A chirp sounded from my phone. I check the screen, and smiled widely as I read Cole’s text.
I’m coming back after I check in w/my Dad. If U could B naked by the time I get there, U would really save me some time.
He was coming back.
To-do list: kiss him. Touch him. Own him.
Hinges creaked, jerking me out of my dreamy elation.
I frowned. I knew the sound well. Someone had just opened the front door, but it couldn’t have been Cole. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter and pressed my back against the wall. Slowly moving forward, I peeked around the corner. My heart hammered erratically.
Footsteps closed in.
Squeezing the weapon’s handle, I jumped out, prepared to attack.
A girl screamed. Her hand flattened over her heart as she scrambled backward, away from me.
“Kat?” I asked, lowering my arm.
“Don’t you dare stab me, Ali Bell.” She stepped from the shadows, moonlight washing in from the window and spilling over her. She anchored her hands on her hips, becoming the very picture of ire, despite the paleness of her skin and the bruises under her eyes. She wasn’t well. “You have some explaining to do. We finally figure out where you are and come to your rescue, and you almost murder me before we can complete the job.”
We?
Shock barreled through me at an alarming rate. “I have missed you so, so much, Mad Dog, but you shouldn’t have come.”
“Like I could really leave you out here once I learned Ankh had you deported to Siberia.”
“I’m only twenty miles away, and he did me a favor. I like it here. And how did you learn about it?”
She ignored my question, saying, “Of course you don’t like it here. There are bars on the doors and window.”
Those bars were meant to protect people from me. “I don’t want to leave.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you suffering from Stockholm or something? Because I know my Ali, and she would never move away without saying goodbye, and she would never choose to live here.”
I wasn’t going to get through to her, was I? “Seriously, how did you find me? And who is we?”
“I can answer that.” Ethan moved to her side, watching me warily.
Ethan? The potential spy?
Great. Wonderful. This couldn’t get any worse. “Fill me in before I have a panic attack.”
“Well, for starters,” said another female, “I found out about the zombies.”
Reeve stepped up to Kat’s other side.
Okay. It was officially worse.
“My dad doesn’t know that I know,” Reeve said.
“When you disappeared, Reeve did some investigating, and told me what she learned,” Ethan said, “and that’s when we discovered the zombies, and your whereabouts, and decided to bring Kat in to help us save you. You’re welcome, by the way. Do you have any idea what we had to do to hack into Mr. Ankh’s computer and get the coordinates to this place?”
I hoped that was rhetorical.
“In other astonishing news,” Kat said before I could process everything I’d been told, “Frosty and I broke up—of course. He wouldn’t tell me where you were being held.”
“I doubt he knows.”
She waved away my words, and I noted her hand was trembling. “Semantics.”
“You have to stop pushing that boy away every time you’re feeling vulnerable,” I said. “One day he’s going to stop coming back.”
Her mouth opened, closed.
“Enough chatting,” Ethan said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait.” The three of them weren’t safe with me, not without a trained slayer nearby, but if there were zombies out there tonight, they wouldn’t be safe without me. I’d have to escort them to their car, wherever it was. “Give me a minute.”
I stalked to my bedroom, dressed in a black shirt, camo pants and combat boots. Then I strapped blades to my ankles and wrists, sheathed a larger revolver at my waist and stuffed two smaller ones in my pockets.
I phoned Cole but immediately went to voice mail. Either his phone was now turned off or it was in use. Probably in use. “Ethan, Kat and Reeve just showed up at the cabin. I’m going to walk them back to their car. I’ll also try to do a little detective work on Ethan. Call me.”
When I returned, Kat wouldn’t meet my gaze. Dang it. I shouldn’t have stepped into her business. I thought I’d learned my lesson in the butt-in department.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and squeezed her hand.
She nodded, the action stiff.
I read the fine print: not forgiven. I sighed. “Follow me.” When we reached the front door, I drew in a deep breath for strength. My hand trembled as I twisted the knob, and my knees knocked as I walked outside. Cold air enveloped me, hugging me with unwelcoming arms of ice.
A forest loomed around me. A dusting of snow had fallen, leaving the slightest glaze of white. It was pretty. I stiffened, searched the darkness...but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“Where’s your car?” I asked.
“On the road outside the forest,” Ethan replied. “We didn’t want your captors to hear us coming.”
I’d talked to Cole about the area, and knew we had a two-mile hike.
“I’ll take the lead,” I said. “You guys will do what I say, when I say, without any argument. I’m serious. I love you girls with all my heart, but if you question me out here, I’ll knock out your teeth, I swear I will.”
Kat finally cracked a grin. “Look at you, all forceful.”
Ethan stepped in front of Reeve, protecting her from my supposed wrath. Did he understand I’d do what I’d threatened—and so much worse—to him?
“Stay behind me.” I entered the forest, listening. Footsteps crunched behind me. No sound in front of me. Good. We maneuvered around trees, going downhill, minute after minute ticking past.
“So, Ethan,” I said, “have you ever heard of Blood Lines?”
“No.”
“Then why do you have them around your house?”
“Your friends asked me the same question, and I’ll tell you what I told them. I don’t know.”
He was lying. He had to be lying.
“How did you and Reeve meet?”
“Can we not do this now?” he asked tightly.
“You’re right. We’ll wait till we get to the car. We’ll put the girls inside, and then you and I will walk away for a little chat.” Afterward, there was a chance only one of us would be walking back.