Free The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) by Lenore Wolfe

And now she was going to go off with him. He didn’t think
it was a good idea.
    And neither did she.
    And what was she thinking,
anyway—to go anywhere with this man? But how could she not? He held
clues to her parents’ disappearance—apparently to both of their
parents’ disappearances.
    How could both of their parents
have disappeared at the same time? She needed to know the answer to
that question. She needed to know what had happened to her parents.
What could have possibly happened to cause them both to disappear?
Whatever it was—it couldn’t have been good. She frowned.
    She didn’t believe in
coincidences.
    And it was a mighty strange
coincidence, wasn’t it—that a fourteen-year-old boy was forced to
transform—to take his jungle form so early in his life—when all the
others had to wait to reach their majority? And then to have two
sets of parents just disappear, right off the map.
    No. Jes didn’t believe in
coincidences. Especially when she was sure—these occurrences were
not a coincidence at all.
    She frowned again. But who could
have known he could be forced to change early? Or had they known it
could happen? Perhaps they hadn’t been trying to get him to
transform at all….
    But that would mean—they’d been
trying to kill him….
    That thought made Jes tremble. In
fact, she started trembling so hard, she had to sit down.
They had nearly
succeeded in killing him. But why would they do it?
    And why was she always so hard on
him anyway? He’d been fourteen years’ old. Anyone would back him up
on what he’d had to do.
    And be upset with her calling him a
murderer.
    Because, she thought, the Jaguar People were supposed to protect the humans.
    And he had left her
behind , a little voice said in the back of
her mind.
    Okay, she
admitted to herself—so maybe she didn’t have a problem with him
defending himself—at all. Maybe she just felt betrayed.
    It couldn’t be that easy! She had
been hunting him for years!
    Resolutely, she turned her
attention back to why they had been trying to kill him in the first
place. Had they been sent to kill him—on purpose?
    That couldn’t be right.
That couldn’t have been what they were trying to do. Yes, the gangbangers
would have been up for it. They hated him. But why would someone
want to hire them to do such a thing?
    Justice wasn’t the only one who was
determined to have answers. She was just as determined to find her
parents as he was to find his. And why shouldn’t they be? Anyone
would—wouldn’t they?
    Was she only making excuses for
going with him?
    No. She was sure anyone in her
position would do the same. So she would go.
    But why
midnight ?
     
     
     

Chapter Eight
    Jes
    Justice couldn’t believe he was
doing this. He didn’t need to do this. In
fact, he didn’t have time to do this, but he had felt compelled to
do so. This was the time that he and his sisters had banked on him
finding their opportunity—their chance.
    He needed time with Jes. He needed
to get through to her; he couldn’t bear her hate. He couldn’t take
it. He could take his own; he could take anyone else’s—for what
he’d done, for what he had continued to do.
    But he couldn’t take her hate—not from
her.
    He needed time—time to get her to
realize she was his life mate—and without her—well, she may as well
take the air that he breathed, as do that to him.
    He’d been forced to leave her
once.
    He would never do so
again—especially after seeing her walking toward him… no—make
that stalking toward him—stark naked.
    He’d had no choice but to leave her
the first time, all those years ago. Had no choice but to walk
away, again, the other night.
    Not with a human standing there
watching him.
    And not with the terrible things
Jes had been thinking about him.
    He looked over at her now. She
hadn’t said a word since they’d started driving. He wished she’d
say something—anything. But she hadn’t said a word.
    And she continued to think