Read Online Dominion 4 - Ascendance by Lissa Kasey - Free Book Online Page B

farthest away from the road. His back to the trees, he gazed out at the street beyond. He looked a little more human than he had a few days ago, but still stared off in the distance with a blank expression.
    I crossed the park, feeling a little uncomfortable with such a secluded setting. He must have gone out of his way to pick something comfortable for me and remote enough for him. The smell of blood made him hungry no matter how much he ate. Gabe told me it was normal, and that Sam would grow used to it. It sounded dangerous to me.
“Hey,” I whispered, afraid of startling him.
    He threw me a tight, forced smile. “Sorry, was just thinking. You look okay.”
“Yeah. I’m okay. How are you doing?” And boy, wasn’t that a loaded question. I sat on the opposite side of the table from him.
“Seiran, you don’t have to be nice to me. I know you don’t like me, and that’s fine. Unlike the rest of the world, I don’t need your divine opinion to exist. I just don’t like seeing Gabe so torn.”
Ouch. Torn. What a word. Would Gabe pick Sam over me? Was that why he wasn’t talking to me? I swallowed hard, wondering if I’d survive him saying it was over. Probably not. My eyes betrayed me by tearing up, forcing me to look away from Sam and into the dark shadows of the tree line. “I don’t dislike you.” The words came out somewhat broken. What the hell did he mean, divine opinion? Since when did anyone value my opinion on anything?
    Sam touched my hand and the power of earth flared up within me, almost bringing on my change to lynx. I had to rip myself away from his touch. Shit, that had been unexpected, but he was nodding. The residue of his power remained on my hand, stinging a little, like an electrical shock.
    “This is my curse, Seiran. No one else can mentor me because I will fuck with their power. Gabe is all I have. If he abandons me, the Tri-Mega will kill me. The Dominion already wants to. Who knows what the Ascendance wants. It’s National Fuck Up Sam Year. Didn’t you know?”
    “My year too.” Something else we had to share. The Ascendance would love Sam. He could probably make more powerful witches without killing anyone. It was a really bad idea for him to be around them. He’d made Kelly the Pillar of water and turned Jamie into a level-four witch, all without trying. I couldn’t imagine what he might do to my power.
    “Look. You know there’s nothing between Gabe and me, right?” His brown eyes looked me over. “I mean, even without the hair, you’re breathtaking. You’re short, pretty, but have a great body. You’re smarter than most guys I know and have crazy power. I’m just Sam. I get it. I don’t know why you don’t.”
    “But Gabe is spending all his time with you.” I probably sounded like a grade-schooler complaining, but Gabe had been hard won for me, even if battling my own emotions was the cause.
    “Not really. He’s always working, trying to make the bar more efficient so he can take more time off. He’s been trying to convince Mike to take a manager role for ages. Then he works when you’re working, just so he can watch you. And good God, he can’t keep his eyes off you. I’m surprised you don’t feel him fucking you with his eyes.” He waved his hand. “These super senses I have really suck. Telling me when people are turned on, angry, or whatever. I hate always knowing. It makes me afraid of how people are affected by me.”
    My brain moved like molasses to process all he said. Gabe watched me when I worked? Like a lover and not like a boss? And he wanted Mike to be manager? I’d wondered why the vampire had been picking up so many hours.
His last words made me study him again. “But you still feel things, your own things, not just other people’s things?”
    “Uh, yeah. Like mad, sad, happy, whatever, yeah. Why?” ’Cause apparently that’s something vampires lose over
    time . Sam probably felt my jealousy and anger, but that didn’t stop him from