THE OTHER HALF OF THE GRAVE
JEANIENE FROST
This ebook is licensed to you for your personal enjoyment only.
This ebook may not be sold, shared, or given away.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The Other Half of the Grave
Copyright © 2022 by Jeaniene Frost
Ebook ISBN: 9781641971928
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
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NYLA Publishing
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Also By Jeaniene Frost
About the Author
1
Author’s Note:
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Readers have long asked me if I’d ever write Bones’s side of the story, and I said no because I didn’t “hear” Bones in my head the same way that I heard Cat. Well, a couple years ago, Bones finally started talking to me, and wow, did he have a lot to say. I thought I knew everything about him, and Bones proved me wrong. Writing this also showed Cat in a brand-new light for me, as well as Ian, Spade, and others. Reliving their story through Bones’s perspective made me laugh, cry, and fall in love with him and Cat all over again. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
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When you read, you’ll notice that I updated the technology to today’s time because I didn’t want to confuse readers by not mentioning things that are commonplace now. I also didn’t want to pull readers out of the story by keeping the now-defunct technology of the early 2000s. Example: Bones had a beeper as a receiver for Cat’s panic alert back in the original version (Gen Z, you’ll have to look up what a “beeper” is.) I laughed out loud when I re-read that part, and it’s not supposed to be a funny scene. So, I thought upgrading the technology was a better choice. I also gave Cat a cell phone in this version. Her not having one back when HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE was first published was unusual, but not unheard of. Today, however, the average middle schooler has a cell phone, so a college student like Cat would definitely have one, too.
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Finally, since this is told through Bones’s point of view, there are slight changes in context and dialog. Anyone who’s been in a relationship knows that couples can have two versions of the same incident, and both will swear that their version is correct. Such is the case with how Bones remembers things versus how Cat did. Hey, I’m not going to tell Bones that he’s wrong. This is his story, and he’s sticking to it.
—Jeaniene Frost
Tonight, Bones hunted.
Devon was his prey. According to Bones’s sources, Devon ran the books for an undead cabal that operated from Mexico all the way to this poor imitation of a high-end nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. Devon was supposed to be here tonight, hence Bones sitting in the frayed, fake-velvet booths of the club’s VIP area. The music was atrocious, and so loud that the humans had to shout in order to hear each other. With a vampire’s heightened senses, the annoying beat felt as if it were being pumped directly into Bones’s skull.
He was, as the cliché went, getting too old for this. At least when it came to frequenting human nightclubs. When it came to hunting, Bones’s two-centuries-plus was to his advantage. The same held true for his other pursuits.
One example of those pursuits flashed a smile at him as she came nearer. She was attractive enough, if he ignored the heavy chemical scent of perfume she’d doused herself with. But he couldn’t ignore the way her eyes were dilated from something other than feminine interest.
“Hi,” she purred, leaning over his table to better display her décolleté. “What do you say to buying me a drink, sexy?”
Shagging might be his favorite pastime, but Bones never touched a woman under the influence of drugs. She was also now blocking his view of the club’s entrance. If Devon slipped in, Bones wouldn’t know it. Normally, he’d let her down gently, but lives were on the line.
“I’d say lay off whatever drugs made your pupils larger than olives,” he replied with a rudeness meant to send her away.
She huffed and straightened, clearing his line of sight to the door. “Bastard,” she snapped before stalking off.