Heat creeps up my neck at being chastised like a horny teenager. “Of course, officer, my apologies.”
With a tip of his head, he heads back to his car, waiting for me to pull away before driving off. Wetting my lips, I savor the faint taste of Amara on my tongue, glancing at her amused face staring off out the window. The rest of the trip home is spent in comfortable silence, both of us lost in our own heads. By the time we’re pulling into the driveway, I’m caught in a whirlwind of rising instincts that I’m struggling to force back down.
“Careful!” Amara grabs my arm and jerks me back, laughing as she motions to the box on the front step.
Scrubbing a hand over my jaw, I curse, snapping out of it. “Sorry.”
She releases me with a shake of her head. “You might have super healing, but don’t tempt fate and crack your skull open to test it, okay?”
Picking up the box, a low growl rises in my throat that I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to as I stare at the name scrawled on the label.
To: My darling Amara
Her audible swallow is followed by the scuff of her shoe as she takes a cautious step away. “Well, somebody is getting sued for lying to the post office. They specifically ask if there’s anything potentially hazardous when mailing a package, and pretty sure homemade bombs count.”
“Wait in the house while I open it to be safe, alright?”
She hesitates. “You can regrow a head as easily as a spleen?”
“Never tested it out before, but no time like the present, right?” It’s a terrible attempt at humor, but I stand a far better chance of surviving whatever’s inside than anyone else.
“Maybe we should just... not open it,” she suggests, scanning the area to no avail and wisely slinking towards the door.
“It might give us a clue to find him.”
“Or it might give us a rabid weasel with herpes,” she snaps, fear wafting off of her so thick I’m practically choking on it. “Whatever he’s sending, trust me, you want no part of it. Just throw it in the trash where it belongs.”
The rising volume of our debate draws the others out of the house. Kodi leans on the open door frame, frowning as his gaze bounces between us. “Everything okay out here? Let me guess. Stone said something stupid?”
Raiden slips past, assessing everything in the blink of an eye and approaches with a grim press of his lips. “Amara, will you please escort Kodi back into the house?”
Throwing her arms up in defeat, she storms inside, Kodiak tossing a confused look over his shoulder as he follows on her heels. It swiftly transforms into one of murder as he spots the package, and he slams the door behind him.
Raiden flicks open a pocket knife with practiced ease, making quick work of the tape. With a deep breath, I lift open the flap, beating him to the piece of paper sitting on top of a thick envelope.
Please, you have to believe that I never meant for you to get hurt. I swear it. You always spend the first day in a new town job hunting until dusk. You weren’t. Supposed. To be there.
I let my jealousy get the better of me for a moment, but I understand now. With as much as that old car would have cost to fix, you were better off getting another, but didn’t have the funds and thought you were out of options. My love, you don’t need them. Anything you need, all you ever have to do is ask, and I’ll take care of it, take care of YOU. Always.
-M.
––––––––
Raiden opens the envelopesitting inside the box, and a quick scan has me estimating it’s around ten grand. “He nearly killed her, and has the audacity to not only use endearments, but try to bribe her into running back to him?”
I scan the box before tossing it in the trash. There’s no return address, not that I expected there to be, but at least he didn’t send a bomb to our doorstep. “It’s a miracle she survived that pathetic excuse of a man. Claiming not to want to hurt her when he’s the one that carved those marks into her flesh?”
The scent of smoke clings to him, but Raiden keeps himself perfectly in check like always. Inputting the code to let us in, he leads the way into the study he’s taken over while here. Amara is leaning against the bookshelf with her arms wrapped around herself, her expression closed off, and Kodiak is cursing under his breath in front of the computer.
“Here.” I pass the envelope to Amara on my way to look over Kodi’s shoulder.
Tentatively opening it, her eyes widen. “What the hell is this?”
“A drop in the bucket compared to what that bastard owes you.”
Reluctantly, Raiden hands her the note. “Any luck, Kodi?”
He sucks his lip ring into his mouth with a scowl. “Nothing but the damn deliveryman dropping it off. Attempted to hack into the post office’s system, but someone fucked with it so it’s live feed only and not recording anywhere. Even if they hadn’t, the quality is so shitty that there’s no way to tell one brown box from another.” He scrubs a hand down his face in defeat. “And anyone that can pull that shit off would have ensured it was sent from a location where it would have been bounced around several times before making its way here.”
