by Kita Bell
Brand had just grunted and made some sort of gesture to Kevin Ysperin, before turning back around in the seat. Where he was studying her now.
Don’t talk to him, Eva told herself, making it into a recitation. Don’t talk to him. If she spoke to Brand, she would do something stupid.
Like apologize. Or ask to stay at Stronghold. Or tell him how much she regretted fighting with him.
Or admit how much this rattling death trap freaked her out.
Eva gripped her fists on the armrests and steeled herself as the airplane went over a rapid series of bumps.
“You okay?” Brand asked politely. Much too politely. As if he were somehow okay with how they had ended.
“Fine,” Eva muttered.
“Slight turbulence,” the captain said over the intercom. “Nothing to worry about.”
Yeah, turbulence, Eva thought with pained irony. The air was full of turbulence. Like her and Brand’s non-relationship had been full of turbulence.
Eva slowly exhaled into the stagnant plane air, and tried to ignore the dipping sensation of the small metal cabin around her. No luck. Her stomach was twisted into a queasy knot.
But at least there were other people on the plane. At least she wasn’t alone. It made the cramped space seem much less like a cell.
“Magazine?” Brand offered. Eva shook her head, looking away.
“You didn’t have to come,” she muttered.
“I did,” he said calmly. “If you need to go back to North Carolina, then very well. But I will be with you.”
“I can see myself home,” she said stubbornly, trying not to notice the shifting of the airplane around her. “I’m not a child.”
A pause. “I never thought you were, Eva.”
Two nights ago you as good as called me one, she wanted to say, but held her tongue.
She was doing everything she could to keep it together. But it hadn’t helped yesterday morning, when after Eva picked herself up off the floor and went to find the shower, she discovered the faint bruised marks of Brand’s teeth on her left breast. She had brushed her fingers over the pinpoint scabs; they had seemed swollen, almost hot, with a dark red-black bruise spreading out from the puncture marks. And when she had touched the bruise – it hadn’t felt right. Bruises were supposed to hurt…not feel good.
Not that good. Not like that.
Not as if Brand had lowered his lips to her breast and given her a straight shot of pleasure.
And comfort. Comfort and pleasure.
Eva shook her head at the stewardess as she pushed the cart past; she was too nervous to drink anyway. Brand asked for coffee; behind them, Joshua growled a request for “more whiskey.”
Eva touched her breast. Over the bruise.
She shivered.
Did I bite you? Brand had demanded. That last night. She remembered his panic, how she had thought the scent of blood was from where she had bitten her tongue.
Rohe had never bitten her. Just the guards and they had been…Eva’s memory shuddered away. She didn’t remember marks like this, bruising. But maybe that was what happened when a half-Sakai bit you?
I’m Kaspian, Brand’s voice snarled in memory. Eva closed her eyes and remembered him in Vermont. Remembered him in Chicago. Remembered him in blood tiger form: massive, blue-black coat glossy, strokable, full of protectiveness and pure primal strength. Was Brand Kaspian?
Yes. Yes he was.
Eva licked her lips and sucked in a breath as the plane dipped beneath them like an unsteady bird. She glanced at Brand from the corner of her eye; he was reading some sort of book. She squinted at the title. Cien años de soledad? Spanish. It was something in Spanish.
Her understanding of Spanish didn’t extend beyond insults and take-out menus.
Yet another reason they never would have worked.
Eva dropped her fingers from the bruise. The plane rattled over another washboard. It felt like the cabin was shaking. Shivering. Like it was afraid. Eva was Kaspian, immortal, but she knew that if the plane fell out of the sky, she wouldn’t survive. She and Brand and everyone else would end up crushed, smashed just like her uncle had been by that semi truck. There was nothing they could do. Eva clenched her eyes shut.
The rustling sound of pages, a book closing.
“Eva. I know you aren’t okay.” Brand’s voice held a measured amount of concern. Concern and restraint. He was hiding things from her again.
But this time Eva knew what he was hiding.
Himself.
Stay, he said in memory. Stay at Stronghold.
