Evernight (The Night Watchmen Series Book 2)

by Candace Knoebel

  Not really.

  I have to open my stinging eyes because I see my parent’s faces when they close. It’s their smiles, their love, and the sacrifices they made just to keep me safe. It’s the fact that because of me… because of our Coven… because of who we are, Primeval, that they’re gone. That they left me to figure this out all on my own.

  And on some level, that’s what Jaxen has felt his entire teen-to-adult life. And now he’s being forced to face it head-on, and it scares the crap out of him.

  “What if I can’t forgive her?” he says, his voice choked with raw emotion.

  “No one expects you to,” I say softly, running my hands through the back of his hair, holding him tighter to me. “Just hear her out. That’s all you have to do.”

  He tugs in a stifled breath and pulls himself out of the hug, forcing strength back into his stance. Pulling himself back together like he always does. “Yeah,” he relents. He ruffles his hands through his hair, exhaling with a loud grunt. “Why do I always get so emotional when I think about her?”

  I tilt my head to the side. “Because she’s your mom, Jax, and you love her. It’s okay to love her. It’s okay to hurt because of her. It’s okay.”

  Dropping his hands to his side, his face softens. He runs his hands along my cheeks until they’re safely wrapped around my neck, and then pulls me in for a kiss. Not a knock-your-socks-off kind of kiss, but the kind that tells me he loves me. The kind that only he could give me.

  When he’s done, he kisses my cheek, my nose, and then my forehead. “Words can’t touch what I feel for you.”

  I place my hand over his rapidly beating heart. “They don’t have to.”

  I’d like to thank Shannon L. Dearing for providing the first name, Charles Shields for providing the middle name, and Wanda Greene-Swafford for providing me with the last name for High Priest Seamus Everett Sullivan.

  I’d like to thank my beta readers Pamela, Caissy, Cherie, Joy, Megan, Sabina, Tarnya, and Wanda for taking the time to read Evernight. Your priceless advice helped clean it up before it landed in the lap of my magnificent editor Cynthia. I’d also like to thank Sonya Loveday, as always, for remaining by my side and talking me through every single Faye-induced meltdown I’ve had. I’d like to thank my mom, and my husband for being the support that carries me through the constant creative battle. I’d also like to thank every fan and every reader for entering this world that haunts my every moment.

  Candace Knoebel is the award-winning author of Born in Flames—book one in a young adult fantasy trilogy. She discovered in 2009 through lunch breaks and late nights after putting her kids to bed, a world where she could escape the ever-pressing days of an eight to five Purgatory. And an outlet for all the voices residing in her head.

  Published by 48fourteen in 2012, Born in Flames went on to win Turning the Pages Book of the Year award in February of 2013. In January of 2014, the last book in the trilogy, From the Embers, was released, thusly completing the trilogy. She now works on the Night Watchmen Series, while guzzling Red Bulls and pretending to be a ninja on Heelys.

  You can visit her online at www.candaceknoebel.com

  or

  https://www.facebook.com/candaceknoebel

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  ♥ Candace knoebel