Free Confined (A Tethered Novel, Book 3) by Jennifer Snyder Page A

remained
still, staring directly at him, waiting for some sort of horrible reaction to
rip across his face and words I deserved to hear spew from his mouth any
second, but none of that came.
    Nothing did.
    Instead, a subdued look softened his hard features. No words
passed between his lips for the longest time. I blinked, unsure if I should say
something more or simply remain quiet. Was he a time bomb waiting to go off?
Should I quietly leave the room and give him a moment to let it all soak in?
    “Okay,” he finally said, just when I didn’t think I could
handle the deafening silence between us any longer.
    My chest tightened, and a tingling sensation spread
throughout. Was he serious? I blinked rapidly at him and cocked my head to the
side. I didn’t want to press my luck and have things spiral out of control the
way I’d imagined a million times, but that was not a normal response to
something of this magnitude.
    At least it wouldn’t be for me, had the shoe been on the
other foot.
    “Okay?” I repeated. “Is that all you have to say about it?”
    Kace placed his elbows against his knees and propped his
head up with his hands. “Yeah…okay.” He shrugged, still not meeting my eyes.
“It’s not going to happen again, is it?”
    “Well, no. It hasn’t and it won’t. That’s actually why I
agreed to go through with the initiation in the first place, to break the
tether between us. That and because I wanted to be with you without Theo
clogging up my mind,” I added the last part quickly.
    I should have left the last part out, but I wanted to get
everything in the open. Especially if this was how he was going to handle it.
    “Then okay…let’s move on,” he said with a little nod and a
sharp inhale. “I’m glad you told me, but it’s not something I feel I should
dwell on. I’m sure you’ve beat yourself up enough about it and I don’t need to
add to it.”
    To say I was shocked by his words was an understatement. He
was too mellow; it was as if he was in some sort of trance. Either that or he
was the type who bottled up his feelings, and then released them on a coffee
table once he was alone, smashing it to pieces.
    “I’m not sure what being tethered really means, or how that
works between the two of you, but if becoming initiated will break it and set
things back to normal again, then that’s what we need to focus on,” he said.
    Thank God he wasn’t asking me for answers. I didn’t feel
like it was my place to tell Theo’s mixed-breed secret regarding how he had
saved me and caused the tether to shift into place.
    “Let’s head downstairs,” Kace said. He stood and walked
toward the door without glancing back at me once. Maybe he wasn’t so mellow
about the situation after all.
    I remained where I sat on the love seat for a few more
breaths, wondering what the hell had just happened. I should be feeling relief
from finally revealing my secrets to Kace, but instead, all I felt was utter
confusion.
     
     

     
    When I finally gathered myself up and made it downstairs,
Callie and Kace were standing in my kitchen with Adam.
    “Liquor anyone?” Adam called, holding up a bottle of some
clear-looking liquor he’d just pulled from inside a brown paper bag. “Let’s
make up some drinks before everyone else gets here.”
    “Everyone else?” I asked. I riffled through the stash of
wine and shot glasses my grandmother had hidden away in the cabinet above the
fridge, searching for four tumblers we could use.
    Who else was supposed to be coming to my house tonight? I
swear, if Adam was throwing some sort of Fourth of July party at my house, I
was going to be pissed. I set the glasses on the counter and reached into the
freezer for some ice.
    “I forgot to tell you,” Callie said, as she stepped beside
me to help fill each glass with ice. “Everyone’s parents are coming over
tonight for a Fourth of July barbecue. It’s something we do every year, but
this year is even more special