Lib Novel Page 30
“I get it,” she says, quietly, laughing and pinching the bridge of her nose. “We’re blood-bound now, so if I die, you die. Right. You’re not protecting me; you’re protecting yourself.
“Olivia,” I breathe, shaking my head, wanting to tell her that it would be that way, blood-bond or not. Protecting her would be the same as protecting myself.
Because we’re mates. I knew it the moment she said it, but thought that denying it would cause her the least amount of pain. Now, with the hurt in her eyes shining up at me, the fire blazing behind her and casting her in an orange glow, I realize that might be what hurt her most of all.
“Don’t worry about it, Byron,” she coughs, shaking her head again, turning her head from me, and I realize she’s crying. I open my mouth, but I don’t know what to say. I want to take her in my arms, hold her tight.
“Liv,” I whisper, stepping toward her, but Rosa appears at that moment, tucking her away and glaring at me over her shoulder.
“I think you’ve done enough,” Rosa says, her eyes sharp, and then, to Olivia, “come on. You’re staying with us.”
I stand there and watch them disappear, my body aching for her, begging me to run after her and bring her home with me. At least I know she’ll be safe with Bigby there to watch over her.
Laughing, I drop my head into my hands, thinking about how I used to sit in the lab with Rosa, watching her while Bigby was out doing other things. How stuff comes full circle.
“Hey, man,” Percy says, clearing his throat and touching my shoulder. “Things will get better.”
“Right,” I croak, rubbing my eyes and taking another pull from my energy drink. “Right.”
Chapter 12 – Olivia
The trees scratch against the window, the sound filling Rosa and Bigby’s guest room, and I pull the covers up over my chin, feeling like a little kid. We got in late, and Rosa gave me extra towels and clothes for the morning before retiring with Bigby.
My heart is racing, and my brain won’t let me go to sleep.
I glance over at my bag containing my vintage video games, the things I wanted to save most from the fire. Everything else in my apartment was replaceable, but I’m wearing Rosa’s pajamas, which don’t quite reach my wrists and ankles.
Shifting, I fluff up the pillow, squeezing my eyes shut and willing sleep to come. I only get a moment of silence in my brain before it starts to whir again.
Earlier, when the first vampire slapped his hand over my mouth, I froze.
After all those training sessions with Bigby and Aris, after hours and hours of learning how to fight, and drilling how to respond to different attacks, I should have been ready to fight back. I knew what to do with the hand-to-the-mouth. I should have grabbed his wrist, twisted it, gotten the upper hand.
But I froze. And Byron was right. If he hadn’t shown up, I’d be gone, in the back of a car, maybe dead. Locked up in some vampire dungeon somewhere, waiting for the moment they bit me, the poison worked its way through my body, and I writhed in pain before finally dying.
I roll over, tearing my eyes from the window and staring up at the ceiling. Why are they coming for me? Just because I was at those events? They’ve blown my cover, and now they want to stop the investigation from kidnapping me?
Or do they think I have some sort of information? Do I have any information? Is there something I missed? I think through every mission, fancy event, and time I laughed, chatted, or flirted with someone.
There must be something I’m missing.
I only realize I’ve fallen asleep when there’s a knock on the door, and Rosa comes in, smiling gently at me.
“Hey,” she says, “I thought I would let you sleep, but then, I thought you might feel better if you got out. Come with me to Linnea’s.”
Closing my eyes, I shove a pillow over my face, attempting to block out the light from the window.
I think about how it’s going to feel to go to the Cadell house. It’s always so full of life there, with the kids and Bits, the pig, and the whole family probably wearing matching sweaters, and it’s going to make me so sick with jealousy that I might have a heart attack right there.
“Just the girls,” Rosa says, as though she can read my mind.
“Fine,” I say, removing the pillow. “But I need a shower and breakfast.”
“You got it,” Rosa says, “Bigby is already on breakfast duty.”
I feel mildly better after showering, but still feel like I smell of burning vampire. I ask Rosa to smell my hair and tell me the truth. She says I smell fine, but offers me more perfume, and I growl in frustration.
When we get to the Cadell house, Linnea is rolling out cookie dough, Veronica is peeling garlic unironically, and Maisie has her laptop open, looking up the statistical likelihood of getting salmonella from raw cookie dough.