Page 1 of Born Free

CHAPTERONE

Brother.

That word slams against my brain with the force of a full freight train bound for the west coast at top speed.

I’ve been looking for you for a long time.

I look into the face of the man standing at the base of the stairs to the Nocturne. Sharp features. Wild black hair. Vivid blue eyes.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

“I could count the number of times I’ve seen you speechless on one hand,” the man says. There’s a coy smile on his lips. Something dangerous and conniving. But there’s also surprise and confusion. “Twenty-four years apart, and you don’t have a single word for me?”

The audience, which is the entire vampire and gifted population of Chicago, several hundred people, wait with bated breath at the entry to the Nocturne. I know each of their eyes is fixed on that crown in the man’s hand, and every one of them is terrified of what it means.

“Sounds like we need to talk,” Roman says. His poker face is a lot better than mine would be. He’s not giving anything away, not the fact that he has no damn idea who this man is that just called him brother, not the fact that he doesn’t know why the man just tried to offer him a crown. “But not here.”

The man steps forward without hesitating, his entire crew of seven moving with him. Up the stairs, I see Elena and Mason step forward. Something big is about to happen, and as council members, surely, they should be involved.

But subtly, Roman shakes his headno. It’s a clear message to stay.

When Roman’s eyes slide over to me, I see it there. He wants me to stay, too. To leave whatever mess this is to him.

But like the stubborn pain in the ass I am, I take his hand, and there’s not a chance on this earth anyone would be able to pry us apart, human or vampire.

I’m not letting Roman go anywhere with these people alone.

He squeezes my hand. And it’s not a reassuring squeeze. It’s awhy are you so damn stubbornsqueeze.

We all turn from the scene at the Nocturne. The night has taken some insane twists and turns. Just half an hour ago, I was being introduced to the population as the newest council member, Roman singing my praises as the one who saved them all. Then Elena was telling me I was in love with Roman.

In a confused panic, I’d fled the building.

Roman had come after me and things got deep, heavy. Until a stranger said “Orlando” needed a word. The man ended up dead. Oops.

And then, holy shit, Roman was confessing his feelings, and then I don’t even know who started it, but suddenly our lips and hands were all over each other.

It was the most earth-shaking kiss I’d ever had in my life.

And now, we have a pack of vampires following a few paces behind us, and one of them is calling Romanbrother.

Only, Roman doesn’t remember who he was before he Resurrected. He woke up in a landfill, brutally murdered, stabbed in the back. He couldn’t remember where he was from. Who his family was. He doesn’t even know his real name.

“Where?” I whisper as quietly as I can.

“Can we go to your apartment?” he asks in barely audible words.

I nod. It seems odd for half a second, but I realize almost immediately that there’s nowhere else that would be safe. The entire goal of being here in Chicago is to keep this place a secret. To keep it safe. It’s a mecca for the gifted and those who want to stay out of the Royal system.

We can’t go to the club. Yes, it’s closed, because basically every vampire in the city was at my introduction party. But the moment any vampire walks in, they’ll smell just how many other vampires frequent the place. We don’t need any red flags right now.

We can’t go to Roman’s secret church. All the security systems will draw questions.

Obviously, we had to get away from the Nocturne as fast as possible.

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