Breach (The Blood Bargain) (16 page)

“Have you given any thought to what I said before the snow?”

“Kinda.”
Yes, all the time.
I thought to myself.

“And?”

“I don’t know how that would work.  I’m stuck doing...this.”  I nodded back towards my Dad and Shive, who had begun to grow heated in their bickering.  My father was starting to talk with his hands, a sign I knew to be the beginning of the end of his rope.

“You are never stuck.  I’d say
it’s a free country but...”  The best way to describe it was Rylie...shrugged. Complete with an eye roll.  A gesture that looked so out of place on a six foot soldier, I expected something like that on a thirteen year old but on him.  It was just off.

I giggled, to think the great
Rylie Everen had a sense of humor.

“Just think about it.  You
want to come back?  I will find a way to make it real.”

“Thanks.  I mean it.”

“I know you do.  Now if you excuse me,” Rylie trailed off, looking over his shoulder at my fellow council members, “I’m going to try to get these hot heads to the council chambers before they start duking it out.”

“Oh I doubt they’ll take it that far.”

“Even so.”  He gave me a two fingered salute as he turned away from me.  I probably wouldn’t see him again till.-

O
h crap.

“Hey wait.”  I grabbed his arm, to spin him back my way.  My eyes widened slightly as I felt his bicep.  The guy had zero fat and a bulky amount of muscle.  It made my hand look like a child’s pulling on his thick arm.  Cheeks flushing from my grab maneuver, I dropped my arms.

“Are you going to the Spring Festival this year?”

“I
am obligated to make a brief appearance.”

“Will you come find me when you show up?”  His eyes flashed with curiosity.  I briefly wondered if the flush in my cheeks made him misinterpret my meaning.  No, not
Rylie.  He was too honorable for that.  He knew of my relationship with Cole. Hell, he approved of it.

Rather than respond with words,
Rylie shifted his feet and gave me a curt nod.

Then he was gone.  Sauntering like a well-oiled machine down the street away from me even the blades of grass appeared to stand at attention as he passed.

Putting my mind at ease that the situation was in good hands with my father and Rylie.  I started at a light jog towards Cole’s suburban digs.  I was about halfway there when I saw him in the distance, walking in my direction.  Dressed in a pair of dark grey cargo pants and a blank thermal, he was as I had always known him, although over the winter he had neglected to cut his hair.  The dirty blonde locks fell just past his chin now, curling slightly at the ends.  He appeared to be looking down at his feet, kicking at the cement sidewalk with his steel toed boots as he walked.

Then that stare of his rose from the ground, his lake shade eyes noticing me.  The smile started out small, but broke out into a grin that could barely be contained by his face as he picked up the pace down the hill.  Hell it was an all-out run past the second house with my legs carrying me just as fast.  The chill of the spring breeze licked at my cheeks but I didn’t care, my heart pounded and my lungs burned while my legs carried me to him.  The sight of his form blurred as we met in the driveway of a nondescript ranch, wide arms picked me up and twirled me around.

When my feet touched the ground I didn’t get a word out before he kissed me deeply, arching me backward with his hands tangled in my hair. Despite all I had just been through I lost myself in the moment, letting myself be carried away by his scent and the fire of his embrace.

“I don’t ever want to go through another winter without you.”  He whispered against my lips.

“I’ve missed you too.”   I managed to spit out while he kissed my neck.

Then he stepped back suddenly, eyes wide as he looked at his hands.  Red smeared his fingertips.

“Why is your shirt bloody?”  He asked, paling.

“I just took out a deadhead in town.”

“WHAT?”  He shouted at me, grabbing onto my forearms.  “Are you bitten?  Where did this happen? Are there more?”  I put my hand over his mouth, trying to stem the concerned interrogation stream.

“
Shhh...I’m fine.  I was armed, took him down no biggie.”

“Took who down?”

“Jeff Arnold.”

