by Angela White
The only one who could tell them the rest of it was Angela, and attention turned her way, not positive that she was able to. She was barely even conscious.
“Unless Marc has something, the rest can wait,” Adrian stated, taking a seat on the paneled floor by her cot.
Angela’s lids closed in relief.
Marc left the room without glancing at Angela. She didn’t want to do this now and that was enough for him. He had most of the information he needed. Tara and Jayson had tried to kill her repeatedly, and he’d been blissfully unaware. It was hard to swallow.
The Eagles slowly cleared the room, casting confused, leery glances at Adrian. His sentries called for the things Angela needed, but they didn’t leave.
Adrian didn’t care. Angela was alive, he was at her side, and the herd was safe for the moment. The rest was trivial in comparison and he leaned against the rough stone as the room finished clearing. Soon, it was only the medical team remaining and they stayed busy with all the injuries that had come in.
Adrian looked down, loathing her defeated, sickly pallor. He could feel her trying to remain awake. “Just sleep for a while, baby. Sleep.”
Angela took the advice gratefully. She would rather feel nothing at all than face what was waiting. She shut her eyes, fingers reaching out.
Adrian clasped her hand joyfully, lending his warmth, his hope. He didn’t speak the meaningless words that she wasn’t ready to hear. He held her hand and they both gradually fell asleep.
7
The next time Adrian opened his eyes, Charlie was sitting across from him in the dim, quiet cavern, glaring hatefully.
Adrian sighed, relishing the feel of Angela’s warm fingers curled around his. “Not now, okay? Wait until it won’t wake her up.”
Charlie nodded curtly. His mom being hurt again was an open wound. He hadn’t spoken to her in weeks. Finding Adrian here had been a shock. Being told his dad was with it had been another.
“I wouldn’t say he’s okay with it,” Adrian stated quietly.
“Good!” Charlie whispered in anger. He started to rant, and then caught himself like he’d been trying very hard to do at all times. He snapped his mouth shut, glaring.
“Very good,” Adrian praised, goading.
Charlie didn’t rise to the bait, making Adrian grin. “I mean it. You’ve done a lot of growing up since joining Safe Haven.”
The good feeling of respect from Adrian was still as powerful, but Charlie managed to keep his expression the same by sheer will. He didn’t want Adrian’s respect. He wanted the man gone.
Adrian swept Angela, no longer required to hide his adoration. She was the same–pale and still–and he scanned the bay, wondering where his guards were.
“I gave them a break,” Charlie stated.
Adrian approved of the boy tracking his thoughts, but didn’t say so. He wasn’t here to make friends.
“Why are you here?” Charlie asked without some of the hatred that he’d meant to put in his tone. It was clear Adrian loved his mom.
“She’ll need me to help her through this,” Adrian answered honestly. “When she wants it, I’ll leave. My word.”
“Your word–”
“Means shit. Yeah, I know,” Adrian finished bitterly. “Do us all a favor and grow up some more. Think of your mom.”
Charlie pointed to the bed and gear that had been brought in. “I was. It’s ready for her.”
Adrian immediately got up.
Charlie helped him transfer Angela’s limp body to the softer, thicker bed, thinking he wasn’t certain he even remembered what it felt like to sleep on a real mattress.
“Me either,” Adrian confessed, trying to break the tension as they covered her up and moved the other cot over. “I dream about using air valves to blow things up.”
“Lung power,” Charlie responded against his will.
Adrian chuckled lightly. “Indeed.”
“I heard you helped Peggy. Doug wanted me to thank you,” Charlie said reluctantly. “He’s busy helping guard the living area right now. My dad wants monitors on all entrances.”
“It’s a good idea. Tell Doug it wasn’t my doing. Peggy insisted.”
“Conner helped Samantha?” Charlie tried to verify. “Because Neil and Jeremy want to talk to you about it.”
“Again, she insisted.”
“You’ll talk with them?”
“Tomorrow, if they still want it.”
