by Angela White
Adrian turned his back to Kenn, something he’d never done before, and his men noticed it.
Angela couldn’t help feeling a bit bad for Kenn. His very nature would make this hard for everyone, but she was also relieved to be away from his anger for a while.
Adrian looked at Marc, who stood a little to Angela’s right and behind. The place of protection, he thought, also liking the wolf’s neat stance at her side. “If you need something, ask one of the guards. We’ll talk tomorrow at say… eleven thirty. Someone will be by to show you around once you’re out of quarantine.”
Marc knew he was supposed to follow Kenn now and he gave Angela a resigned sigh. This was it. The separation had begun.
“Catch you later, baby-cakes.”
“Yes, you will,” Angela answered firmly.
Adrian saw her wariness as the man moved away, but she gestured to the wolf still sitting at her side. “Go with Brady.”
The wolf listened alertly, but didn’t budge until Marc whistled.
Dog rose slowly, and Angela patted the wolf she’d come to respect for his devotion to Marc. “He’ll need you more than I will.”
The wolf’s ear flicked and he padded after his master, causing people to flinch out of his way.
“Are you two a couple?” Adrian asked, storing her obvious rapport with the wild animal.
Angela quickly shook her head, and they both noted the relief Charlie was too inexperienced to hide.
“Marc’s a good friend. I never would have made it here without him.”
Adrian was aware of how intently the boy was listening and how reluctant his mom was to talk about it in front of him.
“She’d know if she was sick. Does she have to be in the QZ?” Charlie asked, wanting her to spend the day with him.
“If you have chores, we’ll meet later,” Angela denied. She wanted to hole up in her tent, unsure about handling a huge group of strangers, but the witch said if she wanted a good life here, she couldn’t spend the first day hiding.
Adrian forced himself to act as if he hadn’t noticed that she’d read her son’s mind. “He has a shift with the vet. You can wait in the quarantine zone, but it may be dinner before he’s finished. Or you can go on rounds with me. It’ll give you a chance to meet your future patients.”
Unaware that he was breaking one of his own rules, Angela thought he was assuming a lot, but she also understood from the expression on Charlie’s face that she had just been offered something that was sought after here–time with Adrian.
“I’d love to spend the day doing…rounds with you, but I haven’t agreed to stay, let alone be your doctor. I only came for my son.”
“But you will,” Adrian promised and turned to the teenager. “Put your mom’s kit in a QZ tent and get to work before Chris marks you late.”
The teenager snapped a salute. “Yes, sir.”
Angela saw a lot (of Marc) in her son. He was changing, growing into a man, and she was suddenly sad for all the years Kenn had kept them chained to his side. It hadn’t been easy on the boy either.
“See ya later, Mom.”
“Yes, you will.”
Adrian waited patiently for her to watch him be swallowed by the thinning fog. “He’s a great kid. Marc’s?”
Angela froze, paling.
“Kenn doesn’t know?”
She shook her head reluctantly, hoping the good feeling of this place meant that she could trust him. If not, this would get ugly, and fast. “No. What gave us away?”
Adrian lit a smoke. When he walked, she followed. “A number of things I’m surprised Kenn missed. Eyes and hair the exact shade, same stubborn chin…and they both worship the ground you walk on.”
“It’s not like that. Marc’s an old friend who came when I needed him. Kenny and I had been together since Charlie was a baby.”
“Had been. Until the war?”
She nodded warily. “Yes, and then I did what I had to. Nothing will keep me from my son.”
Adrian felt a shimmer of power and a measure of respect. He liked this one.
As they walked through the fog in silence, he was also aware of a strong feeling of anticipation. It said something special could happen, that something special would try to happen if he wanted it to, and he had to choose quickly if he did.
What is it about her? he questioned his own gift reluctantly.
Kindred... Yours.
Stunned, Adrian stumbled over a mud hole that all of the camp had tripped over.
Angela chuckled as he juggled his body to keep from going down face-first. The sound echoed into the air and exposed a new surprise.
Adrian watched the colors over the camp ripple with vivid patterns and sharp, clear hues of health and hope. It faded quickly, something easily imagined.
Adrian stared at her, and his heart twisted.
Will you do that to her? To everyone here?
Already damned, Adrian answered the demon’s inquiry with shame and fierce determination.
Yes.
Angela iced over and turned toward his camp without another word.
4
Kenn had pointed Rick and his woman toward the medical tent and then studied Angela and Adrian until they were out of sight. It took a minute to realize the sentries were staring at him with expressions of curiosity and a hint of disapproval.
Marc was still staring after them too, and Kenn grunted, hefting two heavy boxes from his Bronco. “Grab one of those and stay close. Leave the QZ, and you’ll be shot.”
Marc followed with a crate on each arm, nodding politely to the men who moved aside to make room for the wolf, but inside he was dying. How long he would last here now that Angie had her man back.
5
Now out of Kenn’s line of sight, Adrian pushed a little. “So, you two hooked up in Ohio?”
