Free Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) by Jennifer Reynolds Page A

gracefully for the camera. After that, Danielle motioned for the staff to serve the food.
    “Are you hungry?” Ryan asked me as we watched the guests line up to make their plates. Dave’s parents had balked at having a buffet dinner, but Danielle had argued that they were only serving lunch/snack type food and that people could make their own plates. 
    “No,” I said, praying he didn’t hear my rumbling stomach.
    “Yes, you are, but we’ll wait until the line thins. One of those animals might take your arm off if you go for the last piece of something.” He had laughed at this, but considering how much so many of them hated me, I could see it happening.
    When I didn’t laugh, he sobered and said nothing for a long moment. I could feel his eyes on me while I watched Danielle’s every move. She begrudgingly took a few more photos, then made herself a plate of food and sat down at a table full of people.
    “I can take you to her, if you like,” Ryan said, stepping a little closer to me.
    “No. She’s with my parents. They don’t want me, and I don’t want to be near them. Tell Danielle that I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stay for it all,” I said, turning my back on the reception.
    “I’ll tell her no such thing. You’ll stay for what you promised you would stay for. I’ll be by your side the entire time,” he said, reaching out and lightly grabbing my arm and pulling me to him. I wanted to mold my body to his side and rub up against him like a cat.
    “You can’t do that,” I said, referring to both his suggestion that he would be by my side during this event and the way he had wrapped his other hand around my back to rub his thumb along my spine.
    “I can. I can’t promise that no one will say anything to you in my presence. Not all of them fear me the way they do your sister and Dave, but most will be deterred by my presence.”
    “Fear? What do you mean people fear them?” The thought that anyone would be terrified of my sister baffled me.
    “I’ll explain some other time. Now, let’s go get some food.”
    “No, really. I’m not hungry.”
    “Yes, you are. I hear your stomach. It’s been growling since I found you.”
    I started to protest again, but the feel of his hand on my back shut me up. I feared that if I said a word, he would remove his hand, and I didn’t know if I could take the loss of it. He moved me forward, and we walked side-by-side to the end of the short line of guests.
    When it was our turn, he handed me a plate. I took it and put one of the small slices of cake on it since we started at that table first. As we moved down the line, I put a few pieces of fruit and cheese on my plate. I had been standing in the hot sun for nearly an hour, and I didn’t think my stomach could handle anything else.
    I was waiting patiently while Ryan piled everything he could get his hands on onto his plate, when a female voice beside me said, “Are you really going to eat all of that?”
    Smirking and thinking the woman was talking about Ryan’s mound of food, I turned to her. A woman in her mid-fifties stood beside me with a plate nearly as full as Ryan’s plate. I didn’t recognize her, so I assumed she was someone from town, not family. I started to comment, when I realized that she was looking down at my plate and not at Ryan’s. Questioningly, I looked from my plate to Ryan’s to the woman’s. I opened my mouth to comment, but the woman cut me off.
    “Honestly, if you could make more of an effort to watch your weight…”
    Her words cut off at the sound of a low rumble coming from behind me. I shifted slightly and turned into Ryan. When our bodies touched, I felt the rumble coming from his chest. I opened my mouth to question him, but he spoke before I did.
    “Leigh, would you please take a seat. I’ll be with you in a second.” His words were cold and commanding. Disconcerted, I sat my plate down and walked to the end of the line where the drinks were and stopped. I took a