Read Online Her Secret by Tara Fox Hall - Free Book Online Page A

now. Elle had to be
closely guarded, as she was an easy way to get to Danial and Theo,
not to mention me. “We’ll see about you getting those dance lessons
you talked about, okay?”
    “Yes!” Elle shouted. “Can I really?”
    “Maybe,” I said mischievously. “If you’re
good and study hard. Now, what track is that?”
    “A deer. A doe by the weight in the press of
snow, and young.”
    “This one?”
    “A raccoon,” she said, pointing to the small
hand print type of trail in the snow.
    “And this one?” I said, pointing to a fox
track.
    She shot me a perfect copy of Theo’s
long-suffering look. “That’s Warren,” she said as if it was
obvious. “Now what about the lessons?”
    “I’ll talk to your dad about it, if you’ll
tell me about this dream you had.”
    “There was a bad vampire attacking,” she said
fearfully. “It was you and me alone. You fought, but he...he turned
you.”
    “Are you afraid of that happening to me with
Danial?”
    “No,” Elle said quickly. “But in the dream,
when you turned...you came after me.”
    “That’s all movie hype,” I said confidently,
hoping like hell I was right. “When someone becomes a vampire they
aren’t suddenly ravening beasts. That’s a plot device so that
characters can do bad things and then say they had a good reason
for that because they weren’t in control of themselves.”
    “How can you know?” Elle said searchingly.
“You’ve never seen anyone turned.”
    “I’ve been in a position before when I wasn’t
in control of myself,” I uttered, blushing. “I would not have hurt
you, even then. Also, I’ve heard the story of how Danial and Devlin
became vampire and there was no murder or mayhem in it, at least
committed by them.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Sure enough to assure you that your dream
isn’t in danger of coming true. Now let’s head back. I’m
freezing.”
    * * * *
    When we returned to Danial’s house, Theo was
waiting for me, his expression stony.
    “What is it?”
    “Manir has been seen north of here. Danial
wants someone to investigate and take him out if he’s there.”
    “Does it have to be you who goes?”
    “I want to go, Sar. He was going to take you
that night. I owe him for that.”
    “Will you kill him, Theo?” Elle asked
bluntly.
    Theo went to a crouch beside her. “Elle, he
tried to hurt your mom, and your half-brother. He’ll try again,
unless someone stops him. The best way to do that is to kill
him.”
    “Please kill him,” Elle said seriously. “I
don’t want him to hurt Mom or me.”
    He hugged her to him. “He won’t be hurting
anyone ever again. I’ll make sure of that.”
    So much for his big vow never to leave me
alone again . “Should I stay here tonight then? I feel fine, but
I haven’t seen Danial yet to test out how well, um....I am.”
    “No.” Picking up Elle, he rose to his feet.
“Brian is going to take you home, and stay there with you. Should
anything happen, anything at all, he has instructions to call
Terian and for Terian to teleport you to Danial’s home.”
    “Let me down,” Elle said, squirming. “I see
some tracks over there that look like bobcat.”
    Elle ran off. Theo and I walked after her
slowly.
    “I wish she would let me hold her longer,”
Theo said regretfully.
    “She’s not a baby anymore,” I said, putting
my hand on his shoulder. “But you know she loves you.”
    “I know. Most of the time that’s enough. But
I still think about what I missed out on sometimes.”
    I squeezed his shoulder with my hand, but
didn’t speak. There was nothing to say.
    We walked along, taking our time getting
back, and enjoyed perfect autumn scenery. The oak trees alone
retained their leaves, their spreading branches white in places
from the stubborn patches of snow.
    Brian was waiting for me in one of the
Expeditions when we returned.
    “Let me grab my bag,” I said to him.
    “Got it already,” he answered.
    I turned to Theo. “Are you leaving