The Beast Within (The Elite Series) - By Jonathan Yanez Page 0,28

smelled Randolph on Connor when he met her for her surprise run and blamed it on allergies.

“So, why are they here now? I thought they had their own lands. America wasn’t part of the agreement.”

“Exactly. Boy, once you’re willing to accept the truth, you’re all in, aren’t you?”

Connor gave a sigh of relief. “As crazy as it sounds, even with all this new information, it feels good to finally get some answers. It’s like somehow I always knew there was something more.”

Morrigan nodded. “North and South America, as well as Australia, weren’t in the initial land agreement and that’s exactly why they’re here. As soon as these new countries were discovered, every family claimed them as their own. Meaningless treaties were signed but they have all been broken. Each family has their own agenda with what they plan to do. Not one of them has been so bold as to break one of the four Laws, but I fear that time is coming. Negotiations are failing and every day we’re getting closer and closer to violence.”

“Okay, but what has any of this to do with me?”

His phone went off. The familiar jingle of Katie’s personal ringtone met his ears. He almost ignored it, he was so caught up in the recent revelation of history, but instead he gave Morrigan an imploring look.

“Well, go ahead. It already interrupted us.”

Connor mouthed the word, “Sorry,” as he answered the phone. “Hey, Katie, what’s going on?”

“Connor, Connor, I need you right now! It’s so bad!” She sounded hysterical.

“Wait—hold on—what happened? Where are you?”

“I’m home. Randolph had some man over to the house last night and he—he wasn’t normal. Connor, I saw him. He wasn’t human!”

“Stay there. I’m on my way. Just stay put.”

“Hurry.”

Hanging up his phone, he jumped to his feet and headed for the door.

“I’m sorry, I have to go. Something’s happened to Katie.”

“Yes, I know who Katie and her family are, but there is still so much you don’t know.”

“I have to go. She needs me.”

Morrigan seemed to weigh her options. “I know I’m not going to talk you out of this. Go to her. But be careful, Connor. You have a very important role yet to play in all of this. Here.” She grabbed a pen and paper out of what seemed midair and scribbled down a number. “You call me if you need any help.” She handed him the phone number. “And Connor?”

The way she said his name with such intensity and importance caused his mind to stop racing and he gave her his full attention.

“Your mother doesn’t know about any of this. Let’s keep it that way.”

He nodded, said a hasty good-bye over his shoulder, and was out the door and in his truck in seconds. Connor turned the key, heard the engine catch, and stomped on the gas.

The sky was angry, darker now than it had been that morning, and Connor knew they were hours away from a downpour. The pickaxe, still in the back of his truck, rattled in his truck bed and slammed back and forth between the two wheelwells as he whipped around corners.

Connor ignored the noise as he replayed all the new information over in his head. Laren wasn’t normal, she was an Elite. It all made sense now. She was here on behalf of her family trying to negotiate a peaceful end to the land dispute in America. How old was she then? If they aged at such a slow pace, she could be hundreds of years old. And what was she doing with him? It was a Law that Elites couldn’t be with humans. Why would she even have bothered with him?

These questions, along with many more, ran though his mind. He was actually surprised he had taken in all this new information so well. Soon he was pulling up to Katie’s family estate and what he saw shocked him.

The black gate was in shambles. The left side of the fence was bent outwards like a bulldozer had hit it from the opposite end, and the right side of the gate had broken off its hinges completely, lying face down on the driveway. The sun emblem that was usually on the front gate was nowhere to be found.

Connor drove over the broken piece of fence and up the long driveway to the main house. The grass on either side of the driveway was torn and ripped. Had he not been there the previous day, he would have refused to believe the lawn