by Austin, RB
Maybe she’d clean one before heading downstairs. Thoughts of Lucas still swirled in her mind and nothing but hard work would drive him away. Plus she didn’t have the energy to smile and be polite to the old woman right now.
“I said no, Emma. And that’s that.”
Kate paused.
“We’ve had this talk before, Cade. You’re not my boss. I’m your equal. Just because you say no doesn’t mean that’s that.”
“I don’t understand why you’re acting this way. You know the dangers.”
“What do you expect me to do in this house? Wander around the rooms waiting until you come home or aren’t busy leading a war? I need a purpose other than being your girlfriend.”
“You’re not just my girlfriend,” Cade’s voice was low, filled with such emotion.
Kate blinked hard. Must have gotten dust in her eye.
“You’re my bahshrett,” he continued. “My everything.”
Kate heard a sniff. Emma replied, voice thick. “I know, Cade.” A pause. “Will you still feel that way in fifty years when I won’t be able to be your everything? When I’ll be so old? What if I get sick? Like cancer or something. At least if I had something to do I wouldn’t just be waiting for time to catch up. To change me. Change us.”
“We’ve been over this. I don’t care if you get gray and wrinkly. I love you. That’ll never change.”
“You don’t understand because you’ll never change. You’ll always look this way.”
Cade sighed. “I don’t know what to do to make it better for you.”
Emma mumbled something Kate couldn’t understand. Her gaze moved to the closed door, ahead on the right. The one she was supposed to clean.
Eavesdropping wasn’t nice. Though it was good to know the happy couple of the castle had problems.
Though growing old wasn’t really a problem.
Not having enough food was a problem. Sleeping on the streets was a problem. Worrying about dying a frozen Popsicle because her coat wasn’t warm enough was a problem. Having to be completely covered up because if she touched someone she could kill them without even meaning to was a damn, frickin’ problem.
Kate rolled her eyes. This place was ridiculous.
Yep, she was definitely glad she was leaving.
Heavy footsteps reached her ears a bit too late. Cade rounded the corner from his wing. He paused, gaze landing on her.
Lucas’s boss wore black jeans, a black T-shirt, and black boots. His dark hair was tied back. The scars by his left eye made him appear more menacing. Although maybe it was the expression on his face, the tightening of his eyes when he looked at her. Or, it could be the large weapon strapped to his back that made her want to run.
How fast could she pull off her gloves?
At least his eyes weren’t glowing that unnatural blue color. She averted her gaze long enough to grab the doorknob of the room in front of her.
“I’m not going to hurt you, nheqeba.” His voice was low and held a hint of a growl.
She lifted her chin and tried to ignore the pounding of her heart. “I’m not worried.”
He paused a good distance away. “What are you doing here?”
“Cleaning.” Her tone implied the duh.
He frowned. “Lucas likes you.”
Um. “Oo-kay.”
His eyes narrowed even more. “How do you feel about him?”
She wanted to say it was none of his business. Would she be able to make it inside the room before he caught her, though? Even if she did, if he wanted in the bedroom there’d be no way to stop him. Apparently she didn’t care too much about surviving, because she opened her mouth and spewed, “That’s none of your business.”
He cocked his head. “I could read your mind you know?”
She inhaled sharply. What if he did? What if he found out? What if he already knew? No. She wouldn’t be standing here if he did. Kate waved her hand in front of him. “Does it work better with touch?” Wiggling her fingers, “I’ll take my glove off for you.”
He didn’t respond.
Crap. Time to find a place to hide.
Then he laughed. A loud burst. “I think I might like you. You remind me of my Emma.” With a wave of his hand, he said, “continue cleaning,” and swept past her.
“This place is full of crazy people,” she muttered, staring after Cade. His shoulders, so much wider than Lucas’s, took up half of the hallway.
“Was that Cade laughing?”
Kate held back a sigh. She should’ve escaped while she had the chance.
Emma looked like crap. Red rimmed eyes. Rudolph nose.
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” The woman’s face crumbled.
What the hell was she supposed to do now? She glanced behind her, but Cade had disappeared.
“I’m sorry.” Emma covered her face with her hands. “I’m not much of a crier. Not really.” She gave a small laugh. It didn’t sound like she thought things were funny. “Lately it seems that’s all I’m doing. Crying or fighting with Cade.” She lowered her arms. Her gaze moved past Kate to the deserted hallway.
Kate shuffled from foot to foot. The movement caught Emma’s attention. Her cheeks were red now, too. God, the girl was a mess.
“I’m sorry. You don’t want to listen to me.”
Kate was ready to take the opening, escape into a room, any room, but Emma’s expression stopped her. “Did you want to talk about it?” Please say no. Please say no. She didn’t know the first thing about—
“You don’t mind?” Emma asked, hopeful. “I miss talking to another woman. I have a girlfriend, Jenny. But it’s not like I can tell her why Cade and I aren’t happily in love. And Martha, well, you know, all the ebhed think Behns walk on water.” A horrified look crossed over her face. “Not that I don’t think they do a great job. An important job—”
Kate raised her hand. “Don’t worry. I think their adoration is a bit much, too. I’m mean Behns eat, sleep, and piss just like us humans do, right?”
