Free Deadly Shades (Shades Series) by H. D. Thomson Page A

with the temperature in the mid-seventies and the sun’s rays warming her skin, Kennedy shivered.
    What the heck. Gingerly, she slipped them on her nose and looked over the parking lot. A blinding light flashed across her vision. The unexpectedness of it sent the breath rushing from her lungs. Just as quickly the light vanished. She yanked the glasses off her nose and peered up at the sky.
    Lightning in the middle of the day? With no cloud in the sky? Impossible. She peered around her but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. As a woman stepped onto the sidewalk in front of her, Kennedy slipped the glasses back on. Both lenses flickered then flared. Kennedy sucked in a breath of shocked air.
    The glasses. It had to be the glasses.
    Light radiated from the woman. Not white or yellow, but orange and blue. The colors pulsed and shimmered. Kennedy looked away. The mall, bushes, trees, cars and parking lot all looked normal but a shade darker—all caused from what would be a any normal pair of sunglasses. She glanced back to the woman. Tension slipped across Kennedy’s spine as the woman walked toward her. The colors swirled and throbbed around her head and shoulders, vibrant, near blinding as the woman drew closer.
    With each step closer, tension crawled across Kennedy’s back. Was the woman normal? Out of this world? Her features seemed diluted against the colors.
    When the woman passed Kennedy on the sidewalk, the light and colors faded and the scene returned to normal... as if she’d been wearing a regular pair of sunglasses.
    Maybe it wasn’t the woman but rather Kennedy who was the problem. Was she hallucinating? She searched the parking lot and each time her gaze came into contact with another human being, color radiated off their body or head. Shades of mauve, yellow, green. Every imaginable color of the rainbow.
    Except for one person—a teenage girl wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt with a neon green logo. Gray pulsed from the girl. No color. Just lifeless shades of gray. What did that mean when everyone else glowed with color?
    Bizarre. Absolutely, completely bizarre. No. More than bizarre.
    She took the glasses off, put them back on, and then off again. Each time looking at some new individual moving along the sidewalk or parking lot. One white, pink with a hint of orange. Another blue, purple and even maroon. Fear had long since disappeared. In its place curiosity gripped her as she sank down on a bench by an ashtray and a potted ficus and rotated the sunglasses in both hands.
    Kennedy didn’t see anything odd in the lenses. Not glass, but not plastic. They might be thicker than usual. Even prescription glasses were made into a thin, hard plastic. For one crazy moment she thought of the movie Terminator and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s sun glasses. Maybe they were out of this world?
    They sure didn’t look computerized. At least she didn’t think so. She searched the frames for any buttons, levers, or switches. The material was as smooth as glass and cool, even cold to the touch, although the day was relatively warm for a December day in the desert.
    Just what the heck had the woman given her?
     

CHAPTER TWO
    The moment Kennedy stepped out of the car by her apartment, she sucked in air and wanted to dive back in the vehicle.
    Leaning a hip and shoulder against the brick wall, Luke stood by the front door of her apartment. Sunlight glittered off his golden hair, caressing the short, spikey strands into the image of a radiant halo.
    He wasn’t her angel. She didn’t believe in angels. At least not the human type. But maybe if she just gave him a chance like he wanted...
    Panic bloomed in her chest. She didn’t want to feel again. It hurt too much.
    He shifted and caught and held her gaze. Twenty yards couldn’t disguise the heat in their depths. She couldn’t take the intensity of his expression and looked away first.
    Two weeks since they’d slept together, since she’d felt his skin against her