“Why wouldn’t they?” Charlie asked. “Conner cured her.”
“It isn’t about Conner. They want to make sure I understand I haven’t been forgiven, that I’m still banished. It can wait.”
“That’s what my dad told them,” Charlie replied arrogantly. “There are a few people who want to yell at you.”
“I’ll let them,” Adrian stated. “Tomorrow. Tonight, I deserve the first good night’s sleep I’ve had in a month.”
“Because you’re finally inside our gates?” Charlie guessed.
Adrian crawled into the cot they’d moved Angela from, inhaling deeply of her scent. “No.”
Charlie figured it out, frowning, but he didn’t scold Adrian further. He was feeling extremely guilty about the way he’d been treating his mom when she’d had so much going on. He hadn’t known people were still trying to kill her. Tracy had told him to cut Angela some slack, but he hadn’t been able to because of his anger. Mad at her or not, she was his mom and Safe Haven’s leader. He should have been able to keep her from getting hurt.
“Wow,” Adrian commented. “You have grown up.”
Charlie suddenly felt drained of anger. “I’m trying. It sucks.”
“That it does, my former friend. That it does,”
Charlie winced at the title, not correcting him. The anger at Adrian was still there, but sympathy had also taken up a place against his will. The man was head over heels for his mom, but she only had eyes for his dad. That had to be rough.
“Thank you,” Adrian stated coolly. “I’m gonna cry any minute now.”
Charlie scowled, understanding Adrian was trying to maintain a distance between himself and everyone except Angela. “Fine.”
“It’s better this way, boy,” Adrian stated, letting his lids close as his hand reached out to make contact with Angela. “I’d just disappoint you again and neither of us can take that. Worship your dad. He’s the saint. I’m the bad guy your mom scared you with as a child.”
Charlie now had his doubts, but the anger still sent him to the bay door that was propped open. “I’m done. Get in here with him.”
Adrian chuckled as Jax and Shawn came in, looking just as bad tempered as Charlie had as he left. It was amazingly easy to get under the skin of young people.
“I’ve missed that sound.”
Angela had woken while they moved her, but she was in no condition to deal with her rebellious son. In fact, his very presence reminded her of what she’d just lost. She was glad Adrian had angered him enough to get him to leave.
“I knew you needed more time,” Adrian confessed gently. “It was intentional.”
“Like everything else,” she confirmed without malice.
Her lashes fluttered, but Adrian quickly put a hand over hers. “Don’t. Not yet.”
Angela wanted to be strong, but the misery waiting was easy to put off. “You’ll stay?”
“You know it,” he answered immediately, sitting up as his guards scowled. “What can I do for you?”
Angela slowly held up her fingers. Her arms were too bound to try moving them. “Hold me? I’m alone in here.”
Adrian didn’t try to stop his tears as he carefully moved her over and climbed into the bed to hold her. She didn’t cry or speak, and Adrian rubbed her dirty hair, wishing she would go back to sleep. She wasn’t ready for this yet.
Angela finally let her head fall against his chest. His scent drifted to her nose and she felt nothing. Numb might be her existence now. She wouldn’t be certain until she faced the waiting pai
n. Once the tears and self-recriminations stopped, she might curl into herself and wither away.
At least I have that to look forward to, she thought, meaning it. The agony from this would follow her forever, worse than the first miscarriage had. That tragedy hadn’t been her fault. This one was.
Angela’s tears began to soak into Adrian’s shirt and he stroked her hair, crooning nonsense that he knew wasn’t going to help. There was nothing else you could do for someone who had lost something so dear. All he could do was hold her and try to make sure she didn’t sink into the oblivion without a fight.
8
Once Angela stopped crying and fell asleep, Adrian slowly dislodged himself and got up. The last thing he needed was for–
Adrian sighed, spotting Marc leaning against the tunnel wall, watching with glowing red eyes.
Marc didn’t speak. He wasn’t positive that he could. The sight of them in a bed together was one that he would never forget.
