Free B006P1R39O EBOK by Lorraine Kennedy Page B

believe you! He had no reason to kill my mother.”
    “How can you be so sure of that … why are you defending him?” Nicole was clearly confused by Kathrina’s reaction.
    “She’s still under his spell,” Jordan tried to explain, speaking as if Kathrina wasn’t there.
    “Excuse me!” Kathrina glared at him. “I was never under any kind of spell. Besides … how would you know anything about my mother?”
    “There’s a lot about the ancients that you don’t know.” Jordan stepped closer to her bed.
    “And why should I believe that you are in a position to know these things?”
    “I have read an entire translated version of the book. He admits that he was part of a campaign to kill all born vampires. He views them … you as an abomination.”
    Kathrina felt the wound to her heart more profoundly that she cared to admit. Could it be true that he’d never viewed her as a woman, only as a means to an end?
    “There’s more,” Jordan continued. “Luciano became friends with your mother … when he failed to make her his feeder, he encouraged her to seduce your father.”
    “Why?” Kathrina still couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
    “Because he knew you would be the result of their union … and he needed you.”
    With every word the slayer spoke, Kathrina felt her heart grow heavier.
    Jordan reached out and took her hand. “After you were born, he killed your mother so that the wolves would not discover your existence. But you were taken away before he could come for you. That’s why you were taken to the wolves … in their realm he has no power.”
    “And all of this is in the book?” Kathrina swallowed hard.
    Jordan shook his head. “No, that part is just information that we have acquired over the years. We have always kept tabs on Luciano because he is the most dangerous of all immortals.”
    “If there is any chance that this is true, and we can end the curse … we must try.” Nicole leaned down next to the hospital bed. “We must try and save them.”
    Kathrina could not dismiss the pleading in her sister’s voice. She knew what Nicole was really saying. They must try and save Alec, Darrien … and her cousin Summer.
    What if he was telling the truth? What if they could save those that she loved from the curse of eternal darkness? Could she kill Luciano then?
    She knew that at least part of what she was hearing was true. Lex, her adoptive grandfather had told her how Donavan left her to be raised by the wolves so that she would be safe, but he’d believed that the danger was from his brother, Omar.
    But Luciano didn’t kill her when he could have!
    That was the part that just didn’t fit.
    “Let’s concentrate on Omar first,” Kathrina directed her words to Nicole. She didn’t want to commit to anything concerning Luciano yet. Not until she knew why he’d kept her alive.
    * * *
    Kathrina rolled over for at least the hundredth time that night. No matter how she tried, she just could not get comfortable. Not only was the bed nearly as hard as the floor, but she couldn’t keep away thoughts of Luciano.
    How could she have been so wrong about him?
    The memory of his touch sent a tingling sensation over her entire body. Squeezing her eyes shut, Kathrina tried to chase away the image of his eyes the first time she’d kissed him.
    Yes there had been shock, but there had also been tenderness. Had she only imagined that warmth because that is what she’d wanted to see?
    The door to her room squeaked as it was slowly pushed open. Kathrina pretended to be asleep so that the nurses would not insist on examining her wound. Forcing herself to breathe slow and evenly, she waited for the nurse to finish her routine.
    The last few nights they had been less intrusive when making their rounds. Since she no longer had an IV, the nurses tried not to wake her. They would check her pulse and gently insert the thermometer in her ear. Within a couple minutes the nightshift nurse would be gone and