Star People Legacy by Smith, T.L. (feel good books to read .txt) 📕

military. If you let revenge drive you, you will make mistakes. Honor me, by doing what you were born to do. With a single focus, hunt down this monster and kill it.” Lutz stood up. “Then you can release me, friend.”

He faded away, but I could still feel him. His energy remained, attached to me. I set the cleansing sage on his chest. As he asked, the ritual would have to wait. I let my eyes drift up the face of the cliff.

It would wait until I avenged his death.

I tried to stand up, but realized I wasn’t sitting in the desert over Lutz’ body. I was in a bed. Not my bed. I sat up to get my bearings. The room wasn’t dark, but no lights were on. It took a second to realize it was me. I was glowing like I had after my first dream. Like I did in the desert.

It wasn’t a surprise this time, but the faces staring at me from the side of the bed were. “Daniel, Joey, Frankie, Chucky.” Between them was Casey and he looked three notches past freaked out. “Casey.”

“Din’ah.” My brothers said in unison. Daniel had a smirk on his face. He and Frankie were standing just a tad behind Casey, somewhat blocking him in.

I looked down at my arms. “I can explain.” I tried to brush the glow away, but it didn’t let up. “Well, no I can’t. Daniel, how do I make it stop?”

“You’re asking the wrong person. We don’t glow in the dark. Just the females do.” He snickered. “The Rising will teach you to control this.” He grabbed Joey by the collar. “Let’s leave. Lucy got some ‘splainin’ to do to Ricky.”

His Spanish accent was exaggerated from some old, old 1950s TV series. He started teasing Casey when he learned his real name was Ricardo, though I was certainly no wacky redhead.

Joey grinned. “I’m sure our future brother-in-law’s got a lot of questions.”

“I’m sure he does.” Over their teasing protests, Daniel cleared the room.

CHAPTER

16

A hotel room. “Where are we?”

“Outskirts of town.” Casey moved around to the foot of the bed. “Ahhhh, how long does this last?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t know anything about this until it happened…” I looked at the clock next to the bed. “…yesterday morning.”

“Okay. Does it… hurt?”

“No. It’s a bit warm.” I swung my legs off the bed and stood up. “Maybe a shower will make it go away. I need one anyway.”

“Shower. Joey got us some clothes. Then we talk.”

My backpack was on the chair next to the bed. I fished around and found the camera, handing it to Casey. “I will, but look at the evidence. It’s all in here, or most of it. They’re linked to that truckload of bodies, but I didn’t get that recorded.” I circled around him to get to the bathroom, trying not to touch him. “I’m sorry you had to find out about… whatever this is, this way. Just give me a few minutes. Please.”

“Din’ah!” He called me by my real name as I turned away.

“I know, this isn’t what you expected. I’ll understand if you can’t… do this.”

He grabbed my arm and swung me back to face him. “Are you expecting me to run?”

I couldn’t look at him, not after seeing his expression when I woke up.

“Din’ah. I’m not going anywhere.” He pulled me into his arms, holding me.

I shivered, despite the heat inside my body. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s going to be bad. I don’t want to lose you, too.”

“You won’t.” He caught my face and forced me to look up at him. “I promise.” He gave me a kiss, a deep kiss. The kind of kiss that sent a flutter out from my insides, spreading down to make my knees weak. He picked that moment to let go, giving me a wicked little grin. “Go get your shower.”

I headed to the little bathroom. Real little. There wasn’t room for a tub, but I didn’t need one. I stripped off my BDU pants, the pant leg ripped and bloody. Wait… I’d been wounded. My clothes proved it, but all there was on my leg was dried blood and a raw strip of reddened flesh, instead of an open wound.

I poked at it. It stung, almost as bad as an open wound might. But it wasn’t open anymore.

Where I poked, my flesh glowed brighter. Was aggravating the wound sending more energy to the area? “Okay. I guess that’s a benefit.”

I stepped into a cold shower and turned it to scalding, but lukewarm was the best I got. It took a while, with the irregular sprinkling of water, to wash the sweat and dirt off. Just as I was getting ready to reach out for the cheap hotel shampoo, Casey shoved my favorite brand through the curtain, along with my conditioner.

Silently I thanked Joey for thinking to grab them.

With the trickling water it took twice as long to get my hair washed, about as long as it took to chill me to the bone. The glow was gone when I opened my eyes. I was human again as I stepped out of the shower and wrapped myself in the only towels they provided. Barely dish towels. I reminded myself… cheap hotel.

In the mirror I could see my eyes were puffy. I’d cried when Casey found me and in my dream as Lutz tried to comfort me. I never cry. Between my brothers and the Marines, I’d learned not to cry, no matter how bad things got. But I’d passed ‘no matter how bad’ by miles, so I didn’t chide myself for letting go.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Casey was on the phone. “Yes, sir. I appreciate this. With this current case I can’t be there for a day or two.” A moment of silence. “Yeah, her partner will enjoy it and maybe learn a little more about the locals. Never hurts, right?” He nodded, holding a