Free Ravenous (Book 1 The Ravening Series) by Erica Stevens Page B

did not complain, she did not break down, and she did not cry. She reached the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner. Light was still blazing through the windows, illuminating our way as we shuffled through the downstairs.
       “What are they doing?” Abby asked softly. I shook my head; I had no answer for that. There was none. “They ’re going to kill us.”
   I agreed. I just wasn’t going to tell her that. We were almost to the kitchen when the backdoor flew open. I accidently slammed the board into Abby, nearly knocking her over, as she stopped abruptly. My heart lurched in my chest, my throat went instantly dry. I was certain that this was the end, we were going to die. I wanted to grab Abby, wanted to throw her behind me, wanted to keep her safe for as long as possible but I couldn’t reach her with the plywood between us.
       And then someone stepped into the kitchen. I blinked rapidly, trying to get my eyes to focus on the person that was highlighted by the harsh wave of light. Abby was shaking so hard that the board was rattling. Was it one of the aliens? Had they actually come down in order to start retrieving us? “Abby?”
       “Aiden?” she croaked. My heart lurched; my whole body sagged with relief. “Aiden?”
       He stepped further into the room, coming into better view. “Mom?” he whispered.
       “You shouldn ’t have come Aiden,” I breathed. Heartbreak and horror filled me as I realized that he was now trapped with us.
       “Bethany…”
       “You shouldn’t have come Aiden,” I repeated fighting hard to get the words out around the lump of tears clogging my throat.
       “I had to.”
   “We’re going to die.”
       I had feared that it might be true, but saying the words aloud made it a completely devastating reality. It was true. The three of us would not make it out of this house alive. “Bethy…”
       My gaze slid slowly past Aiden, my heart plummeted even further as Bret stepped into the room behind him. “Oh Bret,” I whispered, despair filling me. Not Bret too, I didn’t think I could handle it. He was a part of our family; he was a part of me . He was Aiden’s best friend, Abby’s second brother, and he was here because he loved me unconditionally, and with everything he had. He was going to die because of me, and I had kissed another man just an hour ago. I had never hated myself more. “You shouldn’t have come.”
       He frowned at me, his head tilting to the side. Like Aiden and I, he was fair, but his hair was a much darker blond than ours. “I had to,” he said simply. And it was that simple for him. I felt like a horrible person, guilt churned within me, self hatred momentarily swamped me. I was suddenly grateful that I didn’t have much longer to despise myself.
       “Hurry,” Aiden urged.
       I didn’t say it didn’t matter if we hurried or not. I’d already expressed my opinion on this whole situation. I didn’t need to bring them down any further with my pessimism. And I personally didn’t want to hear the words again, even if I was the one that had uttered them first. “What is going on?” Bret asked softly, his gaze darting toward the well lit front of the house.
       “We pissed them of f,” I muttered. “And now they’re toying with us.”
   Aiden came forward, gently nudging Abby aside as he grabbed the plywood. His gaze locked on our mother, sadness filled his eyes as his head tilted slightly to the side. “Mom,” he murmured. The heartache and misery in his voice was almost more than I could bear.
       “Aiden please, we have to move. Abby by the door there are some bags of food, you need to grab them.” I didn’t think we would make it far, but we would need food if we did, and we had to do something other than stand here. I had to think about something other than our impending demise.
       “Why are you covered in blood?” Aiden demanded sharply.
       I shook my head, not