Read Kindred for Free Online Page B

Jeep.”
    I grit my teeth and bite the inside of my bottom lip. “Let me make one thing clear right now, alright?” I glare at him from the side and he looks mildly surprised by my reaction to his words. “The next time someone says to me the words ‘get in the Jeep’ or ‘stay in the Jeep’, I swear I’m gonna’ combust.” I point my finger at him. “I’m not staying in the Jeep. If it makes you feel better, I’ll stand right outside of it and even leave the door open in case I have to jump back in, but I’m not staying in it.”
    Isaac barks a laugh. “God, I love you!” he says, breaking a smile in my serious expression.
    A few more minutes and we’re turning north away from the direction of their house.
    “Just out of curiosity,” I say, hiding how nervous I really am, especially after my little rant, “why is it okay to bring me, anyway?”
    Isaac smiles knowingly. I can’t hide anything from him it seems.
    He reaches over and puts his hand on my thigh.
    “Rogues would have no problem using you to get to us. They have no honor,” he says. “The kind challenging us now would never disgrace their name with tactics like that.”
    “So then I’m perfectly safe?” I need more assurance. A lot more.
    “Yeah,” he says, grinning, “If we win.”
    I feel my eyes get bigger.
    “And if you don’t ?”
    Isaac moves his hand farther up my thigh and my body reacts to it instantly. Of course, I don’t let him know that. He’s grinning wider now, full of confidence, which eases my mind somewhat.
    “It’s a possibility,” he says, “but not likely.”
    “How can you be so sure?” I’m still nervous. I doubt anything he says will really change that. “And how do you know they’re not rogues if you don’t even know who they are?”
    “Have a little faith,” he says and then adds as he puts his hand back on the steering wheel, “and they’re not rogues because rogues never challenge anyone; they just attack.”
    I should’ve known that, having experienced it and all.
    We get off the paved Town Farm Road and white dust engulfs the Jeep as the dirt and gravel road extends out ahead. Nathan’s Cruiser is in front of us spinning up even more. I press the buttons to raise both windows but still taste the nuisance coming in through the vents. Our vehicles slip quickly down the bumpy road between engulfing trees on both sides until we shoot out at the end into a clearing. It looks like an abandoned construction zone. The trees have been stripped from this place, leaving a small circular landscape of large rocks and white, chalk-like dirt. Parked in the far corner are two bulldozers that look like they’ve been sitting there for months.
    When we get out of the Jeep, I decide to do exactly what I said I’d do by leaving my door open and standing beside it just in case. I’m not doing it for Isaac. I’m doing it for myself. I swallow hard and brace my hands against the door. I’ve never seen all of Isaac’s brothers in one place before, not even at the Mayfair house. When Nathan and Isaac were in one room, Xavier and Seth would be off somewhere else. And it’s been only on a rare occasion that I’ve ever even spoken to Xavier. I’ve never spoken to Seth.
    I glance over into their vehicles and notice a girlfriend in the front seat of each one (except for Xavier’s—he’s kind of a man-whore and doesn’t believe in having one girlfriend). Apparently, I’m the only one with the stupid switch still on. I move a little closer against the opened door.
    Isaac looks back at me once as if to make sure I’m not going any farther. Yeah, there’s really no need at all for him to worry about that.
    “Where are they?” Xavier says looking with his brothers out at the thick trees encircling us on the ledge. Xavier, being Daisy’s twin, definitely resembles her with that blond hair and soft eyes, but like Isaac and the rest of his brothers, he has that whole savage beauty thing going on.
     Instead