“No.” Eva shook her head. “I’m fine,” she muttered, and Brand growled. His hand settled over hers, his strong fingers tightening. Despite herself, Eva relaxed.
“The turbulence is normal, Eva. We’ll land soon enough.”
She just nodded. She didn’t know what else to say.
Soon enough, Brand, Joshua and Kevin would deposit her back at her Gens. Soon enough they would leave, going back to their lives as if she had never been.
Soon enough, Eva would go back to her own life. As if Brand had never been.
Eva bit her lip and tried to swallow the sad, terrified feeling rising up in her.
Soon enough.
Her cousin Justin met them at the Ashville airport.
Eva had just wheeled the small carry-on Nikandria had given her down the carpeted ramp and out into the arrival area when she saw him. He was tall, slim and dark-haired as her uncle had been, but his eyes were a pale shade of green. Her cousin was leaning against the wall, but when Eva paused, he pushed away and strode toward her, that old, familiar look of reprimand etched into his features; Eva’s heart dropped.
Rainey didn’t come. She had thought, despite everything, that her sister might come. But Rainey hadn’t. She must be furious.
“I can take that,” Justin said shortly and reached to take her suitcase. But his eyes had focused over Eva’s shoulder, to that warm space behind her were she could feel Brand standing. Justin’s lips tightened when Eva shook her head and picked up the carry-on herself. She wanted to keep the things she had from Stronghold, not give Justin and the Resh an excuse to sort through them.
“Eva?” Brand said quietly, his voice carrying a low hint of warning, and Eva forced her expression to smooth before she stepped aside. Brand’s face was polite, courteous, but somehow she knew he was less than happy with her cousin. Behind them, Eva glanced to the ramp and saw Kevin half-supporting a weaving Joshua as they approached. There was a wild grin on Joshua’s face that didn’t go well with the hazy look in his gray eyes, but Eva shrugged and looked away, turning back to Brand and her cousin. Joshua and Kevin could take care of themselves.
“Brand, this is my cousin Justin,” Eva said, gesturing. “Justin, this is Brand Kade.”
Justin’s jaw tightened and his scowl deepened. He narrowed his eyes at Brand in a look Eva had seen the Gens fighters give each other – right before a fight broke out – and his lips compressed. His furious gaze found Eva. “You smell of him.” It was an accusation.
Eva went red. God. She hadn’t thought of that. She was so used to the scent of Brand that she hadn’t thought of how her Gens would react. Or what they would think.
“Not your business.” Eva smoothed trembling fingers down her jeans.
“Everything is the Resh’s business.”
Brand interrupted. “It is good to meet you.” His voice was just above a growl. The book he had been reading on the plane was tucked beneath his arm, his carry-on in his left fist. Aggression filled the air.
Eva grimaced and began to walk toward the exit. “We can talk outside,” she said, a reminder to the two of them that they were in a human airport surrounded by humans. This wasn’t the place for this.
“I will take her from here,” Justin said behind her, his voice fiercely angry, and Eva froze, suddenly afraid that Brand would – right there – just leave. Her heart clenched. No. But she had to say goodbye – he had escorted her back… T
hen she heard Justin say, “The Turner Gens formally thanks you for returning my cousin. It will not happen again.”
A shuffle of something dropping, a soft snarl as danger filled the room. Eva whipped around, then choked back a gasp. Justin and Brand stood face-to-face, much too close, as if Justin had somehow mustered the idiocy to step in front of Brand. But now her cousin’s face was white, as if in pain, and the deep blue of Brand’s eyes had gone gold. His eyes rose, latched to hers for the briefest of seconds, then dropped again to Justin.
He had his hand on Justin’s shoulder…no, Eva realized as the smell of blood twined through the air. He had sunk his claws into Justin’s shoulder, piercing through the leather jacket to gouge her cousin’s flesh.
“Brand,” Eva hissed, and gripped his forearm. It felt like hot steel under her fingers. She knew Justin saw her touch Brand, because he snarled, but she ignored him. “Brand, he’s my cousin. We’re in an airport. If the two of you need to talk, we should talk outside. Elsewhere.” Joshua and Kevin came up behind Brand, and Kevin’s eyes widened, even as Joshua gave a mildly drunk snort of humor.
