Free Light Shadows by S. L. Jennings Page A

on the other side of me, and I feel Dorian’s hand tense on my shoulder. I can’t think of that right now. And even if I could, that’s Dorian’s issue. Not mine.
    “Morgan this…this is my biological father, Alexander.”
    Alex tips his head, yet doesn’t make a move to come any closer. “Hello, Morgan.”
    “No way,” Morgan gasps. I feel the blood in her veins rush faster and hear her heart rate spike, yet she doesn’t struggle out of my grasp. She’s still receptive.
    “Yes, Morgan. Alexander is my father.”
    Her eyes are wide and animated as she takes in the tall, tanned skin Adonis in front of her. “But he’s so young. And…gorgeous. Not to say that a gorgeous man can’t be your father, but…he’s …” She looks back at me and squints, trying to wrap her head around it. “How? How is that even possible?”
    A sense of fear and exhilaration run through me as I prepare to tell another living soul what I’ve been concealing since all this was sprung on me a year ago. There were times where I felt so alone in this because I had virtually no one to talk to. And now…now I get my best friend.
    “Morgan, the four of us—me, Dorian, Alexander and Niko—aren’t exactly human.”
    “What?” Her heartbeat stutters, and I feel a slight tremble in her hands. Dorian gives my shoulder a squeeze, telling me that my hold is slipping. I lock eyes with Morgan and push my influence just a little deeper into her mind. Just enough to calm her so she can digest what I’m saying.
    “We’re…different. Special. And we have certain abilities. Immortality is one of them.”
    She looks up to the beautiful creatures standing before us, modern gods disguised in dark designer threads. Right now, she sees features so stunning that they could have been painted by da Vinci, and bodies that even Michelangelo couldn’t sculpt without blushing. That’s what they want her to see. That’s what they had hoped she—and everyone else—would only see.
    “But...their faces…” She squeezes my hands so hard that her knuckles turn white. Terror creeps back onto her face, but I don’t push it away. I let her feel it. I let her own her emotions. They aren’t mine to manipulate or steal away. “Just minutes ago, they were monsters. I saw them with my own eyes. I don’t understand.”
    I smile, hoping to ease her trepidation, but she doesn’t return the sentiment. Her gaze just keeps jumping from me to the men standing behind me, mirroring their frustration.
    “Are you like them? Are you telling me you’re like them, Gabs?” she asks, accusation in her voice.
    “I am,” I nod. “But different.”
    “But you’re not a monster, are you? You don’t look like them.” She blinks rapidly and frowns, as if she is trying to see who I truly am. As if she hoping to get a glimpse of my own shade of evil.
    Morgan tries to pull her hands away, but I squeeze them with more pressure, refusing to let her escape my hold. “They aren’t monsters, Morgan. They helped you. They helped me. You just have to trust me on this.”
    “Trust you? How can I trust you, Gabs? You’re telling me you aren’t even human! What are you—some type of alien or a vampire or some bullshit like that? Do you sparkle in the damn sun? Do you turn into an oversized mutt or something? Shit, are you even alive?”
    I feel Niko’s hand on my other shoulder. “Gabs,” he warns, urging me to strip away Morgan’s rising anxiety. I shrug it off, hoping…praying…I can get through to her. That somewhere underneath all her skepticism, that she loves me enough to know that she can trust me wholeheartedly. I don’t want to take away her free will or manipulate her emotions—I won’t do to her what had been done to me. Her acceptance of me needs to be organic.
    “Listen, Morgan. It’s not what you think. They…we…aren’t aliens or vampires or anything like that.” I pause to take a breath, frantically searching for the words without sounding