Read Jack Templar and the Lord of the Werewolves (Book #4 of the Templar Chronicles) for Free Online Page B

about her youthful beauty.
    Aquinas looked surprised, but she nodded. “Yes, he tried to convince me I could control it the way he had. With time and hard work. Using certain techniques. He tried to persuade me to use the gift to do good and fight against the Creach using their own powers.”
    “What stopped you?” I asked.
    “Fear, I suppose,” Aquinas said but then shook her head. “No, you know that’s not true. It wasn’t fear; it was jealousy. I knew that Gregor burned inside to exact his revenge against Shakra for what she’d done to him. But I also knew he still loved her in a way he would never love me. I was young, and that hurt me like I’d never been hurt before. I couldn’t imagine living an eternity with that pain.”
    “But you thought you could control it,” I said excitedly. “That wasn’t the reason why you didn’t do it. Gregor must have convinced you he knew how to teach you to control it.”
    Aquinas looked off to the horizon where the sun’s last glow painted the mountain peaks in rich colors. She seemed lost in a memory, and I stood silently for as long a time as I could to let her relive it. Finally, I spoke up.
    “If the roles were reversed, Eva would do anything, try anything, take any risk to save either of us,” I said. “You know that.”
    Aquinas nodded. “Because she can be a fool about such things.”
    “You taught her. You said so yourself,” I offered.
    Aquinas laughed softly. “And sometimes the teacher is reminded of her lesson by the student.”
    “So you’ll try?” I asked.
    She drew in a deep breath, held it, then slowly let it out. “Yes, I’ll try.” She held up a hand. “But I will do it my way, without interference.”
    “All right.”
    “And if I think I’m losing control, and she’s a risk, then I’ll do what must be done.”
    I stared at her, unwilling to agree. “Shakra told me that the five Jerusalem Stones united could save her. Turn her back into… into…”
    “A human,” Aquinas stated plainly.
    “Back into herself,” I said. “So, while you work with her here, I’ll continue my search for the Stones.”
    Aquinas nodded. “The quest remains the same even if the reasons for it have changed. We’ve heard there is fighting among the Creach, a battle for power amongst themselves. The rumor is that the Lord of the Lesser Creach has defeated the Lord of the Zombies. That means there can be two Jerusalem Stones in one place, only we have little information on where they are hiding.”
    “That will be useful eventually,” I said, excited by the idea of two stones being in one spot. “But Shakra told me how I can find Kaeden, the Lord of the Werewolves.”
    Aquinas frowned. “I thought you might save him for later. Kaeden will not part easily with his Stone.”
    “I have to get them all eventually, so it doesn’t matter the order,” I argued.
    “Shakra told you where to find him? I’m surprised she knew. The Lords are cautious, wary of each other as much as they are of humans.”
    “She didn’t exactly tell me where he was, just where I could go to find out.” I explained to Aquinas what Shakra had told me. She didn’t bother to hide her disapproval of my plan, but she didn’t try to persuade me against it. We both had what we wanted. I’d gotten Aquinas’s commitment not to give up on Eva and bought myself some time to collect the other Stones. Aquinas had gotten me back on track for my quest to find the Stones as quickly as possible.
    She held out her arm, and I took it to steady her as she walked toward the main house.
    “We have struck a fair bargain,” Aquinas said, making sure I understood that she realized we’d each used each other for our own ends. “Let us wish success on both of our endeavors.”
    I looked down and saw that she held out at metal cylinder in her hand. The truthsayer. A powerful relic from my last adventure, it had the power to tell whether someone was speaking the truth. Well, at least the