Shawn and Jax were behind Marc, not wanting to be in the line of fire if the wolfman decided to snap. They’d both seen the mess in the tunnel below.
“She was upset,” Adrian explained, not moving. “You can still see the tears.”
Marc had been here for almost the entire scene. He didn’t respond.
Adrian finally dropped down onto his cot and stretched out. “It could have been anyone. She didn’t know the difference.”
“When I return,” Marc began, voice full of alpha that he was barely controlling. “I’ll either accept things the way she needs them or I’ll kill you and be done with it. If I go the way I feel right now, she won’t be able to stop me. I’ll pick you off the first time you leave her side.”
“I respect you for warning me,” Adrian stated, knowing not to get his hopes up. “But I don’t want your side and I don’t want to be with her anymore. Not in the way you mean. I’m here to serve. You fuck her. I’ll love her.”
Marc growled, coming forward.
It woke Angela, who called, “Brady?”
Marc stopped. He wanted to go to her, but the hours of Adrian’s words ringing in his mind were too much to handle. He wasn’t sure how he felt about everything yet.
“There was a call. I need to make a run.”
“From Jeff and Kevin?” Angela asked, sounding alert enough to make Adrian glare over at her for faking sleep to listen to them. He should have known she would wake the instant he moved. After what she’d been through, it should have surprised him if she hadn’t.
“Yes,” Marc answered. “They saw a line of trains coming. You were right.”
“You’ll use the notebook?” she asked, heart breaking all over again at his remote responses. It should be Marc helping her, not Adrian.
“Yes. It’s perfect,” Marc answered, spinning away. “But you already knew that. You know everything.”
Angela’s sobs stopped Marc and he slowly turned around. “Did you know you were trading our baby for Safe Haven?”
“Hey!” Adrian shoved to his feet. “Don’t so this!”
Angela froze, smothered in grief and shock. Marc thought she’d known the baby would die. He thought she was cold enough to do that.
“You’re not,” Adrian told her. He swung back toward Marc. “Tell her you don’t think that!”
“I don’t know what to think,” Marc answered honestly.
“She wouldn’t do that,” Adrian stated, glaring. “Deep down, you know it. She wanted the baby more than she wants you!”
“What about you?” Marc asked. “Did she want it more than you? Because this will get you let back in. Maybe she chose you and Safe Haven over our child.”
Angela tried to talk through her sobs, but the words wouldn’t form. Instead of continuing to try, she let the coldness rush over her limbs and stopped fighting the pain. “I wish you had let me die.”
The words haunted Marc all the way through the cave and out into the cold dawn where he tried to be certain he was right to feel such anger toward her. He had all the notebooks in his kit. He planned to read them and run it through his mind as he dealt with the last of Tara’s people. If he could believe Angela hadn’t knowingly sacrificed their daughter, he would try to sort through the rest of it. If he still thought she was guilty when this run was finished, they would be done. She could go to her bastard traitor and find happiness while he mourned the life that they could have had together. Eventually, he would kill them both and be hung. Some things were indeed carved in stone.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Close
1
“He shouldn’t be here!”
“He saved her life. Again!”
“That doesn’t give him a pass.”
“I agree. He can’t be trusted.”
“Marc let him stay.”
“He was already in the bed with her! One of his guards told me!”
“So? Neil and Jeremy have that set up, as do a few others.”
“It’s wrong!”
“It would solve the drama problem we have, in case you hadn’t thought about it. We can use both men.”
“We don’t need anything from that traitor.”
All three of the loud men glowered at Adrian as he came through the acoustical tunnel and moved toward the mess line, even the one who had been defending him. He was followed by two sullen guards who had just switched shifts for the morning. Neil and Jennifer were both unhappy to have Adrian in their sight and not be able to shoot him. They both knew what Marc and Angela needed.
