Veiled Shadows (The Age of Alandria: Book Two) by Morgan Wylie Page A

realized she was further away than she safely should have been, especially now that the whole world was depending on her—if she truly was who they thought her to be. Yeah, no pressure there or anything! She still couldn’t sort it out in her head, but she couldn’t truthfully deny it either. The weight upon her chest and the echoes of her own mother’s words combined with her own inner stirrings spoke of some element of truth in what was suddenly put upon her. She turned back toward the house. She wasn’t one to run from life and the things it brought her. This was something she had to face, had to talk about with her friends. She just needed to breathe. Panic attacks had come on her before but never that intense or that quick—at least since the night she fled her last foster home.
    Not quite ready to go back into the house, Kaeleigh found a quiet place behind the house—not far but still slightly out of eye shot, where she sat on a rock next to the little stream that trickled in from the river that they had crossed not that long ago. The sun was still high in the sky even though she could feel that late afternoon was on the verge of descent. It was peaceful out here, listening to the trickling of the water as it flowed over smooth stones. Off in the distance, there were snow-capped mountains that reached eerily toward the sky. Something was “off” about them, but she had enough to dwell on at the moment. There was a slight breeze and she lifted her face into it and breathed deep. It was fresh and it caused her to relax until she felt a slight tingle along her spine that made her feel like she was being watched. Willing herself not to panic and look about frantically, she bent down as if she meant to tie her shoe and tried to look behind her through her veil of hair. She couldn’t see anything, but the tingling she felt grew stronger and gave her a mysterious indication that a presence was closing in on her. Suddenly realizing how stupid it was for her to have come out here alone, at least without any kind of weapon, she looked around her for something she could use. Nothing but those smooth stones, so she grabbed a couple of those if for nothing else than to hurl them and cause a brief distraction while she ran back to the house screaming. The sudden image released a nervous laugh out of her even though she kept it silent.
    “That wouldn’t stop me if I intended to harm you,” a deep and familiar voice chuckled as he came out from behind some trees moving silently.
    Letting out a sigh of relief, Kaeleigh dropped the rocks she was clutching. “You could have just told me you were there instead of lurking, Daegan!” Irritated, she added, “How long have you been there?” She was surprised she hadn’t heard him approach, or felt him for that matter. She had been able to feel his presence when he had been around before; she must have really been out of sorts when her panic attack had come on the way that it had.
    Daegan stalked closer to where she was now standing with her hands on her hips. “Long enough to watch your very covert move to try and see who was behind you.” Again he laughed.
    Even though it was at her expense she couldn’t help but smile at the sound of his laugh. It touched something deep inside her and she wanted to hear it again. Kaeleigh wanted to be annoyed, but lost the willfulness behind her remark. “What, that wasn’t stealthy enough for the warrior’s approval?” Then a sudden thought dawned on her and her irritation flared back up. She could tell that he noticed too as his relaxed expression was suddenly on guard again. “You’ve been following me, haven’t you?” Kaeleigh started pacing by the stream in short back and forth steps as she started in on a rant. “You don’t even need to answer that! I can’t even have a few minutes to myself to have a minor breakdown? I wasn’t stupid! I didn’t go that far, which you of course know.” She continued for another minute,