Blood Lines

TWENTY

CULLEN carried her out of the house.

Cynna protested, of course. Maybe she'd gone a bit dizzy when she stood up—didn't mean she wasn't perfectly capable of walking. "This is ridiculous. Didn't I tell you to—"

"Shut up."

"Oh, like that's going to happen." It felt weird, being carried. Embarrassing, too, but he was really warm, and firm in all the places a man ought to be firm… though she was just guessing about one spot. That might or might not be firming up. She couldn't tell without groping him, which would be way tacky.

Especially since they had an escort. Alex had sent the big, reddish wolf with them—either making sure they didn't steal the silver, or that no one bothered them on their way out. Like Brady.

She felt the flex of his muscles as he started down the stairs, trailing the wolf. This was interesting enough that she decided to let the uncracked side of her head rest on his shoulder. He smelled good, too. She probably didn't, but there wasn't much she could do about that.

She'd hooked her tote on her left arm, which was curled around his neck. It thumped gently against his back as they descended. "So why did you try to make Brady apologize to the Rhej?"

"I thought I told you to shut up."

Rude as hell. Still pissed, too. But he was taking the stairs so carefully it didn't jar her head at all. That was as interesting as the hard chest she rested against. "You don't like Rhejes, but you wanted to burn Brady. I can see why you might, but why don't you like Rhejes?"

"None of your business."

True, but that didn't do a thing to ease her curiosity. Maybe he didn't want the wolf to hear, though. "Did you see the demon possessing Merilee, like you thought you would?"

"Yes.".

He'd answered. Hallelujah. She dug into her question hoard for some that couldn't be answered yes or no. "You said another demon chased you. When? And where were you? How did you get away?"

"I burned it. In Mexico. Yesterday. And I didn't stop to ask for names, but your old friend was riding it in astral form."

"Jiri?"

He nodded.

Shit. "How'd you know it was her?"

"Lily has a description, remember? I saw a tall woman, African heritage, no boobs, strong shoulders. Good with demons. Oh, and her eyes glowed red. Sound familiar?"

They'd reached the bottom of the stairs. Three men—lupi, she supposed, but in human form—were in the living room. They watched, silent and unfriendly, as their wolf escort stopped at the door.

Cullen stopped there, too. "Someone want to open this? Or I could just drop her and get it myself."

"Let me." She stretched her free hand down and turned the knob.

It was fully dark now. Creepy-dark once the door shut behind them. She couldn't see the wolf anymore, but heard his claws on the porch. "Don't lupi believe in porch lights?"

"I can see." He proved it by stepping off the porch.

There must have been clouds overhead, because only a few stars were showing off their twinkles. It never got this black in a city. "How long was I out?"

"About forty minutes. Putting you down now," he said as they reached the car, suiting action to words. As soon as she heard the lock click, she opened the door, and in the spill of light saw not one, but three wolves sitting on the porch, watching.

She climbed in. Her heartbeat was making the kettledrum in her head act up. You'd think she'd raced across the yard instead of traveling in a beautiful man's arms, but her pulse rate might have something to do with those three pony-size wolves staring at them.

She slammed the door. "I need to call Lily."

He was already behind the wheel. "I called Rule, remember?"

"Rule isn't my boss. And what was that about, anyway? They acted funny when you said you'd called him."

"They'd rather no one knew about Victor's condition." He started the engine.

"And that explains something?"

He sighed. "Got to have it all spelled out, do you? Okay. You, they can't kill. Me, they might, though not here, since Victor made me guest. Once I leave their land, that doesn't apply."

"Yet here we are, leaving."

He pulled the car around in a wide circle, heading them back the way they'd come in. "If I don't leave now, they're apt to hold on to me until after the naming."

"Maybe they haven't heard? Kidnapping's illegal."

He shrugged. "We don't tattle on each other to the authorities."

"I am the authorities." Weird as it still seemed.

"Which is one reason they're not stopping us. The other is that I've already spoken to Rule. They aren't sure what I told him and might like to keep me around to find out, but they probably won't try anything with you by my side." He flashed her a grin, almost unseen in the darkness. "My bodyguard."

Lupus politics would have made her head hurt even without a half-healed skull fracture. "I still have to report."

"No, you don't. I spoke to Lily, too. She knows we found the demon and got rid of it. The rest can wait until tomorrow."

Or until they reached the hospital, anyway. She leaned her head against the headrest and gave the kettledrum a chance to settle down.

They left the clearing behind, and the trees loomed over them, twisty black hulks holding hands overhead. It was dusk here, with the belly of the sky hanging low and rain clouds dimming the day. There was no way to make the dirt road anything but bumpy, and Cullen liked to drive fast. She gritted her teeth on a couple bumps, but that hurt, too, so she tried to Zen out on watching the headlights bounce over the rutted road.

She wasn't good at Zen but did start feeling kind of spacey. And tired. Really tired. She let her eyes drift closed, shutting out the spooky trees, but she was still awake when they turned onto the smoother surface of the highway.

"Where's your hotel?" he asked, all curt.

"Harrisonburg, but I have to go to the hospital first, remember."

"The mental hospital, maybe?"

"What are you so mad about, anyway?"

"Why the hell do you think?" he snapped. "I started liking you. I don't like many people, so it pisses me off if one of them tries to get herself killed."

"Oh." Friendship potential, she thought. Hadn't she decided Cullen had that much going for him?

The tires hummed on the pavement. He didn't turn the radio on or put in a CD, and she wondered why. Lupi were nuts for music. A few moments later, the shushing sound of rain swept over them. That's better than any CD, she thought as a few more muscles quit bracing themselves against what-might-be and relaxed.

Maybe he liked the sound of rain, too. She listened to wet sheets of it rushing at the car and tried to remember… Why wasn't she supposed to be interested in Cullen, anyway?

Oh, yeah. Hormones. Jerk. Lousy track record. Those were good reasons, but her hormones weren't putting in a vote now… or if they were, it was drowned out by all the pain signals.

Friendship. She could work with that. "So, you want to have sex after my head quits hurting?"

"Hell, yes. You going to be mad when I remind you that you asked?"

Eyes closed, head throbbing, she felt her lips curve up. "Probably."