Adrian got into the mess line; too busy admiring the setup to care about the mutters and whispers or the pointing fingers of surprised members. Angela needed a tray and he needed to be out of the room while Hilda, Peggy, and the doctor performed an exam. They’d mentioned words like scraping and DNC, and he’d gotten out of there, glad that Angela had told him to. He would have stayed if she needed him, but Samantha had shown up and taken Angela’s hand in support.
Li Sing’s face pinched up when Adrian told him he was there for Angela’s tray.
“I did not hear the routine had changed. Only I give her tray or men on my list.” The little man glared. “You no more on my list!”
“Li.”
Adrian only needed to say the man’s name for the spell to break.
“Fine.” Li shoved the plate at him. “You better not hurt her this time. Li put kuso in your pie.”
Adrian was startled into a chuckle, thinking of a movie that had employed that type of warfare.
Li smacked a mug of tea onto the thick counter that he was still marveling over. It had been nine long months since he’d had a true surface to serve people from. “Go away. You bad for business.”
“Very nice,” Adrian approved.
The cook jerked a hand toward the exit.
Li couldn’t allow people to think he was sympathetic, but Adrian knew the man was. He’d always had Li’s loyalty for treating him and his family as equals. In Adrian’s heart, they were. Being a descendant actually gave people a disadvantage, as far as he was concerned. People were forever blaming you, thinking you could control fate.
Adrian went back the way he’d come, being careful not to trigger any of the angrier people who had stopped eating to glower and mutter in shock. He had expected to have to fight his way through some of the herd, but he now had the feeling that those persons were waiting for a chance alone with him so they could spew and swing uncensored.
“I need to make a brief stop,” Adrian informed his sentries.
Assuming he meant the bathroom, the two Eagles didn’t protest.
Adrian followed the signs to the medical bay, but stopped before he reached it. He set Angela’s food on a small rock outcrop and rapped on the billboard by the entrance to the next cavern. He read the names of the men on duty for this level while he waited.
Kenn came out, frowning when he saw who it was. “What?”
“Any news on my men?” Adrian asked, seeing an ingenious high-powered communications center that
was using a cell tower battery.
Kenn shook his head, tone uninviting as he said, “We haven’t sent a team yet. The winds got bad again. Even Marc is still waiting to leave.”
Adrian had thought Marc was already gone and he nodded his thanks. He was positive that being around the communications area wouldn’t be accepted.
“Hey, have you heard from Kendle?” Kenn asked suddenly. “Some of the camp’s been asking.”
“They’re halfway to their destination,” Adrian answered. “Conner sent me a message last night.”
Kenn didn’t say more and neither did Adrian, but their expressions spoke volumes. Adrian had missed Kenn being there for him. Kenn was still stinging over the betrayal.
Adrian retrieved Angela’s tray, hoping enough time had passed for her exam to be over.
Samantha came through the tunnel ahead of him, approving when she saw his hands were full. “Good. Now get in there and pull your weight or we’ll toss your ass out as soon as Marc leaves.”
Adrian let it slide. He had disappointed and hurt a lot of people. He deserved every insult or threat they felt like throwing. “I will.”
Samantha gave a hard glare, but Adrian was already by her and didn’t witness it. Samantha stuck out her tongue for lack of a better, legal alternative.
Neil and Jennifer both grinned. They knew exactly how she felt.
Adrian noticed the somber mood as soon as he set the tray and cup by her. Angela was asleep again, but the tears on her cheeks were still glistening. “What is it?”
Peggy still couldn’t speak to Adrian and she stormed from the medical bay. Hilda followed her, whispering lowly. Even the doctor couldn’t bring himself to say it again.
Adrian turned to Theo, whose cot was nearby.
Theo sighed heavily, staring at Angela’s pale profile. “Vlad punched her. It did a lot of damage. She can’t get pregnant again.”
Adrian’s stomach dropped. She had to feel like the world ended again.
“It gets worse,” Theo said quietly, hoping Angela would sleep for a while. Her sobs had been awful to hear. “She’s bleeding, on the inside. She needs surgery.”
