Page 38 of Crimson Bond

Our mutual longing to get away from home and explore the world was one of the first points of connection Abbi and I had shared, sitting on the hood of my car that night talking about the places we wanted to go.

“You wanted to see Venice before it’s completely underwater,” she said. “And you wanted to live at the beach someday.”

“You remember that?”

“I remember everything about that night.” Her tone was faraway. “I’ve relived it so many times, it’s almost like a movie in my mind. Whenever I was lonely or sad or missing you—which was a lot—I played the movie and escaped into a happier time and place.”

I reached over and captured her hand, squeezing it. “I hate to think about you being lonely or sad. But I’m glad you missed me. I missed you, too.”

Her fingers returned the squeeze, and she gave me a smile so sweet I had to lean over and give her a quick against-the-rules kiss. She gave me a chiding glance but didn’t stop smiling.

“I’d still love to live at the beach,” I said. “Or at least go there with you and stay for a long, long time.”

“Oh my gosh, a hot sunny beach sounds like Heaven right now.” Shivering, Abbi pressed a button on the dashboard to turn up the temperature.

“Ontario today, beach later,” I said.

“What a tease.”

“It’s not a tease—it’s a promise.” I gave her a wink and pulled the car onto the Trans-Canada highway, taking us north once again.

It didn’t really matter to me how cold it was. Even if I had to drive another day in a whiteout, it wouldn’t have bothered me.

I felt... good. I would have feltbetterhad we been able to continue what we had started in that hotel room, but Abbi was right to stop it, of course. We had a do-able plan in place, and it would be stupid to screw it up by tipping Imogen off just before we could execute it.

Abbi and I had waited this long, we could wait a little more. And as she’d said, we’d have eternity to spend together.

It had thrilled me to hear the words coming out of her beautiful mouth. I would never, ever, get tired of hearing her say she loved me. And with Sadie on the Crimson throne, we could finallybetogether.

I’d also be free of the threat of forced sexual servitude. Some of the guys hadn’t minded. They thought Imogen was hot, and some of them even vied for her attention.

Kannon wasn’t one of them, but it didn’t seem to bother him much either. After what had happened with his human ex-girlfriend, he’d given up on the whole concept of love, so he said a meaningless tumble with Imogen every once in a while was no big deal.

“Do you think with Sadie as the queen of the Crimson court, the Bloodbound will be necessary anymore?” Abbi asked as if reading my mind.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to maintain a security force, but maybe an army wouldn’t be necessary anymore. I can’t see Sadie suddenly deciding to lead an armed rebellion against the human government.”

“No. Definitely not. She’ll still want to use diplomacy. A united front and greater numbers will be a good thing, though—if she can persuade the citizens of the Bastion that peace is a better solution. What about the Bloodbound’sotherfunction?”

“You mean as queen bee baby-daddies?” I joked. “I’m not sure. Sadie is as old as Imogen. As far as I know she’s never produced a biological child, has she?”

“No.”

“Right. So, I don’t know... I guess that’s always the goal, to be able to continue the species without biting humans. Which means Sadie will want an heir—someone younger and more fertile, someone with great queen DNA.”

“You can stop right there. I’m not going to be summoning a different soldier to my chambers every night.”

I grabbed her hand, squeezing it in mine. “Good. That was a test, by the way.”

It was a few minutes beforeIcould summon the guts to ask my next question. “I just wondered if maybe... you know, you were maybe hoping to have kids. Because if so, that’s your only chance of conceiving. Imogen said it works the same as it does with those killer bees. It takes a swarm of drones...”

Abbi interrupted me. “The only swarm of drones I’d be interested in would be a yardful of little boys who looked just likeyou. Since that’s not in the cards, we’ll just have to settle for it being the two of us forever.”

Lacing my fingers with hers, I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it. “Sounds good to me.”

For a few minutes we were both quiet.

“It would’ve been nice to have children, though, wouldn’t it?” I said. “Myself, I picture three little girls. All of them look exactly like you.”

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