Page 89 of Addicted in Blood
Obsessed in Blood
Chapter 1
It was a new day,and my spirits couldn’t be lifted any higher.The sun spread its early morning light through the condo, bathing everything with a touch of gold.Classic rock from the seventies and eighties blasted over the speakers.I danced through the kitchen, grinding coffee, adding water to the coffee pot, and laying out the ingredients for one of my special tossed omelets, which was nothing more than eggs, cheese, and anything else I could find to throw in.
While I wouldn’t exactly call it a Cinderella moment, bluebirds might have twittered around my head as I set the table.
I jammed an air guitar solo, and when I twirled around to bring it home, I jumped in surprise when a disheveled Ginger appeared with one eye closed from eye crusties, mismatched knee-highs, and a sour expression.
“What in all that’s holy are you doing so fricking early?Trying to wake the dead?”She stopped at the entertainment center and turned the volume down.
My lips twitched involuntarily.“One look at you says I accomplished my task.Didn’t we both go to bed at a normal hour last night?”
“Lucas called around midnight, and we talked for hours.”She shuffled to the table and collapsed into a chair.I filled a mug and then pushed it and the bowl of sugar toward her.Once the first sip was down, she wiped her eye until the lid popped open, and she gave me a typical Ginger smile.Her gaze twinkled.“He sounds so much like his old self again.We laughed, and he told me how stressed he’d been.”She held the mug with both hands, savoring each sip as I chopped onions and avoided rubbing my own eyes.
“He’d been terrified the House might fall, and if he didn’t have a choice of a new House, he was considering his options of going rogue.”
I stopped chopping.“Oh, my god.I had no idea.That’s a big decision.”
She nodded, then her sunny smile returned.“But the House is safe, at least for now.He wanted to tell me everything he was going through as it was happening, but Simone and Sergi had everyone on strict orders of silence.”
I rolled my eyes.Once the cadre discovered Devon was on the Poppy again, and his car was at the scene of a Council member’s murder, the House had been in disarray.The Council had been eager to close the case as quickly as possible with threats of sanctioning the House.It was an all-hands-on-deck moment, and even Lyra, as the temporary House leader, had difficulty keeping the cadre from enforcing marshal law.I might be exaggerating, but it was a tense week.
If that hadn’t been bad enough, they wanted me on ice until everything had been resolved.It would have gone much easier if they’d trusted me.After everything I’d done for them since first landing on their doorstep, I’d thought I’d earned it.
“Well, that’s over for now.”I poured eggs into the skillet and placed toasted English muffins on the table along with the butter and jam.
“What’s with the happy homemaker?You haven’t cooked in ages.”She nibbled at the muffin and eyed me suspiciously as I flipped the omelet.Then her gaze widened.“You got lucky last night.”
I grinned as I slid the omelet onto her plate.She cut it in half, pushing one of the halves onto my plate while I dumped the skillet in the sink and plopped into a seat across from her.
“I brought Devon to a construct.”
She grimaced.“Was he mad?”
“He was a bit confused about why I chose for us to talk it out in a dream.”I savored my first bite and washed it down with a swig of coffee.“We still have a lot to talk through, but we’ve formed a tentative peace.”
“I think you did a bit more than talk.”
I winked.“You know what they say about makeup sex.”
She giggled.“I think I’ll get a reminder this afternoon.Lucas is taking me to the city for a couple of nights.”
We clinked our mugs together before focusing on the rest of breakfast.Everyone needed a few days to decompress, and I was thrilled Lucas was finding time for her.And while I felt good about where Devon and I left our own wacky relationship, I was a bit unsettled with how the cadre would deal with me.
“So, what will you be doing today?”Ginger picked up the dishes and rinsed them before stacking them in the dishwasher.
I followed behind her with the condiments, sliding s couple of them into the fridge.“Anna is restarting our study of the Houses, and Devon wants to reestablish a training schedule.He’s serious about getting back to the mission.”
“A routine will help with his mental fugue.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
She bumped my hip and gave me a quick hug.“Hopefully, everyone has learned a valuable lesson that we’re stronger working together than apart.”
I snorted.“Something tells me the cadre might need more than a single lesson before it sticks.Sometimes they don’t know as much as they think they do.”
She sighed.“We can only work with what we’ve got.I’m going to take a nap and then a long bath.Lucas said he’d pick me up at three.”