“We met in Indiana. I left home around the first of February,” Angela explained. The witch inside was peering through door after door, trying to discover who Adrian was.
“Damn. Hell of a swoop you two made.”
Angela’s eyes grew murky, like the layers of grit above the fog. The witch was whispering of trust, of it being powerful because it was unexpected.
“What is it you want to know?”
Adrian blinked, felt the male inside ask before he could prevent it. “Are you sleeping with him? Was that how he was paid for getting you here?”
Instead of the anger he expected, Angela gave him a small, cool smile that made him stop.
“That’s not the question you wanted to ask, was it?”
Adrian chose his words carefully. “No. The query I have requires a certain amount of trust to answer.”
“It’s good that you have respect for these things. Ask your question.”
Adrian hesitated again, sure things were moving too fast.
“I guess it takes trust to ask, too. Another time, then?”
She was the real thing–he could feel it. Yet he couldn’t come out and ask her to prove it. Everything had to be given willingly to accomplish what his dreams hinted at. Still, he longed for it to be true and was disappointed with his own sudden, unexpected lack of courage. It was a very simple question. Are you my Seer? The witch I was promised?
“Are you asking me?”
Adrian forgot to breathe. He forced himself to nod. The one he needed the most was here!
“I’m here for my blood. I don’t even know you.”
“Fate brought you here.” Adrian picked out the truths she would have to hide. “You’re here to help me.”
Angela wanted to believe the whispers of the witch inside, but she’d been protecting herself too long to give in so easily. “I don’t know what you need help with, but that’s not what I came for.”
Adrian hid it all as footsteps approached. “That will all change in time, and you’ll stay. We have great and terrible things to do together.”
Before Angela could deny (or question, she wasn’t sure which) the tall guard from the Q
Z joined them, trooper hat firmly in place.
“Camp’s up and running. Kyle’s on Point.”
As Neil left, he gave Angela a quick, curious glance that she responded to with an apologetic smile.
“He’ll be okay.”
Angela became unreadable again. “He’s loyal to you. They all are.”
“It’s good here…but it could be better.”
Angela thought this was the hard sell and remained silent. What did he want from her? An immediate oath of loyalty? A moment of recognition of their power? She knew he was like her, but that was another thing that she needed to think about before taking any action.
Adrian got them moving, aware of how standoffish she was. He had a hundred and one questions, but he sensed she was done with it for now, and he switched them to business.
“You’ll get used to the way things work here, but basically, everyone’s required to follow the rules and put in twenty-five hours a week on various chores. With your medical skills, you’ll be put with our doctor, John. Beyond that, your time is your own. For now, you’ll have a few days to settle in before you get a schedule.” Adrian gestured toward the mess. “You hungry?”
“Not really. Coffee would be great, though.”
He paused to light another smoke, and Angela took the opportunity to pull off her sweater and tie it around her hips, eager to straighten herself up a little before she met anyone else. She let her dark hair out of the long ponytail, unknowingly drawing the notice of every guard in sight.
Men stared in longing as she brushed through the thick curls with her fingers and braided it in seconds with a grace born of many years practice.
Her pale shoulders gave Adrian a gentle chill of lust he filed away, thinking her dark blue tank top was almost indecent against that skin. The edge of a nasty scar was visible for a brief second from under one sleeve, and anger boiled in his stomach, hoping she’d killed whoever had given it to her.
Ready to continue, she casually said, “I know, I know. Women: always waiting for them. Some things haven’t changed.”
“I’m okay with it. Most people here aren’t sure if it’s all right to joke with me, let alone keep me waiting.”
“You don’t tell them any differently?” Angela asked curiously. She sensed a great love of humor.
“It’s another way to tell the leaders from the followers.”
Angela stopped, impressed as the camp came into view. Impressed? It was a bit overwhelming.
All the people were something of a shock. They stood in small groups, talking, drinking coffee, moving in and out of tents and trucks, waiting in small lines, cleaning up Easter garbage and dog piles. Her ears rang with sounds she hadn’t heard in a long time. Marc had taught her to make very little noise. Dogs were barking, dishes were clinking, and there were thuds of things being relocated, dug out, and set up, along with doors slamming and kids running around playing. She picked out small details faster than her thought processes could sort them. Piles of multi-colored glass were swept neatly against a charred garbage can, indicating the night’s celebration had gotten out of hand. Dogs were heeling neatly, being led away from stakes around trucks that likely held valuable supplies, and she noticed the animals with red collars were avoided by those moving by.
She swept the people. Mostly white, she was able to spot a few Indians, Mexicans, and blacks, and was comforted by it. The people here were healthy and unafraid, prepared to deal with what came, yet they were somber instead of arrogant at their survival. Most wore ball caps, jeans, and jackets that didn’t quite cover the guns on their hips, but there were also women in dresses and kids in lines wearing cartoon-covered coats. There were no bright colors, though, as if these people were in mourning. Except for one occasional flash of flame red, there was only blue, black, and green, and Angela found she liked the feeling of respect it conveyed. These people cared about the dead. They were Americans.
