“Was the text from Ethan?”
I nodded, then realized he couldn’t hear the nod. Or maybe he could he seems to hear the air breath. “Yes, she’s . . .” I paused as the words stuck in my throat. “I’m safe.”
He sat the spatula on the bench. Turned back, analyzing my face. He moved to me and pulled me against him. I rested my cheek on the top of his chest.
“It was her doing, not yours,” he murmured. I swallowed heavily. His fingers tilted my chin up softly to look at him.“She should have never killed the dog, nor threatened you. It’s not your fault.”
I nodded. “I know.” And I did know, but that didn’t make it any easier. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and stepped back.
The news churned in my stomach over breakfast and I had to force the food down.
“Right, let’s go,” Dahlia said, stuffing the last bite into her mouth. “Karson will fix the dishes.”
“Since you asked so nicely, Dahlia.” He stood up, moved around the table. He wrapped his arms around my back, planted a passionate kiss on my lips.
“I will see you later, sweetheart.”He looked over my shoulder at Dahlia, a smirk on his lips. For him it was an act, a stage show.
I stepped back out of his arms.
“Just hurry up, Amy.” Dahlia snapped. She strode from the room.
“Really, do you have to antagonize her?”
“I do not know what you are talking about.”
“You fib,” I said light-heartedly. I resisted the urge to reach up and kiss him goodbye. But it’s not a relationship. It was just sex, I reminded myself.
I went outside to find Dahlia, black backpack slung across her shoulder, anger planted on her face, waiting for me.
* * *
We stopped about ten minutes later. The trees opened up into a small open space. The grass was short, kept cropped by hungry forest animals. Sun feathered through dispersing clouds and towering tree limbs, a lacework of patterns etched across the forest floor.
I felt anxious, but also mildly excited at the same time. Dahlia hadn’t said one word since we left. From her stiff back and the tight movements, it was safe to assume she was still annoyed. I breathed in a deep, cool breath, trying to calm the flutter in my stomach.
“Here will do.” She threw her backpack onto a large fallen log. I caught a glimpse of Wolf, he stood lingering back underthe canopy of trees, watching. She glanced at him. “He’s much bigger than I thought he’d be.”
I smiled affectionately. His amber eyes, framed brightly against a canvas of green, met mine. “He’s beautiful, aren’t you boy?”
She pulled out a round corked target, like a dart board, and sat it on the ground. She grabbed out a hammer, and she slipped a nail into her pocket. Then she pulled out five hunting knives. Long, silver, blades glittered in the early morning light, placing them on the trunk.
My stomach twisted.
“Relax, I’m not going to stab you.” She glanced up, and a dim smile lit her lips. “Unless, of course, you annoy me.” It was hard to tell if she was joking or not.
She moved off, carrying the target and hammer to a tree about sixty feet away. The sounds of the nails breaching the trunk echoed through the forest as she hung the target from the tree.
She walked back and threw the hammer in the backpack.
She stopped and fixed on a point in the forest. “Of all the vampires,” she said bitterly, turning to meet my eye. “Karson is the worse one you could fuck. He’s a vicious, cruel bastard.”
He saved my life three times. I raised my chin. “You don’t know him as well as you think you do. And you can talk. What about your coven. Slaughtering kittens, sticking knives in innocent people’s legs, leaving men to die.”
“To die.” She threw up her hands in a show of disbelief. “Murdered by Karson.” Her shrill voice sent birds scattering in alarmed flight from nearby trees.
“To protect BJ and me, because of your people,” I yelled.
We faced off for a long tense moment. She twisted her lips and abruptly wheeled her body toward the tree. She stood, herfeet shoulder width apart, arms by her side, focused on the target.
