Page 58 of Newly Undead in Dark River

Angeline gave me one last loaded look and disappeared from the apartment building. Nico watched her go sadly. Then he bent forward and picked me up as if I weighed nothing.

“I will take her to the Sheriff’s home. She will be comfortable there,” he said to Judge over my shoulder. “I will wait with her until one of her other paramours arrive.”

Judge nodded, though his focus was on Walker, one hand holding the back of Walker’s head to keep him attached to his wrist. Actually, Judge was beginning to look a little pale as well.

I wiggled out of Nico’s arms, ignored the flash of rejection on his face. I entwined his fingers in mine and lifted his index finger to my mouth. Scraping his skin with my teeth, I cut the very tip of his finger. When a single drop of his blood hit my tongue, it nearly knocked me on my ass. Holy shit. He was powerful. And so, so very old.

I blinked at him wildly, trying to take in everything his blood was telling me. I didn’t have time right now, or the emotional fortitude. Instead, I took his still bleeding finger and pressed it to the door.

Then I pulled him across the threshold, still gripping his hand tightly. Grabbing an entire arm full of blood bags from the fridge, I opened one and held it to Nico. “You want me to see if she tainted the blood supply?” I nodded and held it out. He touched his tongue to the tip and nodded. “It is fine.” I screwed the cap back on and handed him another one. We repeated this process for twenty bags, Nico never once losing patience. Instead, he tasted each one dutifully.

Finally, I put them all in a cardboard cereal box from my recycling and carried them across the room, using it as a shield from the overwhelming urge to smash the wooden picture frame and ram it into Walker’s chest cavity. I clutched Nico’s hand so hard that I was worried I’d crush his bones to dust. But he just squeezed back, holding me back and giving me support all at once. I stopped a few feet away, just to be safe, and held out the box of blood bags.

I almost started to cry again when I saw Walker’s bright eyes staring back at me from the couch. He was going to be okay. I looked at Judge, who was giving me another sad look. I hoped I could convey everything I felt for him in my look alone because if I could speak, I’d say thank you. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I’d killed Walker, whether it was my fault or not. I would have told him I love him because he had my back always. I would have thanked him for taking care of Walker because he knew how much he meant to me.

I hoped he could see it all in my expression because I would tell him as soon as I could. I wanted them all to know how much they meant to me. I wouldn’t waste another second.

“We will head to your home now,” Nico said, addressing Walker, but it was Judge who answered.

“We won’t be far behind you. I think we would all be more comfortable away from here.”

My chest heaved in a muted, hiccuping sob. This apartment had been a refuge. I’d tried to rebuild my life here. I built new memories here. But now it was the scene of my almost death. A more permanent one. Instead of the memories of unpacking my life, of Walker handing me the keys or the first time Judge and I had made love or any of the other countless happy memories I’d made here, it would always be marred by ugliness. I knew at that moment that I could never live here again.

Nico nodded and scooped me back in his arms. I didn’t fight him. I was done with today. I didn’t have any strength left in me. He ran down the back steps, past the crowd that had gathered out the front of The Immortal Cupcake. I barely had a moment to register their shocked faces.

Nothing would ever be the same for the citizens of Dark River either. I’d destroyed something beautiful, and I wasn’t sure the townspeople would ever forgive me for that. Nico ran me past the police station and all the way to Walker’s cottage.

Placing me down on wobbly legs, he jogged around to the back of the house. He reappeared, opening the front door for me. “I owe the Sheriff a back door,” he muttered, helping me into the house like an invalid.

Instead of taking me to the guest room where I’d stayed when I’d first been turned, he took me down the hall to Walker’s bedroom. He walked into the ensuite, and turned on the water, testing its temperature with a stern look of concentration.

When the front door banged open, Nico turned with lightning speed, his body taut and his huge fangs bared. When Brody ran around the corner, he stopped dead at the sight of the ancient vampire predator.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, Tex couldn’t see the apex predator in front of him, and moved around both Brody and Nico, straight toward me as if I were a magnet. He had me in his arms, squeezing me impossibly tightly in seconds.

“Jesus, Mika. I was so scared. Judge called and said he knew who it was, and when we arrived at your apartment and all we could smell was Walker’s blood. I think I aged a hundred years,” he said, as he kissed every inch of my face. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t okay. I’d almost killed Walker, sentenced a woman I thought of as a friend to death, and destroyed a second friend’s life. I burrowed my face deeper into his chest and cried. I could hear Nico speaking to Brody in a tone just low enough that I couldn’t hear, but the growl that echoed around Walker’s bedroom was in no way human.

I looked over to see Brody bowing at the waist at Nico. “Thank you, Nico, for caring for our Mate. We owe you a debt.”

Nico waved away his words. “I didn’t do it for you. I will stay in the locale for a little longer, but I will leave you with Raine. She needs rest.”

Brody nodded, and Nico threw me a sad smile before disappearing. Brody came over and pulled me into his arms. “Oh, Spitfire. I’m so sorry. Let’s get you cleaned up and tuck you up in Walker’s bed. Everything will be better tomorrow,” he promised. I wasn’t sure it was a promise he could keep.

They stripped me out of my clothes, and then both hopped into Walker’s tiny ensuite shower with me. I don’t know how they knew that I needed to be surrounded by their life at the moment, but they did. They washed every square inch of me with tender hands, nothing sexual in their touch. They just took care of me as if I was made of the finest crystal that was sure to shatter at any moment. Maybe they were right. I did feel one more earth-shattering reveal away from falling apart. They wrapped me in one of Walker’s t-shirts and put me into his bed.

Then they hopped in beside me, pressed me between them, stroking my hair, touching my skin, whispering sweet words into my hair until I drifted off to sleep.

I woke a few hours later as Walker, barely upright, hopped in beside me. I could see his profile in the darkness, and that of Judge. Brody and Tex were gone, but the sheets were still warm. “He’s going to be fine, Raine. He just needs to rest beside our girl, and he’ll be alright tomorrow. You both will.”

I wanted to tell them that I wasn’t alright. Instead, I just shook my head sadly.

Walker pulled me into his arms, curving his body around mine. “I almost lost you today,” he said quietly, and the next instant his breathing had evened out into soft snores. I looked past him to Judge.

I patted the other side of the bed hopefully, but my heart sank as he shook his head.

He leaned over and kissed me lightly on the lips. “I wish Rainy Day. But I better catch up with X before he breaks the town. The Council have questions.”

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