Emma blinked. “I never thought about it like that.” She motioned behind her. “Did you want to come in?”
Kate hesitated. “Sure. For a bit. I have to get a lot of rooms cleaned. Martha’s in kind of a panic. Apparently there’s never been so many people in the HQ before.”
“That’s what Martha does best. Worry and fix things.”
Kate followed Emma. She eyed the dark walls, dark carpet, and large bed with black sheets. “Don’t tell me you decorated this place?”
Emma laughed. “No. This is all Cade.”
“He keeps you hostage and doesn’t let you decorate your prison? Nice guy.” She stepped in the room with a glance behind her expecting Lucas’s boss to come back and rip into her. Literally.
“It’s not like that.” Emma frowned.
Oops.
“I didn’t mean to offend you.” This was why she didn’t have friends.
Emma waved her hand, dismissing Kate’s apology. “Cade and I haven’t known each other long.”
“So like a year?”
Emma shook her head. “More like a couple months.”
Kate’s mouth dropped. “You’re kidding right?”
“No.” She gave a little laugh. “It sounds a little fast, huh? Jenny said the same thing. And Sean.” Another frown.
“I’m not here to judge. What people do with their own lives is their business.” She paused. “I assume something told you moving in with Cade was the right thing to do.”
A small smile lifted her lips. “Yes. Just like you with Lucas.”
“Whoa. Lucas and I are not living together. Not like that. This is a business arrangement only.”
Emma’s gaze roamed over Kate’s face. “Okay. Sorry
. I just thought Lucas saved you like Cade saved me.”
Kate frowned as a memory flashed. She was at Opulent. Alarm blaring. Cops right outside. Then waking in the church. Lucas standing over her. “He offered me a job. I’d just lost mine.” Well would have if Bev found out she broke into the place. “I’ll be out of here in a week. Before the rest of the ‘saviors’,” she air quoted the word, “Get here.”
“You’re leaving? That sucks.”
“I have someone waiting for me.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “Really? A boy?”
Kate snorted. “No. A sister, of sorts.” Then snapped her lips closed. Emma might want to be girlfriends and bare her soul, but Kate would only be taking dares at this party.
“A sister? I always wanted siblings. What’s her name?”
“What did you do before you came here?” Kate asked quickly.
Emma blinked, cocked her head, studying Kate intently.
Kate inhaled sharply. Did Emma have an ability, too? This place was full of people like that.
“I was an elementary school art teacher,” she answered after a moment.
Kate breathed a sigh of relief. “Art, huh? I can’t draw to save my life.”
The woman flashed a smile. “There’s an artist in everyone. And you don’t have to be able to paint like Titian in order to be called one.”
“Who?”
Emma laughed. “Never mind.”
“So you had to quit your job to live here?” She wouldn’t do that in a million years, let someone have that much power over her.
“No. I was laid off. Lost my job the day I met Cade actually.”
“And you want to get a job but the old man says no?” She guessed.
“Pretty much. Cade’s scared something will happen.”
“Because of the kidnapping?” Martha had told Kate all about it.
Emma rubbed her wrist, cheeks losing color. “Yeah. I think so.”
“He took you from one prison and brought you into another one.”
Her eyebrows lowered. “It’s not really like that. I want to be here with him. I love him.”
“What’s the problem then?”
Emma shot her a look.
Uh-oh. Was she being rude again?
“I just need more,” she said quietly, as if to herself. “I can’t sit around all day waiting for him. What’s my purpose?” She waved her hand. “You at least have a job. You don’t just sit around all day, waiting for Lucas to come back.”
Kate frowned. Opened her mouth to tell her, again, that she didn’t have any sort of love interest for Lucas, but an image of him pressing her into the wall, the strong desire to touch him without her gloves flashed in her head and before she could utter a sound Emma was talking again.
“What the hell do I do? I mean, I can paint, but I’m done painting for my closet.”
Painting her closet? Kate looked at the set of doors across the room. They weren’t painted. Just the normal wood color with a heavy-duty locking system. Must be some damn expensive pants in there.
“I want to show my work to the world,” Emma continued. “Is there anything wrong with that?”
Kate shook her head. “And Cade won’t let you leave to show your paintings?”
“No.”
She remembered the conversation she overheard. “You don’t seem that upset about it.”
“What are you talking about? I’m angry. Super angry.”
“Well, yeah, you’re pissed about that, but it seems something more is bugging you than just the man you love wanting to keep you safe.”
Emma dropped her head into her hands.
Kate prayed she wasn’t crying. If she saw a single tear she was outta here. “I mean I could be wrong. I—”
“No, you’re right,” Emma said, voice muffled.
