Bad Blood (Book 4 of The Warden series) (5 page)

Ethan slowed to a stop well before he had reached Cori.

Duke pulled the lever by the door. A shudder went through the interior hanger door before it lowered. He gave Cori a wide friendly smile. “Ma’am.” The only thing missing was the tip of a cowboy hat, which was unfortunately not part of the guard uniforms.

Cori gave him a civil nod, which was appropriate since she barely knew Duke. Ethan hadn’t explained the integral part he had played in saving her life a few weeks prior. He hadn’t meant to diminish Duke’s credit, but there was so much to tell and recent days were not allowing for detailed conversations about anything.

Duke left the room, and Cori strolled over to him, taking a bit more time than necessary to close the gap between them. As it was, she left several feet of void. All awkward conversations required physical space no matter how many times the participants had seen each other naked. “So,” she said letting the conjunction speak for itself.

“So,” he added to the loquacious conversation.

“Leaving me for a werewolf, kind of ironic.”

Ethan knew she had meant it to be funny, but something still stung about that topic, and possibly always would. He turned away changing his position to hide his displeasure. “I think you know all the arguments already.”

“Yup, and I don’t care. I don’t care that she needs your help. I don’t care that we are contracted to help werewolves. I don’t care about anything, but you.”

Ethan was surprised she had said that. There was no doubt in his heart that Cori loved him. She had professed it many times. He was just surprised that she was being so honest. Normally, she would skirt her emotions and try to win an argument on merit or volume. The fact that she wasn’t yelling already was another surprise. “It will be dangerous, I know, but it is for a baby. I think we can both agree that a child has the right to be with his mother.”

He could almost see her shoulders slump. He had played the baby card. She could argue from now until dawn, but in the end, Ethan wasn’t leaving to go fetch some groceries. Nor was he taking revenge in Leona’s name. He was retrieving a kidnapped child.

“Ethan, she is dangerous.” Cori stepped forward. “I know Danato understands that, but I don’t think you do. Vince was terrified of her. He…I don’t want to get into details, but when Vince and Danato are afraid, I think you should rethink being anywhere near her.”

“She’s lame right now. She’s pregnant again. She isn’t likely to pick a fight.”

Cori looked away. “It’s not a fight I’m worried about. I’m worried she may want to take revenge on you because of me.”

“What is it between you two anyway?”

“I sort spoiled her chances of mating with Vince.” Cori hadn’t shared the details of her life with Vince, and for obvious reasons he never asked, but he was curious about this. “Vince told me he could either agree to be with her, or…suffer the consequences. Either way he was going to have to mate with her.”

“She refused to choose another?”

“She couldn’t, something about scent targeting. Once she was set on a mate, she couldn’t change.”

“What stopped her?”

“I poisoned her with colloidal silver,” Cori said casually as if it were a low point in her life. Like a man admitting he had to kick a fellow man in the balls to win a fight.

Ethan smiled, and withheld the laughter he wanted to bluster. “That’s amazing.” He wondered how many times he had used that word to describe her. Every time he said it, he meant it.

“Maybe, but I can’t imagine she won’t take my punishment out on you.”

“Well, if you want to confront her, she’s still over at the docks. Truck doesn’t leave for another ten.” He could see her repulsion at the idea of seeing her again, but that faded; and was replaced by determination. “Come on. I’ll wait by the door, just in case.” He winked and extended his hand. She linked her fingers in his and they headed over to the docks for a showdown or at least some verbal bitch slapping.

7

Even before Cori was through the door, Leona was up from her crate and meeting her half way. Her business suit left nothing to the imagination. Even the high-necked, billowing blouse undercut her breasts. The woman seemed to harvest the image of respect and sex in one antithesis style.

Ethan stayed by the door to give her privacy. Cori new Ethan didn’t want to know about her life with Vince. Even the mention of his name made him uncomfortable. He knew how important Vince was to her. Without him, she would not have overcome her insecurities. However, he probably also knew that if it weren’t for that whole, dying thing, Cori would probably still be with him.

There were three dockworkers loading the truck with empty boxes. With so many runs in and out of the prison these days, the docks had taken to loading empty boxes on the trucks to hide their passengers. With that much traffic coming out of no man’s land, if a cop pulled over a truck with only one woman stashed openly in the back, they might see fit to investigate where the truck was coming from.

Leona stepped up close to her. The awkward conversation was apparently not going to be given the space that Ethan and Cori had afforded each other. Leona did so love to breach personal space. “I knew you’d come see me. Couldn’t resist could you? I suppose you’re here to ask me to protect Ethan.”

“Actually, I came to ask you to stay away from him.”

Leona scoffed. “Really, and what makes you think you have the right to ask me for anything.”

Cori licked her lips. “I think I’ve earned your respect as a
frenemy
. I asked never to see you again. I know this was unintentional, but I need you not to interfere with my life here. Ethan is too important to me. There has to be another person who can help you with this.”

“The promise I made does not take precedence over my son. Ethan is the best at what he does, and I need the best. Besides all that,
frenemy
, you owe me.”

“How’s that?”

“The father of my son, the one who has kidnapped him, he is the mate I took after Vince.” Cori shifted feeling the backlash of karma smacking her in the ass. “If I had mated with Vince, I would have been pregnant already when I met this man. Since he turned out to be a violent oppressive pack hunter, I think it only fitting that you now release
your
man to help me be rid of him.”

“I’m sorry for your trouble, Leona. You know that I never would have…I just had to. I know it seems like a petty thing now, but he meant everything to me. I took no pleasure in defeating you.”

