Read Impulse for Free Online

accent.
    “Adam is younger than me,” I pointed out, exploiting the flaw in his comment. Human years didn’t count and I had been a Mage for months longer.
    “Looks like Simon found some competition,” Adam remarked, pointing in the adjacent room.
    A chessboard divided the space between Simon and a young woman. Her body was delicate and thin and covered up in a long-sleeved, pale green dress. She also wasn’t sporting the generous cup size that Simon was known to revere. Her ginger hair was braided against her head, wrapped up tight with pins. Simon rubbed his chin with his aviators still on—something Justus would have also worn had he not thought it would insult the Council. When Vampires were present, people shielded their eyes from their power. Simon lifted his black knight.
    “Poor bastard,” Christian remarked.
    Adam folded his arms. “How so?”
    The woman lifted her rook and took his piece off the board. Simon’s leg began jumping under the table—one of his nervous tics when the game wasn’t going his way.
    “She’s one of Hannah’s progeny.” We all simultaneously glanced at Hannah, who was showing her intolerance at the rowdy behavior of some men across the room. “I think he’s finally met his match,” Christian chuckled. “No one beats her. Ever.”
    When a man walked by with a tray of food, I snagged his arm and scooped up a handful of green olives. Adam’s expression shifted when I tossed one into my mouth.
    “Come with me.” He took my elbow and the olives scattered on the floor.
    “So nice meeting you, Sister Christian,” I yelled over my shoulder. Adam hurried me to the back of the house and I stumbled over my shoes as we entered a darkened room.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “What makes you think anything’s wrong?”
    He lifted my hand. “Your mood ring is black.”
    I snatched it away. “It’s just a ring.”
    Adam folded his arms. “The getup?” he said, nodding at my shirt.
    “I always preferred acceptance to conformity.”
    “Woman, tell me what’s wrong. I know you better than that.”
    “What’s right?”
    I turned my back and walked to the window, admiring the landscape. It looked like an English countryside with manicured shrubbery and paved walkways.
    “I feel useless, that’s what’s wrong. Just when I’m becoming a part of something, I get pushed out of it again. I want the normal things everyone else does, Adam. But I’ll never have my life back until Nero is caught. I don’t have a job and Justus won’t let me in on the investigation. I sit around all day and read. Justus tries to get me to work out, but I don’t even feel like doing that anymore.”
    He sighed and groaned all at once. “So not much is new?”
    I threw my head back and closed my eyes. “Do you ever wonder where we’d be right now if none of this ever happened?”
    “How are things with Logan?”
    I whirled around. “That reminds me… I heard through the grapevine that you have a sweetheart.”
    Adam massaged the back of his neck with a nervous hand and that’s when I knew it wasn’t a rumor. “Do me a favor and go easy on her.”
    Justus used the same tone when he was afraid I would embarrass him. I sagged.
    “I’m really happy for you, Adam. I’m not out to sabotage your love life.”
    He smiled warmly, eyes still on the floor. “I care for her,” he admitted. “I’ve waited a long time to find someone who looks at me the way she does. Maybe I am starting to believe in fate.”
    “Adam?”
    We both turned toward the doorway. A silhouette of a lovely woman stepped into view, wearing a ruby-red dress with tiny tassels skimming across her thighs. She was familiar.
    “I was looking for you and the wine.” She leaned against the frame and smiled as he approached.
    “I’ll get it.” He kissed her on the cheek and briskly left the room, not introducing us on purpose.
    “Do I know you?”
    “Kind of,” she said with a melodic wave to her voice. “I’m