Page 104 of Black Bird

He had been her first thought as Athan and Sarah fled the storage room. Rhaena realized then how much trust she had in this man. How quickly she had begun to fall for him. She hoped that it hadn’t been a hasty decision … telling him the truth about herself, while also having him abandon his good sense as well as his role in the oaths he took as an officer to assist her in covering up an obvious murder … whether it was justified, or not. A long silence stretched between them. He finally turned his face toward her.

“You look gorgeous, tonight,” he said softly, not meeting her eyes. Rhaena stilled.

“That’s—um … thank you.” She sipped her beer, and he looked back at the burning body.

“This feels like the wrong time to tell you that I love you,” Brandon continued, taking another drink. Rhaena nearly spat hers out. “Or that I’ve probably been in love with you for years now.” She stared at the side of his face. “The truth is, Northwood … I don’t think you could tell me anything—or ask anything of me … that would ever change it.” He finally looked her in her eyes. “So … if you were trying to run me off with your wild stories—”

Rhaena dropped her beer bottle to the ground under their dangling feet and kissed him. He tossed his down as well, kissing her back. It escalated quickly, and clothes started being torn open … the back space of her truck being occupied with their naked bodies, and the burning corpse becoming about as relevant as a normal bonfire. The situation was very different, Rhaena knew … but she couldn’t help but wonder if Athan’s honesty with Sarah could have gone differently had he not waited as long. Sure, the risk was great. But she just told a human man that the woman he loved turned into a monster every month—and not because of a menstrual cycle. She knew Sarah loved him. Loved him and looked at him in the same way that Brandon looked at her right now. Lovelike that had a solid chance at withstanding the hardships of knowing the truth. All this could go to hell in a handbasket later, but for once … it felt good to know that there were a few more people in her life that she didn’t have to hide from—one of them being someone she could lose herself in.

The truck rocked back and forth while she did exactly that.

Wren bit her nails, staring at the black screen on her phone and waiting for responses from all her unanswered texts. Denver slept obliviously in her lap as she sat cross-legged on Rhaena’s couch, classic black and white TV shows playing quietly in the background. A few minutes later she heard a door close next door and faint sounds on Athan’s side of the wall that the couch sat against. Wren disturbed her chubby feline, springing up and bolting for the door. She made a point to be as obnoxious as possible as she knocked continuously on Athan’s door. When he finally deigned to answer it, he didn’t even really look at her as he turned away and started back toward his bedroom. Wren locked it behind her.

“Did all of you just lose your phones? Or did you forget that I was over here waiting to hear what the hell happened?” she asked, making herself at home as she plopped into his leather chair. She glanced up just as he walked into the hallway by his bedroom door and her eyes caught the bullet holes in the back of his tux. “Whoa, whoa … stop,” she said, extending a hand. He halted and turned around. Blood had bloomed clean across the entirety of his white button-up. Wren gaped. “Did you frickin’ getshot?”

“It would appear that way,” he said glumly … and in Wren’s opinion, far too casually.

“I’m gonna assume that you’re not hurt.”

“Assume away.” Athan shrugged, looking as if having this conversation was the last thing he wanted to do.

“What happened? Where’s Rhaena?” she asked.

“She hasn’t answered any of my calls or texts since she had me run Sarah out of the hotel. She stayed to take care of a body. I assume she’s still doing that.”

“And that doesn’t worry you? Andwhosedamn body? What is going on?”

Athan sighed deeply, leaning against the doorway with his hands in his pockets and proceeded to tell her everything that had happened. She had to admit … she was more shocked about this turn of events than she was when she found out that Athan and Rhaena weren’t human.

“So … she’s dead?” Athan nodded. “And this Dahlia chick used Sarah’s blood to turn her into a vampire … a vampire that can walk in sunlight, like you?”

“You catch on quick, Wren.” Athan rolled his eyes.

Wren turned in the chair to face him. “But where did she get Sarah’s blood?”

“We don’t know.”

“Where is Sarah, now? Because she hasn’t answered me either.”

His expression turned real damn quick. “She’s home,” he breathed, digging something out of his pocket. He pulled out a yellow sticky note and a familiar silver chain.

“Is that—”

“Yep. She left it in my desk drawer. Did you know about it?” he asked.

“She was sitting there when she filled out paperwork to leave the precinct after Rhaena arrested her that night at the strip club. I didn’t know she put anything in your drawer. I know she saw the picture you had in it.” Wren bit down on her lip. “Did you guys … talk?”

“She talked. I listened.”

“… and?”

“And she wants me to stay away from her.”

“But the necklace, though. Kane, I don’t think she’d give you something that important to her if she wanted you to stay away, dude.”

“Did you not just say that she left it there before this happened tonight?” He was growing hurt and frustrated. It was obvious he had it bad for her best friend. Wren couldn’t help but feel for the guy. “She cried a lot when I dropped her off, Wren. I don’t think she’ll ever get over what I’ve done, and I can’t blame her for it. But she thinks that it wasn’t real for me.”

There was a brief silence. “Was it?”

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