Read The BlackBurne Legacy (The Bloodlines Legacy Series Book 1) for Free Online Page A

you think.” He stabs the piece he just cut and holds it up. “Want to try a bite?”
    “No, thank you.” Uh-uh. No way am I eating bloody meat. Instead, I jam a forkful of eggs in my mouth. They taste delicious. If nothing else, the cooks here know how to make good food. I could eat here every day and die happy.
    The door bursts open, and I look up to see my brother standing there like a crazy person. He’s wearing the same clothes he slept in—shorts and a t-shirt. It doesn’t look like he even brushed his hair. Flip flops complete his outfit. When his eyes light on me, relief floods his face and he all but stomps over to my table.
    “Why didn’t you wake me up before you took off?” he demands, his eyes flaring with the same strange color mine does sometimes. “Do you know how freaked out I was when I woke up and you were gone?”
    “I left you a note, Jase.” I keep my voice calm.
    “Scoot.” He slides in next to me when I move over. “I didn’t see a note. Who’s this?”
    Micah tries to keep the laughter off of his face. “Micah. I met your sister on the sidewalk outside the diner.”
    Jason rubs his bloodshot eyes. He must have jumped up and run. I can only imagine all the terrified thoughts that went through his head when he woke up and I was gone. I’d left a note to keep him from worrying. I bet he just checked my room, saw me gone, and panicked.
    “Here, eat these.” I push my steaming plate of pancakes at him.
    “Morning, sunshine.” Beth Anne is back at our table.
    Jason shoots her a look of irritation. “I’m not in the mood, Beth Anne.”
    “What can I get you, sugar?”
    “Coffee,” he mumbles. “The largest cup of coffee you can find.”
    I munch on a strip of bacon while Beth Anne goes to fetch the coffee pot. Surprisingly, the bacon isn’t hard. It’s soft, but not too soft. Just the way I love it.
    “Alex.” I look over to see Jason giving me his best “Dad” expression, and I cringe. “Wake me up next time you decide to go out before the crack of dawn.”
    “I did leave a note,” I defend myself.
    He runs a hand through his hair. “Just wake me up, okay?”
    “Sure,” I agree, my eyes on the boy across from me.
    Micah looks curious, but refrains from saying anything. His phone chirps and he looks down, reading the message and then typing a quick reply. “I have to head out. Gramps needs me to come help him. It was nice to meet you both.”
    “You too,” I say. He pulls out his wallet and tosses a few bills on the table. He probably has the same thing every morning and knows the price by heart.
    “See you around, Alex.” He gives me another wink before heading out.
    “My, my, aren’t you a busy girl?” Jason teases, and I shove him.
    “No, it’s not like that,” I tell him. Oddly, it’s not like that. I mean, Micah is cute and all, but I’m not crushing on him. He’s familiar, like a good friend. “He was just easy to talk to.”
    “Uh-huh.” Jason digs into my breakfast.
    “I really am sorry you got all freaked, Jase. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
    “It’s a new town, Al.” He turns serious eyes on me. “We don’t know the area. You need to be careful.”
    “Listen to the boy.”
    We both turn to see an old man leaning on his cane about a foot away. He’s wearing a plaid shirt and workman’s pants. His white hair is longish, and he has a scar over his right eye, giving him a sinister expression without meaning to.
    “Where do I know you two from?” he grumbles, mostly to himself.
    “I don’t think you do.” Jason gives the elderly man his full attention. “We just moved here.”
    “You, girl, you look familiar. What’s your name?”
    “Alex Reed.”
    “Reed…” He frowns, thinking. “Aye, now I remember. You’re Alesha’s young’uns.”
    My brother and I both flinch at the sound of our mother’s name. Neither of us speak it if we don’t have to.
    “You know our mother?” I ask. How could he know her?
    “Aye.” The