Page 66 of Blood Bearon
If not, too bad for him.
Pulling out her phone, Rachel blinked in surprise to see a message waiting from Khove. Had he read her mind? She opened it.
Call me. We need to talk.
32
He paced through the half-empty parking lot of the biggest hardware store in town. Although it was a Saturday afternoon, it was quiet.
The people were scared, he knew. Nothing like this had ever happened to Plymouth Falls before. Nobody knew where the attackers were going to strike next, and they didn’t want to be a part of it. Businesses were shutting down early, he’d heard, letting their employees go before it grew dark out. They didn’t want to risk anyone being on hand, and Khove agreed with them.
Although the five shifter Houses had inhabited the area around Plymouth Falls for centuries, and were responsible for most of its industry and even the founding of the town itself, they mostly kept to themselves. Little, if any of their internecine combat ever spilled out into the streets. There were rules against it.
Korred no longer cared about those rules, and he was determined to tear down anything he couldn’t have. The only one able to stand in his way was Khove, and a brave but unprepared police lieutenant. They were a pitiful force against the power the former Magi could bring to bear, but they would have to be enough. They would have to.
“Khove.”
He jerked upright, pausing mid-step when Rachel spoke his name from behind him. Slowly, he put his right foot down, pivoting on it until she entered his view.
Standing there in the empty parking lot, wind casually whipping at her blonde hair, unnaturally blue eyes staring right back him, Khove couldn’t help but admire her beauty. She wore black pants that clung to her legs, and a warm but tight jacket that gave her full access to the utility belt around her waist. The gold badge was affixed to the breast of the jacket. A cap embroidered with the logo for the Plymouth Falls Sheriff’s Department sat upon her head.
“Rachel,” he said softly, tilting his head in greeting.
They stood staring at one another. Her pale cheeks grew rosy as the cold whipped at them, and the tip of her pointy little nose turned even brighter. There was little Khove wanted to do more than step closer to her and share his warmth, but he restrained himself.
There was a wall between them now, a barrier stronger than anything mortal hands could make. Differing ideologies spread them apart and prevented either from closing the gap. Neither could accept what the other believed in, but they would have to deal with it in the meantime, at least.
Perhaps when it was over, they could sit down, talk and work through it. But not now. There simply wasn’t time.
“I’m here because we need to stop Korred,” she said at last, her mouth barely moving as she spoke, voice as tight as her body language. “Got it?”
“Got it,” he said sourly. “Same reason I’m here.”
Rachel nodded, but didn’t say anything. Khove bit his tongue, keeping quiet himself, even as he was nearly bursting with things he wanted to tell her. Now was not the time for personal issues, he told himself. That would come later.
“Dottner says we made a good team,” Rachel said at last. “It’s probably the best bet we have for catching this guy.”
There was something about the way she spoke. Trying to be polite by complimenting the way they worked together, and through it, complimenting him. Yet the way she said it…
“Dottner forced you to contact me, didn’t he?”
Rachel flinched, refusing to meet his eyes. “No, it’s not like that—”
“My Queen made me message you,” he admitted, speaking quickly.
“So we’ve both been forced into this? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” Rachel asked, kicking at the ground with the toe of her boot. “Great.”
He smiled despite the situation. “It’s not like I didn’t enjoy working with you, Rachel. On any level. That wasn’t ever the issue.”
For just a moment, warmth returned to her eyes, but then she got a hold of herself and they became flat again, staring at him, but not into him. It wasn’t the look one gave a friend, or a lover. It was a glance exchanged between strangers.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter,” she said sharply, shuffling from side to side. “We have a job to do.”
“It does matter,” he argued, standing his ground. “I also feel like wemakea great team,” he said, stressing the present tense. “I still wanted to keep working with you all along. I left because I didn’t want to be a burden to you. Not because I wanted to.”
“I don’t think that really matters right now, Khove.”
“It always matters.” He looked skyward in frustration at how things had gotten to this point. “I’m sorry for not being up front with you from the start about how I intended for this all to end. I—I’m not used to working with humans, under your laws.”