“Wow.”
“Little more than you expected?”
She nodded, still taking in tents, people, trucks, grills, coolers, small neat fires, chairs, and all sorts of other signs of normal life, all covered by a thin layer of cloudy white fog that was slowly dissipating.
“How many?”
“One hundred and eighty-eight, counting your group,” he stated proudly.
“You’ve done well by them.”
“You think so?”
She thought of the hundred dead towns she and Marc passed along the way. It wasn’t like that here. Safe Haven held life. “Yes, and so do they.”
“There’s a lot to be done still. I need help.”
Angela knew instinctively he didn’t say that to very many people, but she didn’t respond.
Adrian let it go again, though it was hard to keep waiting when it had already been so long.
Angela would stay. He would make sure that his wishes were clear, and his people would convince her. He had worked a lot of it out before, how to integrate someone like her, but to his pleasure, he was already aware that most of it wouldn’t be necessary. Angela already had a strength that he would use, and it would start now. After the day he was about to put her through, the people here would suspect that she was being evaluated for a place in the chain of command, and that was good. She was.
“Welcome to Safe Haven, Angela. May it quickly become your home.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Welcome to Safe Haven
1
They continued down the left side of the squarely laid-out camp, and Adrian explained as they went.
“The two big tents are for the men and the women. They’re for people who can’t or won’t put up their own and break it down every time we move.”
She thought putting up tents was a considerate thing to do and smart. It kept them off the ground and protected them from the chemical rain.
“How often do you travel?”
“Depends on what’s around us. Usually we’ll be on the road three or four days in a row from nine to five, but in areas that are bad, we keep going. If its good land like here in the Black Hills, or there are a lot of supplies around that we need, we’ll stay an extra day or two.”
“Where are you going?”
“Southeast, for now. We pick places to search at each monthly meeting.”
Angela didn’t ask what he and his council were hunting for while trekking across the county. Instead, she simply followed him and joined a long line of people under a dark green canopy that was attached to the side of a flatbed semi with wooden walls. There was a flag flying high over a sign that said “Adrian’s Mess.”
Angela noticed that nearly everyone called a greeting to the blond leader while curiously staring at her. She gave the buffet style meal (pancakes and powdered eggs) an approving glance, and sent her gift over the people, feeling them out while Adrian talked with those who had surrounded them. It was mostly the elderly at this end of the line, and she noticed not only his refusal of offers to skip to the front, but that he didn’t pull away from the needy, arthritic fingers of the seniors.
Adrian placed a hand on her arm as he introduced them, and Angela jumped at the sweet curl of lust produced by his fingers on her bare skin, surprised. His hand tensed on her for a brief second before letting go, telling her that he’d felt it too.
“This is Angela. She’s an MD.”
The seven men and women immediately turned to her with groping, grotesquely swelled hands, assailing her with questions and complaints. They scared her a little.
Adrian saw her fingers flinch downward and then go out to shake the nearest hand instead.
“Are you a real doctor?”
“Will you check my rash?”
“Who’d you come in with?”
The queries came fast, and for Angela, who’d been alone for a long time, it was hard to smile awkwardly and keep her gift under control. It was crying in hunger that food couldn’t quench.
I’m not ready for this yet, she thought.
“
Nice hair. You dye it?”
“Are you staying here with that man?”
“It itches all the time.”
“‘Cause we have laws…”
“Do you play…?”
They jostled each other, trying to get her attention, and Angela’s thumb slipped, letting a bolt of frustration escape.
Enough!
The mental shout stung them all like the small, sharp bite of an insect.
Adrian’s heart thumped as silence fell among the older people who were usually never quiet. Would she fail the first test?
Angela’s eyes lit up with regret, even as a satisfied gleam flickered in her blue depths. She took a gnarled hand. “That was rude,” she said, tone gentle as she connected with the miner. “Please. Forgive me?”
There was another second or two of tense silence and then Ralph responded.
“Will you come read to us geezers sometime?” he bellowed, hearing mostly gone.
Adrian relaxed as the older people lost their confused, hurt expressions and added their support. Had she known Ralph was the unofficial senior, senior? Adrian hadn’t seen them take to anyone so fast, not even Becky.
Angela smiled at the small group of elderly men and women, open and unguarded. “I’d love to.”
Adrian felt the magic again, that spark of flint on flint, and knew he wasn’t the only one. Men across the mess were turning her way.
“Tell me about this rash.”
The seniors converged on her again, much more gently this time, and the rest of the twenty-five or so people in line and already at the tables went back to what they were doing, not sure if they had missed something. Adrian knew how they felt since he’d been studying her the whole time and knew he had missed something.
They got their cups and walked up the other side of the neatly set up camp. Adrian stopped to light a smoke.
He didn’t speak right away and Angela could feel her gift wanting him. His energy, willingly given, would be sweet, as refreshing as Marc’s maybe. He was like her but different, and together they could–