LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

ty-line/>

      Cover Copy

      Is ever lasting love a blessing—or a curse?

      Thanks to their adoptive parents, Allie and Cole have shared an unwavering connection since childhood. Now teenagers, they’ve been told their bond goes deeper than friendship. Allie and Cole are soul mates, destined to fall in love with one another again and again across the ages. For Cole, who remembers the past, the news is welcome. But Allie resists what she sees as a threat to her freedom, a ghost story, perhaps even a fantastical plan designed to control her . . .

      In rebellion, Allie pushes Cole away—leaving him to battle the memories that haunt him and the pain of losing her once and for all. But his absence may prove too much for Allie’s heart to bear. Will she keep fighting the mysterious ties that bind them? Or will she find herself desperately pursuing the very fate she rejected—and encountering obstacles she didn’t expect?

      Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Books by Odessa Gillespie Black

      Cursed

      Ever After

      Ever Bound

      Ever Tempted

      Ever Lasting

      Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

      Ever Lasting

      A Cursed Novel

      Odessa Gillespie Black

      LYRICAL PRESS

      Kensington Publishing Corp.

      www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Copyright

      Lyrical Press books are published by

      Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018

      Copyright © 2016 by Odessa Gillespie Black

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

      All Kensington titles, imprints, and distributed lines are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotion, premiums, fund- raising, and educational or institutional use.

      To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

      Special book excerpts or customized printings can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write or phone the office of the Kensington Special Sales Manager:

      Kensington Publishing Corp.

      119 West 40th Street

      New York, NY 10018

      Attn. Special Sales Department. Phone: 1-800-221-2647.

      Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

      Lyrical Press and the L logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.

      First Electronic Edition: March 2017

      eISBN-13: 978-1-60183-932-9

      eISBN-10: 1-60183-932-4

      First Print Edition March 2017

      ISBN 13: 978-1-60183-934-3

      ISBN 10: 1-60183-934-0

      Printed in the United States of America

      Dedication

      To Rachel Edwards and Shelby Witzel for naming this novel.

      To my family for all their love and support.

      To all the Cole and Allie fans. I couldn’t have done it without you.

      

      Acknowledgements

      First and foremost, I’d like to thank God. Without his grace, wisdom and love, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

      I would like to thank my editor Penny Barber for helping me mold this series into something timeless. I couldn’t have done it without her.

      I’d like to thank all my family and friends for cheerleading me on when times got rough.

      Thank you, Nancy Bloomfield for all the nights spent brainstorming, laughing and giggling as we planned future novels.

      And ultimately, my love and thanks go to Chasity and Chance Moss for the years spent helping me with my editing process, (reading, rereading and reading some more) until I finally had a story I could send to a publisher. Your help was inestimable.

      Chapter 1

      Shelby

      The day Cole stopped trying to torch Allie’s dolls and hide all her toys, my twin sister Kaitlyn and I knew our children had begun a change. It was one we’d foreseen but weren’t prepared to handle. There were so many unknowns in their futures. With a little help from a friend, we’d guided Cole and Allie’s souls into artificially inseminated fetuses, and carried and nourished them as if they were our own naturally born children—even though they were of no blood relation to us or each other.

      When Cole and Allie reached puberty, Cole would remember his century of past lives. Allie would only have hints of déjà vu. Luckily, Kaitlyn and I had a few years before we’d have to explain the curse laid upon them by Allie’s older sister in the 1800s.

      When the kids reached age nine, I had almost completely shut down my mental ties with their thoughts.

      Cole’s thoughts might have helped me be prepared when the time came to tell him about his past, but Cole’s thoughts were his own, and the motherly side of me—which surprised me more and more every day—didn’t want to meddle.

      I was in denial most of the time though. I stayed away from his thoughts so I didn’t have to face what was coming.

      When Cole began stealing long, wistful glances at Allie, it should have been a hint that there was a memory forming behind those normally curious eyes.

      When Allie noticed, she always stuck out her tongue or called him some harmless name she expected would fend off a pending attack on her possessions, but his stares weren’t that of a mischievous little boy plotting the destruction of her dolls and dollhouses.

      If he wasn’t kept under tight supervision, Cole’s transition from my little boy to something more mysterious and dangerous might scare him more than the prospect terrified me.

      As the days sped by, the looks were longer and the torturous attacks on all things girly waned. This was the time a mother would start considering having “The Talk” with her little man, but the talk that I had to consider was much more burdensome than what normal mothers had to contend with.

      Kaitlyn had it easy.

      Her talk with Allie was going to be much more ground shaking, but she had the opportunity to put it off until it was absolutely necessary because in all likelihood, Allie wouldn’t recall that she’d lived past lives.

      Cole’s dark hair was usually mussed up and his dark green eyes bright with curiosity about the world around him. But as of late, his dark expressions and glints of lime green in his gaze would surely lead to a shift that would scare the hell out of him.

      I had to make a decision. Soon.

      Tell him now?

      Or

Скачать книгу