“Hierarchy, Brand,” he said, his voice amused as he balanced against Kevin. “It isn’t our place to teach young cubs their lessons. Or so someone once told me.”
“Maybe not,” Brand said, his face frighteningly controlled as he stared at her cousin, his voice little more than a deadly growl. “But it isn’t too much to expect courtesy.”
“We don’t allow outsiders into our territory,” Justin gritted, but Eva could hear the pain in his words. Sweat beaded his upper lip, his jaw tense and white. “We appreciated that you returned Eva to us, but my Resh does not – welcome – you.” The last was a pure hiss as Brand’s hand tightened and the smell of blood in the air intensified. An old woman stumbled going past, slanting them a puzzled look, then shook her head and hurried on.
“Brand.” Eva gripped his arm, oddly embarrassed. She had never seen Brand act this way. Never. Not once. “It’s okay. It’s just…we can say goodbye here. It’s probably best this way…”
Her words dwindled beneath the hard look Brand gave her. Then he returned his gaze to Justin.
“Courtesy,” he repeated politely, and looked at Justin as if he were debating whether to tear him apart with his claws, “Courtesy is an old law. We welcomed yours into our territory. It is customary that you, in turn, do the same. And we claim that right.” His hand slid higher on Justin’s shoulder, closer to his neck, and Eva heard the terrible sound of shredding flesh and leather.
“Beware the jugular, Brand. There are cameras here. Seth will never forgive you if he has to pull us out of prison. Or edit video footage,” Joshua pushed himself upright. “You know how he hates editing video footage.” Brand didn’t even twitch.
Her cousin shuddered, eyes unfocused with pain. “We have no alliances with Stronghold. No treaties. No written laws.”
“Our laws are older than writing,” Brand said very quietly, bending his face so his nose was a bare inch from Justin’s and, that quickly, Eva heard all of the centuries echoing through his words. “Some have forgotten that.”
It frightened her. And if it frightened her…Justin looked terrified. He dropped his gaze.
She had never seen him drop his gaze before. To anyone, that is, except his father and the Resh.
Then understanding hit her – Justin had challenged Brand. Challenged him for the right to her, the right to return her to her Gens.
We’re not in a relationship, she wanted to shout. But the bruise on her breast pulsed with the beat of her heart, a reminder of what she and Brand had briefly shared. Worse, even now she was hungry for him, her body ready for his.
“Brand,” Eva murmured, uncomfortable, yet oddly grateful. If he was at her Gens, then that would delay…well, it would delay the repercussions of her disappearance. Her freedom wouldn’t disappear all at once. And maybe it would give her a chance to talk to Rainey before it did.
“We would be honored to be your guests at the Turner Gens,” Brand said, voice a low, soft growl as he looked down at her cousin. It was an order.
Justin twisted, face paling, and Eva almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He was caught between Brand and the Resh.
Until her cousin said, “Fine. But keep your hands off our females.”
Eva snarled, anger flaring as she tightened her grip on the carry-on. She was the one who decided who she would sleep with, and only she. And Eva belonged to no one but herself.
And to Rainey. Eva belonged to herself, and to her sister.
Joshua snorted in amusement, shaking his head. “They’re all idiots,” he confided to Kevin. “Every single one of them. You may be less than half his age, gosse, but you’re three times as smart.”
“Not a problem,” Brand said coolly, releasing her cousin so abruptly that Justin stumbled back and the scent of blood bloomed in the air.
Eva stared at Brand, saw the resolve that had formed with his words, and tried to tell herself that what she was feeling wasn’t disappointment.
But, she supposed, she had no one but herself to blame for that.
Justin drove. Brand sat beside him in the front seat, and Eva sat in the back of the old gray Buick between Joshua and Kevin. Joshua’s head lolled on her shoulder, eyes closed, and Eva glanced up in time to catch Kevin’s apologetic glance. “I can trade spots with you,” the young Tracker offered, but Eva shook her head. The closer she was to keeping Brand from murdering her cousin, the better off everyone was.
