Page 128 of Prodigal Son

“Good.” The bishop drew in a breath and handed the journal to Adriel. “You’ll want to read this.”

The female reached for the book and frowned. The second she glanced at the page it fell out of her hands and she was on her feet. “No.”

“Relax,” Eleazar said in a calming voice. “These records were written years ago and nothing has happened.”

“I don’t get it. You know him? And he’s like you? He’s…?” Dane’s frown deepened. “But I’m…” He shook his head. “Why do you all look like that? Who is he?” He turned to Cain. “Do you know him?”

“I’m as clueless as you are.”

“Was he, like, a serial killer or something?”

“Or something,” Adriel muttered. She turned to Eleazar and wrung her hands. “What does this mean? The boy is barely an adult. If Cer is his father…”

“He’s been free for nearly two decades.”

“How is that possible? We buried him.”

“Humans are always excavating and building. Someone likely dug up his grave and paid for their mistake with their life.”

“Grave?” Dane interrupted. “What the hell are you people talking about?”

Adriel rushed to the door. “I need to leave.”

The bishop blocked her exit. “Adriel, if he intended to do you harm, he would have found you by now.”

She paced the room with agitated steps. “Where the bloody hell is my bonnet?” Realizing it was still on her head, she uncharacteristically burst into tears. “I will not go back to that, Eleazar. Do you hear me? I will not! And no council of arrogant males will decide my fate for me!”

The bishop clasped her narrow shoulders and shook her. “Adriel, get ahold of yourself. Do you honestly believe any elder would send you back to such a cruel male? For God’s sake, your son is on the bench. Christian loves you and will always protect you, as will I.”

Her trembling fingers went to her bone-colored lips. “Dear Lord, Christian. He will find out. He will know. What if he blames me for denying him a father? I have to speak to him—”

“First, you must calm down.”

“He is my mate, Eleazar!” The room silenced and Adriel dropped into a vacant chair, her voice trembling. “After what I did to escape him…” Her quivering fingers went to her lips. “He will end me.”

“Somebody tell me what the hell is going on!” Dane shouted, tired of being ignored.

“Well, Dane,” Larissa said, taking his hand while the bishop comforted Adriel. “You may have lost two mothers, a father, and part of your sister, but I believe we’ve found your half-brother.”

CHAPTER 37

Sex would be happening tonight. Destiny was meeting Louis at the swanky little bar down the street from her work. Louis, a station manager who had been asking her out for months, wasn’t overly good-looking, but he had nice eyes, dressed okay, made a decent living, and had begged her for a date enough to convince her he wouldn’t be a quitter in bed.

She could do it with Louis. Sure. She wasn’t expecting fireworks, but sex with anything that didn’t require batteries or a charge was a step in the right direction.

Who was she kidding? Louis was so not her type, but concerned that her body had gone into retrograde and her virginity had grown back, forced her to make a move. That and the fact that when her vibrator broke and she reacted as if a friend died, had been a reality check to say the least.

In the past year, she had slowly put on an additional fifteen pounds. She needed to join a gym and stop ending every social fiasco with a pint of double dunker ice cream. It didn’t help that her friends were all married and now either had children or were expecting.

The moment she entered the bar, Louis spotted her and waved. He hustled to the door to greet her, and she realized Louis never walked anywhere. He always hustled.

“You made it.” He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. “Can I order you a drink? What do you like? Is the food any good here? I haven’t eaten since lunch, so I already ordered a beer. The waitress should be back with it soon. Gotta keep my sugar up or I get the shakes.” He hustled her back to the high-top table he’d snagged at the bar. “Aren’t you glad it’s Friday? Man, this was a long week.”

He wasn’t the kind of guy who required answers.

The waitress delivered his beer, and she ordered a glass of Moscato. For the next hour she simply nodded and sipped her wine as he prattled on.

“So, I’m on this zombie kick right now. I’ve read, like, five series in the past month. Totally hooked. I was doing the vampire thing for a while, but now I’m on zombies. You like sci-fi? Bet you were really into those Twilight books.”

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