“Defeat.” Leona’s eyes widened with a flare of rage. She stepped in closer softening her voice. “You got lucky, little girl. Never forget that.” She touched Cori’s arms, rubbing them gently. Leona directed a glare behind her. Ethan must have shifted to intervene.

“I know what you’re really afraid of,” Leona whispered, her hot minty breath tickling her face. “I know you’re afraid I’m going to seduce him. You think I’ll take revenge on you by sleeping with your new love.” Cori nodded. She couldn’t find the voice to respond anymore. She wasn’t afraid, but the only thing she could contribute was dense feeble gestures.

“I want you to know that I could and I might, but what you need to understand, what most of you
still
don’t understand. If I want it, I take it. I will make no more promises to you Cori. I will not bind myself to you in any way, friend or foe. If it pleases me to have your husband, I will.” She squeezed her arms. “If it pleases me to have
you
, I will. There is not one thing you could do to stop it. Understand?”

Cori understood her words, but she was a little confused about when her feet stopped touching the ground. They dangled inches from the floor, held up by Leona’s inexorable strength. To add to her show of power, she kissed Cori. It was an eerie mix of sincerity, sexuality, and more than a fair share of intimidation.

Though her feet had been returned to the ground, and Leona had long since dismissed herself to the truck, Cori could still feel her lips pressed against her. She forcefully pulled herself from whatever trance she was under and returned to Ethan.

He was standing against the back wall with his foot propped and his hand clasping his mouth. The glimmer in his eyes was a tell for the smirk he was hiding. Cori shook her head, “Shut-up.”

8

Danato avoided the splatter as Cori plopped the contents of the cream of mushroom soup into her noodles. He handed her the can of tuna he had opened, which she ungratefully ripped from his hands and added. He gave her a questioning look, but she turned her burner to warm and stirred the casserole until she was satisfied with the consistency.

Ethan had gone upstairs to pack for his trip. The two of them were alone, as they would be for the next week. It wasn’t unfamiliar territory, but even one meal was excruciating when Cori was in a foul mood. It didn’t help that he was the cause of it, or at least, to blame for it in her eyes.

“Cori,” Danato started.

“I don’t want to talk about it. You’re right; he’s right; I’m selfish. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to be pissed. I love him. I don’t want him near her. I hate her. You’re just going to have to live with me like this until he’s back. Okay?” She finished her rant and gave him a determined chin up.

“I was just going to say that we should put Parmesan cheese in there.”

Cori looked down at the tuna noodle casserole in her pot. She looked back at him. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

He grabbed the shaker out of the fridge and let her liberally apply the cheese. “I know how you feel, you know?”

“I know you’re just as concerned about Ethan as I am,” she said taming her tone enough to sound sympathetic. “I know you wouldn’t send him if it wasn’t very strictly part of his job.” She stirred the pasta and tasted it. Satisfied, she turned off the burner and dug out a potholder.

“No—yes, but I mean I know how it feels to have a spouse in danger.” Cori’s interest perked and she neglected her pasta. “If you remember, I had a wife.”

“Of course I remember,” Cori scolded putting her hand on her hip. “How could I forget such a thing?”

“Well, she was often in dangerous situations. I imagine you feel the same frustrations I did. You want to just close your eyes and make all the bad stuff go away, but you can’t because that’s who they are. Taking away the danger, takes away the reason you loved them to begin with. Ethan wasn’t half the man he was until he was fighting dragons and hunting criminals. You can hardly ask him to go back to being meek and unassuming now that you have reason to protect him.

“And take it from someone who knows, it won’t make it any easier on Ethan for you to be overly upset about him leaving. The last thing he needs is to be concerned about how you’re doing instead of concentrating on his job.”

Danato took the potholder and the casserole to the table for her. As he placed it on the table, he thought it was missing a food group since the mushrooms were few and far between in the soup. “Why don’t we whip up a quick lettuce salad?”

He said heading back to the fridge for greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers courtesy of Cori’s genius in the greenhouse. Cori fetched a big bowl and they both started ripping lettuce into it. She glanced at him several times, but didn’t say anything. When her hand came to rest on his in the bowl, he looked over at her. “What’s wrong?”

She looked sad, but in a different way than before. It was directed at him. “Do you think you’ll ever feel comfortable talking to me about what happened to her?”

For a half, second he had no idea what she was talking about. When he realized that his wife was the topic of discussion, he had to block out the thousand and one thoughts that accompanied her memories. “Cori,” he whispered feeling eyes on him as he spoke, “You know I love you. You being here means the world to me, and I would give you anything in the world within reason.” She nodded taking the sentiments like heavy bags of groceries. “But that part of my life is over and I will not discuss it.”

Her eyes flickered over his, trying to discern his temperament. She might have suspected he was mad, and she could easily assume he was sad, but there would be no way for her to place the third emotion that always accompanied his memories of his wife’s death.

Guilt.

He had no intention of reliving any of his history. Not for the sake of empathy or understanding. Certainly not to entertain curiosity.

The moment was interrupted by Ethan trampling down the stairs. They broke hands, and continued to slice the cucumbers and tomatoes to add to the lettuce. “That smells good.” Ethan dropped his duffel bag by the door. It was rather small Danato thought, even for a week, but since Ethan rarely escaped his black t-shirt and black cargo pants, there really wasn’t much of a wardrobe to pack. “Any wine, or are we saving that for my triumphant return.”

“Wine it is,” Danato agreed. He did prefer to save the wine for special occasions, but good-byes were as much an ordeal as hello’s, so why not. He wiped off his hands and pulled a choice bottle from the wine rack on the counter beside the fridge. Ethan practically ran to fetch the glasses. He grabbed three, even though Cori usually just sipped hers to be polite. Ethan never noticed that she poured most of it down the sink at the end of the meal.