“
Shiiit, really?”

“Yeah, his whole house was compromised.”  I gave him a summed up version of the events, including the current house checks that were in progress.  He stepped back from me as the story unfolded, pacing and shaking his head at parts.

“The part that killed me was the elderly couple...I felt so bad for them.”

“Least they went together.”

“I guess.”  The Romeo and Juliet thing never really appealed to me.  While I shifted my feet he reached out and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“Damn good thing you were close. That could have gotten ugly.”

“Yeah, Rylie says it’s just another example why I should be back on the wall.”

“No offense, but screw what
Rylie thinks.  You are safe where you are.”  My jaw would have hit the floor if this was a cartoon.

“Cole!”  I snapped, shrugging his arm off of me.

“Don’t get me wrong, I respect the hell out of Rylie.  He’s my bro till death.  Sometimes I think he puts his own agenda for the colony against the best interests of individuals.”

“And don’t you put your own agenda for my best interests in front of what I want at times?”  I teased him, kind of.  There was an undertone of anger in my voice, no matter how light hearted I tried to sound.

He cursed. “Guilty okay?  I want you to be safe.”

“What if I wanted to go back to the wall?”

“That would be ridiculous, you’re on the council now.”

“Why is it so ridiculous?”  I felt my temper rising as I asked.

Rather than answer me Cole pursed his lips, exhaling sharply through his nose. 

“I didn’t want to bicker with you during our first time back together.”    He reached over brushing my hair out of my eyes, tucking it gently behind my ear.  “I just care is all.”  

The pain in his voice was all too real.  I know Cole had lost many loved ones due to the dead.  Hell, he’d almost lost me on more than one occasion.  I had to remind myself to be patient, not everyone was out to undermine me in this world.  Cole just genuinely did not want to see me hurt.

“I know hun, I know.”

“So then...”  He wrapped his arms around me, the corner of his mouth kicking up into a smirk that was all male.  “Will you let me greet you properly then?”

Letting out a quick light hearted laugh, I chided him.

“Oh I did not know that your previous kiss did not count.”

“Not in the slightest.”  The words came out in a growl as he leaned into me again.  In an instant the fire of my temper morphed into one of a different breed altogether.  In a quick sweep, he scooped up both my legs and carried me to the side of the ranch, behind a thick evergreen that blocked the view of the street.

With my back up against that cold stone he covered me with his body, arms wrapped around my back.  His head dipped into mine, soft lips pressed against my own.  Breathing in the fresh scent of him, my hands found his hair.  Fingers tangled in his dirty blonde locks I pushed us together, desperately missing him.  Cole let out a moan, his tongue licking at my open mouth. Testing, teasing.  A heavy hand in a fingerless glove traveled up my spine under my shirt.  His obvious arousal pressing into my stomach through his cargo pants.

I wanted those pants off. Now.

Biting his lip, my hands traveled down his chest towards his belt buckle.  Fumbling with the metal in the cold.  With a grunt he told me to be patient, throwing my
arms back around his back he kissed me again, deeper.

My eyes welled with tears, cold wet droplets running down my cheeks.  Not from joy, from missing him, nor any of the other reasons you would expect a girl to lose it in my current situation.  Instead my blurred vision and shaking arms were driven by fear.  All encompassing, surrounding terror that enveloped every pour of my skin.  The tangible cold numbed my finger tips and forced my breath into ragged bursts.

Dimitri...

I closed my eyes and tried to picture him, tried to focus down through the pain to whatever truth it masked.

“Are you alright?”  Cole’s voice snapped me back.

My eyes flipped open to his warm concerned stare, knuckles stroking my cheek brushing the tears away.

“Yeah I’m sorry...it’s just”, my bonded vampire link letting me know he’s in pain, probably being tortured as we speak, “I’m a…little messed up…from the thing…with Jeff.”

“Hey hey...quit that.  You of all people should come through this like a
fricken champ.”

