Read Online Seduced by Lies by Alex Lux - Free Book Online Page A

Thoughts
     
D RAKE
     

     
     
    there was no such stuff in my thoughts
    — William Shakespeare, Hamlet
     
     
    ANA GIGGLED AND walked a few steps on chubby toddler legs before falling on her bottom. I clapped for her, then picked her up and took her to the couch to cuddle while Sam cooked dinner.
    Our cottage was small, but had two bedrooms, a cozy living room and an attached kitchen. We had what we needed and were only a short walk to the mansion.
    I watched my wife as she stirred the stew and put a few slices of sourdough in the oven to toast with butter and garlic. The scent made my stomach rumble, and Ana patted my belly. “Dada hungry.”
    I laughed and kissed her nose. “That’s right, Daddy’s hungry.”
    Ana’s small hand gripped mine, her trusting eyes, as blue as Sam’s, looked straight into me, and I wondered again what her powers would be. With her genetics, we could only guess, but we knew she’d be remarkable.
    Then I thought of Curtis, and the pain he was in, emotionally and physically.
    “Sam, were you able to read anything else from the Bishop and Ryder?”
    She came in and joined us on the couch while the food finished cooking, and Ana reached for her. “Mama. Hold me.”
    Sam’s face lit up with love and joy as she took our daughter into her arms. “They're sad about Curtis.”
    "I didn't feel that."
    "Sympathy is often logical, not emotional."
    “They must be hiding something,” I said.
    “Maybe,” she said, frowning. “But they focus so much on the present. I wouldn’t know if they had any bad intentions until they'd committed the acts."
    "Is that normal?"
    "Not really. I've only known a few who could stay so focused on just what was right in front of them. But as leaders of the Church, perhaps they're trained in such things."
    I sighed. “I guess that makes sense.”
    “What did you feel from them?” she asked, playing peek-a-boo with Ana.
    “Anxiety, anger, judgment. But that could be from so many things. Emotions are hard to interpret.”
    Sam paused her game and looked at me, eyes haunted. “I did see one thing.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Ryder. You have to be careful around him.” She looked down at Ana, then slipped into her mind-talking mode. He imagined killing you.
    I pulled her and our daughter into my arms. “I don’t need to be a mind-reader to tell that. I could feel his anger at me, though I don’t know why.”
    “Do you worry that the lycan will attack our school?” she asked, again looking at Ana who had snuggled into her arms, sucking on her thumb, eyelids fluttering closed.
    That would make sense. If the lycan was in fact targeting paranormals, an entire school of them would be a prime target. Once again, it seemed all those we cared about were in danger, just for being different. “We’ll have to set up a patrol,” I said. “Those with defensive powers can help.”
    "I hope the shifters catch whoever is doing this."
    "I hope so too," I said. And I hope, once they do, that they’re strong enough to defeat it.

F IFTEEN
     
The Shadow of a Dream
     
R OSE
     

     
     
    Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the very
substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.
    — William Shakespeare, Hamlet
     
     
    BEING IN WOLF form with my family felt so good, despite the reason Derek, Dean, Tammy and I were scouring the woods tonight. In human form I would have been nervous, but as a wolf, the thrill of the hunt consumed me, setting aside all worries about what would happen if we actually found the lycan we hunted.
    We'd found a set of tracks near where Curtis and I had been attacked. They looked like wolf, but larger and longer. We now knew these kinds of tracks to be lycan.
    We followed them, sniffing out the trail and only finding a human scent that wasn't distinct in any way. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I probably wouldn't recognize this scent if I met the person attached to it, despite the fact that I was smelling