Read Online Bloodline by MAGGIE SHAYNE - Free Book Online

fine. We’ll trust you to keep your knowledge of us secret. We know you will, because we’re the only hope you have of finding her.”
    Serena nodded. “You’re right about that. I wouldn’t betray your secrets. But I don’t need a few days to think about it.”
    â€œCareful, Serena,” Ginger said. “This is not a decision that can be undone. If you join this sisterhood, you join for good. There’s no going back to your old life.”
    â€œI have no life to go back to. All I had was my baby. And I’ll devote the rest of my life to searching for her and making those who took her pay—and making sure they can’t keep doing this to women like me, to babies like mine.”
    Ginger slid a look at Terry, who shrugged.
    â€œI’m sure,” Serena said, looking from one to the other. “I want to join the Sisterhood of Athena.”
    Ginger nodded. “So be it, then. I’ll make arrangements for the dedication ceremony. But you’ll still need a few days to recover, and to prepare. There are lessons, meditations. But tomorrow is soon enough to begin.” She turned to the other woman.
    â€œTerry, why don’t you show our new sister to her rooms now?”
    The Present
    Ethan opened the rear door of the stable, and it swung wide onto a grassy moonlit meadow, five acres, enclosedby a white wooden fence that seemed to rise and fall with every curve of the ground. A bubbling stream bisected the meadow, providing a supply of fresh water. And beyond the meadow, the trees began, then thickened into a full-blown forest that stretched all the way to the mountains that formed a backdrop to the view.
    He loved it here.
    He went back inside and opened first one stall, then the other. His companions knew without being told that it was their time to romp, and they trotted out of their stalls and straight through the open back door, barely pausing long enough to accept Ethan’s strokes as they went.
    Ethan watched them as they moved. The second they emerged from the building, they tossed their manes and cut loose into a full gallop, whinnying in joy as they raced into the night.
    No one liked being shut in. Being captive. Even knowing they would be released each night, the horses always reacted as if they’d been locked up for years and were just catching their first taste of freedom.
    They felt, he thought, the way he’d felt when he’d escaped from The Farm. The way he still felt, every single evening, when the sun set and he awoke to freedom.
    He took a fork and shovel and moved into the first stall to begin the usual soothing tasks of cleaning the stall and putting down fresh bedding.
    He wouldn’t risk his freedom for anything. Not even for Lilith. God, he wished his brother were here to tell him what the hell to do about her. She could be lying. She could be faking the amnesia. She could have been sent to kill him. It was, after all, inevitable that they would send someone sooner or later. And even if she wasn’t theone, she could have been followed, all the while being totally unaware of it.
    She was a risk. A threat to his freedom. So why the hell hadn’t he sent her packing?
    Lowering his head, he realized why. Because it would do no good. To send her away would risk her telling others where he was. The only way to ensure that never happened would be to keep her here—or kill her.
    He paused in his work, leaning on the shovel’s long handle and closing his eyes. He knew damned good and well that he couldn’t kill her. He’d wronged the woman. He’d been racked with guilt ever since he’d been forced to leave her behind. And he’d wanted to go back for her—but he hadn’t.
    Because he would have had no chance of surviving. Because he hadn’t even known if she was still alive. Because he’d thought if he could only find his brother first, maybe the two of them could save her. And most of