Free The Freedom Search: Kai & Gloria's Story (Search Series Book 4) by Amanda Kay Page A

agreed. Tom is head of the panel, then two other vampires, Devon and Roy. If my dad met with the elders it was with Lee, never alone.” He stressed. “After the accident, I was in bed one night and I heard voices, my father’s and one other. I got out of bed and found Roy in our living room. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but when they spotted me I was turned back to bed.” He scratched his head.
    “Is there more?” Her voice was firm, but low.
    “Plenty.” He chuckled. “As I got older more and more vampires started meeting at night at our house. Both Dark Nights and ones like us.” He paused again. “When I was sixteen they allowed me to sit in.”
    “You started buying into what they were saying,” she stated. He nodded at her
    “Because I started buying into it, my friendship with Raiden slowly became strained. When we were all sixteen the Wyrick’s and the Donald’s decided that when the time came, Bethany and Raiden would get married. The only reason was to prevent my family from taking over.”
    “Wait what?” He laughed, maybe he had jumped too far ahead.
    “Okay, so one of the things that I learned when I was allowed to sit in, is that leading family could revert back to Dark Night if they weren’t the family the made the original choice.” She nodded listening intensely to his words so he continued. “Roy had successfully convinced my father that Lee needed to be overthrown and then he could make things right, so to speak.”
    “Did you think it would help?” He shook his head.
    “I bought into it being a mistake to live like this. I bought into Dark Night being the only true vampires. Overthrowing Lee though, wasn’t in my head.”
    “So what happened?”
    “Remember how I said that Bethany and Raiden were promised to each other if push came to shove?” She answered him with a nod. “Well, while Raiden and I were fading fast Bethany was the glue holding us together. I could talk with her and she listened to me.” He stopped because he now had to tell the woman he loved that he loved someone else at one point. He now had to explain how much of an asshole he truly was. He had to explain he was coward. How did he even begin to do that?
     
     
    Gloria
    She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear what he was about to tell her. “I don’t know if I want to hear this,” she whispered.
    He moved close to her again scooping her up onto his lap. “I love you,” he said. She looked into his eyes and saw he said that as a reminder.
    “Did you sleep with Bethany?” He closed his eyes and nodded.
    “It’s more complicated than that though.”
    “How so?” she asked wrapping her arms around his neck staring deep into his eyes.
    He lightly wrapped his arms around her waist, “One thing that I had going for me was a way out. Since my choice was made for me it was decided that when one in my shoes, Raiden’s, and Bethany’s hit twenty-one they would get to decide for themselves. I was all set, Dark Night or bust.” He chuckled. “We were celebrating Bethany’s twenty first birthday. Raiden and I were on edge as usual and Bethany was the string holding us together. She was the one person I could be honest with. Her and her mom filled a void for me.”
    “Lukas, you’re stalling.” She smiled.
    “I absolutely am stalling,” he retorted. “Okay, so Raiden left and it was just Bethany and I. We were talking about Lee and Melanie messing things up. She politely disagreed so I asked her if she was happy. She said yes, but I knew she didn’t want to marry Raiden. There had always been a tension between us that had nothing to do with our differing political views.”
    “So what happened?”
    “I took her virginity and then asked her to go Dark Night with me. Freeing myself and her at the same time. When I got home though, I proudly announced to my dad and Roy that I was going Dark Night and I was told no. Roy told me he would fix everything but they just needed my help. I