Free To Kill An Angel by M. Leighton Page A

her flagrant flirtation, I found that I could not and it was not doing good things for my temperament.  I was becoming more and more irritated by her references to their past.  It was obvious that they’d shared a relationship that was more than simple friendship and even though Bo didn’t remember it, I felt increasingly threatened by it.
    I reminded myself that Bo was a different person now, that he was mine and that we were divinely destined for one another.  No old flame could change that.  But tiny termites of doubt and insecurity began to eat away at the foundation of my confidence, eroding the faith I had in our union.
    Bo’s voice brought me back to the conversation at hand.
    “That still doesn’t explain how you know he’s my brother.”
    “He told me that you were his brother.”
    All eyes turned back to Cade. 
    “And how do you know you’re my brother?”
    He shrugged offhandedly before he spoke.
    “My mother used to talk a lot about my father, Sebastian.  He was basically absent for almost my entire life.  He would drop in every few years and stay for a day or two and then leave.”  Cade’s upper lip curled in bitterness.  “Of course she didn’t mind.  He made sure of that.  Even though she had no memory of it, I knew what he was doing to her.  I saw him do it a couple of times.  He would feed her his blood and tell her all sorts of things, things that would erase all that had happened, all that they’d talked about.  But I heard him.  I knew.”
    “What did he say?  Exactly,” Bo said evenly.
    “One night I heard them talking in her bedroom.  She was asking questions about his life and he was telling her about a son he had with another woman, a boy that he called Boaz, and how that boy was trying to kill him.  Of course, my mother was devastated.  But me?  I only wished that I could be the one to kill him. 
    “I hated him for what he’d done to her.  It’s like he drained more and more of her life away with each visit.  She got worse over time, like she was slowly going insane, and I knew it had something to do with what he was doing to her.  The last time he came, I heard him tell her that he had hoped that their child…me…would give him the blood that he needed, but that I hadn’t.  He said he’d had to inject an unborn child.  Said that he’d found one even better, one that might be linked to the Chosen One.  He said that he had no further need of us.”  Cade’s nostrils flared as he tried to contain his hatred of Sebastian.  “She was dead the next morning.  That’s when I found Annika.”
     

 
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    A hush fell over the room, as though we all mourned the death of Cade’s mother.  Annika was the first to break the silence.
    “So, now you know our story.  Your turn.  What happened?”
    After a long pause, Bo sighed deeply and dropped down onto the couch beside me.  Tiredly, he rubbed a hand across his face.  Before I could stop myself, I reached out and pushed a stray piece of sable hair away from his cheek.  He leaned back against the cushions and, without glancing in my direction, took my hand and laid it on his thigh, covering it with his own.
    “Honestly, I have no idea.”
    A smile flickered across Annika’s face before she realized that he was serious.
    “What do you mean you have no idea?”
    “Exactly that.  I have no memory of my life before three years ago.”
    “What?” she asked in disbelief.
    “It’s true.”
    Annika frowned.  “Then how did you remember me?”
    A pregnant silence stretched across the room as Bo struggled to find an answer.  I scanned the faces, taking in Cade’s eyes, narrowed in suspicion, and Annika’s eyes as they sparked with the light of hope.  When Bo glanced at me, I saw that his were filled with regret.  My only question was:  regret for what?
    When Bo answered, his voice was low, uncertain.  “I have no idea.”
    A satisfied grin twitched at the corners of Annika’s