“So you’re going to get old and wrinkly and Cade will stay young and thirty-something forever.” Hmm. Something she hadn’t thought about. Not that it mattered. Kate was getting old with Stacy. Far away from Lucas.
“As Cade’s bahshrett, I can become a Behn.”
“Seriously? You can become like them? So why don’t you stay young with Cade forever.”
“Cade doesn’t want me to become a Behn.”
Kate blinked. “What?”
“He wants to become like me. Change back into a Follower.”
“Can he do that?”
She shrugged. “He can stop taking Elias’s blood and he’ll turn back into a Follower. That’s the theory any way. No one’s ever done it. And Cade doesn’t want to do it until the war’s over. Doesn’t want to leave his brothers alone. But they’ve been fighting for over three centuries. Is it really logical to assume it’ll be finished in five, ten years? No,” she said, answering her own question. “I’ll be dead by natural causes before this war is over.”
“So change into a Behn.”
Emma swiped at the tear rolling down her cheek. “Cade is so against being a Behn. He hates it. Not as much as he used to, but what if I go through the change and he starts to hate me, too?”
Was the woman blind? Could she not see the way he looked at her? “I don’t think that’ll happen. He loves you.”
Another shrug. “Plus I think I want children. I know Cade does, but, again, not until the war’s over.” Scoff. “It’s not like I have an infinite number of child bearing years. Elias doesn’t know if I’d be able to have them as a Behn. He’s only changed males before. Another reason why Cade doesn’t want me to go through the change. He’s worried something will go wrong. So I’m stuck. Being human. Growing old. Waiting around in this huge house. For what? My life to start?”
“So why don’t you move out? Find someone else? Someone human.”
Emma jerked back. “No! I couldn’t—I wouldn’t be able—I love him.” Her breath came in little gasps.
Kate studied her. “So you knew after one month that you wanted to be with Cade. Forever. If he let you.”
“Oh, yes.”
“What’s the problem?” she asked again quietly.
Emma barked out a laugh. “You’re right. I made my choice. I don’t want a re-do.” She leaned forward and threw her arms around Kate.
Kate stiffened, tilting back.
The woman let go at once, contrition on her face. “I’m so sorry, Kate. I forgot.”
She stepped back. Once. Twice. Well out of Emma’s reach. “It’s okay.”
“Really. I didn’t think. It won’t happen again.”
Kate shook her head. “It’s fine. I have to get back to work anyway.”
Tears pooled in Emma’s eyes. “I scared you away. How about I sit against this wall and you sit against the other one. We can have the bed between us.”
“It’s fine, Emma. Really. I just have to go. Martha’s on a schedule. I should’ve checked in already.”
The woman sighed, rubbed her eyes. “God, I don’t know why I’m so emotional and needy lately.”
Kate shrugged. “I get that way before my period, too.”
Emma stilled, a strange expression crossing her face.
“You okay?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so,” she said slowly. She shook her head, focused back on Kate. “Maybe we can hang out again?”
“Sure,” Kate was surprised she actually meant it. She paused at the doorway. “You know, there are plenty of walls around here that could use some paint, and with all the people coming you could have your own showing. Who says you have to leave the HQ to have your art shown? Although, I’ve seen art hanging in galleries with the artist nowhere around.”
“I never thought of that.” Pause. “Do you think Martha would mind if I started painting the walls?”
Kate snorted. “Plea
se, she thinks you walk on water right next to Cade.” At Emma’s expression, she laughed. “That’s not entirely a bad thing.”
Lucas popped into Kate’s head as soon as she left the room. She pushed him firmly away. Talking with Emma had gone okay. Maybe if they spoke again, she’d ask some of her own questions.
Chapter 48
Lucas strode down a quiet street. He’d been given the warehouse section of the city. Cade was a few blocks to the west in the downtown club area. Gabe to the east with the houses closer to town.
Both Cade and Gabe had spotted and killed Fallen tonight. Lucas was itching for some action. His hands had been shaking nonstop for the past two hours. Shirt was practically soaked with sweat. Blood seemed to be zipping through his veins like his cells were competing in NASCAR. Sometimes it felt like his whole body was trembling.
A good fight would get rid of the adrenaline. He knew what else would take care of it, too.
We should be using I statements.
Lucas held in a snarl. Fucking intervention. He wasn’t an addict. He could quit at any time. They just didn’t understand. He was stronger with the darkness inside him.
Besides, what did it matter if he took what he needed before the kill?
“I see another one.” Gabe’s voice came through Lucas’s earpiece.
“Need a hand, ach?” Maybe he could chase it into a building? Or a secluded alley?
“Nah.” Gabe’s breath labored as if he was running. “Piece of cake.”
“Cade? What about you? I’ve been getting nothing over here.”
“Stay where you are, Lucas. Continue to search your area. I’ll let you know if I need assistance.” Cade’s tone was brusque.
