like to be a paranormal.”
    She shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I still have no idea
what I would turn into if I...uh”—she blushed—“completed the mating with my
true half.”
    He nodded, knowing this was where it got tricky. “You’ve
been feeling a pull though. Right? And even a little weak.” The last part was a
partial lie. He knew she’d been feeling a hell of a lot more than weak when it came to their proximity to
one another.
    He’d stayed away from her for a reason, and yet no matter
what he’d done, it hadn’t been enough.
    She narrowed her eyes, and the dragon within him rumbled,
ready to take the brunt of what would come next.
    “You’re my true half, my mate, Nadie.”
    Her face didn’t change. She didn’t even bat an eyelash. He
watched the rise and fall of her chest but didn’t breathe with her.
    “Nadie? Are you okay?” Jace asked.
    She blinked at him then stood, forcing Jace and Dante to
stand with her. The two of them towered over her small stature, yet she didn’t
look scared.
    No, she looked fucking pissed.
    “You’ve got to be
kidding me. You just now tell me I’m your mate, and yet you’ve known for how
long? No, don’t bother. I’ve known since the lightning hit my body who you
were. I knew then that we could have something more, something worth the pain,
weakness, and unknown. I could have loved you more than anything and anyone in
the world. Can’t you understand that? It might have taken Lily and Shade’s
courtship for everyone to make complete sense of all this, but I knew that you
were meant to be something to me. Or at least that’s what I thought. You would
have known from the start, Dante. You would have known since I walked in here
with the others and had to wear that damn hand stamp because I wasn’t even old
enough to drink. Yet you’ve done nothing. Even when you must have figured out
that I knew we’d be something together, you didn’t step up.”
    He opened his mouth to speak, but her look forced him to
stop.
    “Shut it. I want my say. I had to stand by and watch three
of my friends fall in love with mates who fought for them. Yeah, Ambrose took
his sweet time, but that’s because he didn’t think he was good enough for her.
Don’t lie to me and tell me you’re thinking the same thing because we both know
that’s not true. You’re the one who stood on Jamie’s side when Ambrose needed
to grovel, so that couldn’t be it.
    “No, all of this means that, no matter what fate wanted, you
didn’t want me. Fine. I get it. Whatever. I’ll deal. I’ve been dealing since I
walked in here and saw you.”
    Her body shuddered, but Dante couldn’t speak. The pain
radiating off her wasn’t the physical kind he could heal—had been healing since
the lightning strike. No, it was from