Read Online Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance by Tara Shuler - Free Book Online Page B

I didn’t love. It wouldn’t be right.
    It was all far too much to deal with. I hoped
that perhaps stepping back for some breathing room might help me
figure out a few things. I knew I would eventually have to hurt someone , but I couldn’t keep hurting everyone . It
wasn’t fair to anyone to keep doing that.
    Max had made things a little easier. He was
probably right. Although I cared for him very deeply, I didn’t
think it was love. Kissing him was incredible, but I became
convinced it was just infatuation. He was attractive, and kind, and
I’d just been sucked in by it. Now that he was leaving, things
would at least be a little easier. I would miss him, but at least
he promised to stay in touch.
    Kai was going to be a problem. The way he’d
flounced out of the library in a fit really stung. He was always
doing that. Every time he’d get a little upset, he’d storm off in a
huff. Frankly, it was becoming tiring. I had lost count of how many
times he’d run off.
    Then again, it was probably my fault. He’d
been through unspeakable torment from his mother, and he’d been
alone all his life. He needed me. I wanted to badly to be there for
him, and to never hurt him again. But I couldn’t let that cloud my
judgment. I needed to make the right decision for me , not
what I thought I needed to do based on pity. It would hurt Kai more
in the long run if I chose him solely because I pitied him than it
would if I just ended it now. He deserved to be with someone who
truly loved him, and I wasn’t yet sure if I could do that.
    And finally, there was Alexi. Liam had cast
some relatively serious doubt over Alexi’s true nature. It was
driving me crazy to think that perhaps Alexi had been deceiving me
in some way. He was, I thought, one of the most mature and sincere
people I’d ever met.
    I flung myself backwards onto my bed and
sighed loudly at the ceiling. This would have been too much to deal
with even if we weren’t battling against Dmitri and his wraiths.
But I needed a clear head if we were going to defeat him, so I had
to shove my relationship difficulties aside for the moment.
    I decided to throw myself into training.
Maybe in the process of improving my abilities, I’d become a
stronger person inside, as well. I knew I had some serious growing
up to do. At eighteen, I may have been legally an adult, but inside
I was still very much a little girl.

Chapter Six – Best Friend
     
    For the next several weeks, I went through
some intense training sessions. I worked with Liam to train several
of my abilities, and it was actually a lot of fun. When he’d
originally started training me, it had been a nightmare. He would
have to be electrocuted in order to provoke an emotional response
in me. Seeing him in severe pain made me so upset, I would have
done anything to stop it. Thus, I was able to channel my abilities
effectively. Before long, I learned to do it without him being put
through that kind of pain.
    Now, training with Liam was a breath of fresh
air. He was actually a lot of fun to be around. With Liam, things
were lighthearted, and fun. I never had to worry about hurting his
feelings, and I wasn’t afraid he’d suddenly try to kiss me or
anything awkward. We could enjoy our time together without worrying
about anything romantic getting in the way.
    Liam was actually a riot. We laughed more
than we trained, although that really should have been a problem.
We had some serious issues facing us, but somehow, Liam made me
forget all about Dmitri, and wraiths, and the looming threat of
being kidnapped or killed. He even made me forget, if only
temporarily, about Max leaving and me getting the cold-shoulder
from Kai.
    Max had left a few days after he told me
about his father. True to his word, he kept in touch. He called me
every day to ask how my training was going, and to tell me how his
was progressing. Our talks were short, but nice.
    Kai had been avoiding me completely. He
hadn’t left the compound, which