“I know...sorry.”  I ran my hands through my hair with a curse.  “I really should be getting to the council building.”

“Stop saying that.”

“Cole...”

“No.  There is nothing to be sorry for.”  Cole stepped back, reaching his hand out towards me palm out he bent slightly at the waist, “may I walk you to work?”

The
gentlemanly gesture brought a smile to my face.  True a piece of his chivalry was misogynistic, elements that put me into a fit of rage from which I may never return. Then there was this, the caring genuine elements that melted my heart.  Not every man will wipe blood off your cheek and still tell you you’re beautiful.

Putting my hand into his large palm I accepted his offer.  Cole pulled me to him, giving me a quick hug
before leading us back to the sidewalk.

“So tell me, I want to know all about your long harsh winter.”

“I think I patched things up with Candice.”  I told him about my sewing efforts as we walked hand in hand down the street.  Our step fell in at the same pace despite my legs being a bit shorter.  The more I rambled on I realized how much I truly had missed his company.  Our conversation was as it had been for years, effortless.  A natural babbling brook between two like beings.  He got my jokes, I caught all of his pointed looks.  We were...close.

“That’s good.  A really sweet thing of you to do.”

“Yeah, I’ve really missed her and Zoe to an extent over the winter.  That female bond and conversation thing.”

“Mom really liked you by the way.  I know...you lost yours and stuff.  But if you ever want to talk I’m sure she would love to talk about those things with you.”

Frowning, I spoke slowly.  “I’m not sure I’d be comfortable...”

“Was just saying, in a way we’re all family anymore.”  I leaned my head on his arm, in many ways he was right.

By the time I had said my lengthy goodbyes and wandered into my office my mood had much improved. I was a focused apocalyptic executive, my mind on the task at hand rather than the situations I still had to sort out.  The captive vampire, spring ball fix up and questionable career choice vacationing on a small warm sunny island far in the back of my brain.  Spending the next few hours eyeball deep in crop forecasts, planting schedules and seed reports was actually refreshing even though the workload was staggering.  I had no idea Richard had done so much on his own for years.

“Knock knock.”  A female voice called from my door.  I flipped my eyes up to find Sammie’s tall slender frame in the doorway, her strawberry blonde hair flowing
over her shoulders as she swayed into the room.

“Sammie, hi.”  I shot her by best smile, secretly feeling a fresh wave of awful now that we were face to face.  While I had done my best to right the ship with Candice over her boyfriend choice, I had completely dodged that conversation with his true girlfriend.  I wondered if she had come to chew me out.

“Hey Liv.”  Her tone was friendly, if she had any anger towards me I wasn’t picking it up at all.  Coming into view of the candlelight I caught sight of a stack of manila folders in her arms.

“What’s that?”

“Medical Supply and Health reports.  Dr. Tommen used to have me drop them off on his desk after the nurses had tallied the week’s injuries and medicine use. Guess my feet just came here on habit.”  Sammie paused and looked around.  “I figured it would creep me out to be in this room again.”

“I’m sorry.”  About more than just the room.  I thought.

“Don’t be.  It doesn’t.”

I chewed on my lip as she stood in my doorway, the awkward silence that filled the room was so thick you could almost taste it.

She held up the files with a half-smile.  “I don’t know what to do with these now.”

“Well I’m not Albert but I’m sure I can take them off your hands.  Do you want to sit?”  I made such a poor host.

“Sure.”   Sam’s long legs crossed the small office space in the blink of an eye.  She flipped her long strawberry blond curls over her shoulder as she spoke.  “I heard about Jeff’s house. That sucks. Big time.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“I haven’t seen any other like wounds on anyone who’s come in.  I will keep an extra eye out.  Here.”  She pushed the files across the desk to me, I spun the files around so that the little tab was on the right and perfectly aligned with my desk.  Honestly I was killing time while I tried to figure out how to best form an apology.