“Joshua,” Brand snapped from the front seat, and Eva felt the Kaspian jerk to awareness. “Get your head off her shoulder.”
Joshua cursed, muttered something in French as he made a lewd gesture at Brand, then twisted his head off Eva before resuming his sleep.
The ride was uncomfortably silent.
At least I’ll see Rainey, Eva told herself, as she clenched her fingers in her lap. That was the one good thing that would come of this. The only good thing.
Somehow, everything at the Turner Gens seemed different. Eva peered out the window as Justin slowly navigated the car up the long dirt drive toward the Resh’s house. They passed James – the Gens healer’s – home to the left, and Natalie’s to the right. Natalie had homeschooled Eva and her sister before they went to high school. Eva glanced at Natalie’s window, then jumped as she realized she was being watched. Natalie nodded, once, before dropping the heavy drapes.
The Gens’ other houses – Eva’s and two of the fighter’s – were located further out, near the border of their land. Eva and Rainey’s house was the farthest, close to the park Rohe had kidnapped her from.
Tension welled in Eva. She dropped her gaze to her lap and twisted her fingers as the car came to a stop at the Resh’s house. Rainey wouldn’t be here. Rainey would be at home, waiting for her. Probably angry with her. Probably…probably…
“Hey. Stop worrying.” Joshua touched her wrist.
Eva jumped; Joshua’s eyes were remarkably clear. In fact, he didn’t look drunk at all. She narrowed her gaze. Maybe Joshua hadn’t drunk as much as she had thought. Eva opened her mouth to ask, but Joshua winked, then laid his head back on the seat again, closing his eyes.
“You’ll be fine, Eva,” Joshua repeated. There was a faint smile at the corner of his mouth as he dropped his hand, and Eva slowly closed her mouth.
It was an act. It had to be.
Though he reeked of whiskey.
“You’re drunk,” she hissed.
“I’ve been fighting and drinking for more years than you’ve been alive, cher,” Joshua said, eyes still closed. “More years than that idiot cousin of yours has been alive. Likely more years than your half-wit Resh has been alive.”
Her cousin tensed in the front seat as he turned off the car. “Joshua,” Eva said, hoping he would stop.
Joshua opened one eye. “What? I think Brand prefers me this way. He says the whiskey makes me crazy but,” Joshua grinned evilly, and raised his head to look di
rectly at Eva’s cousin, “it makes for one hell of a fight. Don’t you agree?”
Rather wisely, Justin refused to respond and simply said, “The Resh is waiting inside. He has some questions for you, Eva.”
The small white house was as cool and dark as Eva remembered it to be. She hadn’t been inside for the past eight years; not since the day her mother died. She gritted her teeth as she stepped across the scratched wood of the foyer and followed after her cousin, conscious of Brand at her back. She could feel him watching her, his eyes tracing her movements. They reached the end of the hall and Eva deliberately tried to relax her shoulders; her mother’s body had been laid out in the room to the left, for the burial… Her steps trailed off, stopped. She stared at that closed door, her blood pulsing through her arms, her legs, centering painfully in her chest. Her breath didn’t want to come.
Brand’s large hand settled on her lower back and she jumped. “I think your Resh is waiting for us, Eva.” His gaze asked a silent question as he looked at that door, and Eva shook her head. She straightened her shoulders, turned away, and stepped past Justin into the Resh’s office.
The muscles in Eva’s body went limp beneath the chill of Thomas Turner’s pale blue eyes. She dropped into the chair closest to the door and distantly noted that Brand and her cousin had moved past her. She didn’t know where Joshua or Kevin had gone.
Rohe terrified her. Brand occasionally frightened her. But Eva was afraid of the Turner Resh in an entirely different way from either of them.
Thomas Turner could take her freedom away. He could separate her from Rainey. He could punish Eva for taking night classes. He could keep her from ever getting another job. He could keep her from ever leaving the Turner lands again. He could keep her from ever leaving her house again.
Just like he had trapped her mother.
Eva bowed her head over her hands. She ignored the tension coming off of Brand’s body. He didn’t have to live in the Turner Gens – she did. He could leave any time he wanted. Eva was…well, she was still working on that.