Bad Blood (Book 4 of The Warden series) (2 page)

“Your arm is dislocated,” he said as if he had just taken a cursory look over her wounds.

She released him and slid down his legs. Back on her own feet, she took a step back and looked the roof over.

“Are you okay?” he asked it as if he had already asked her once before. Maybe he had.

She moved to the edge of the building to look at how menacing the drop would have been. Seven floors was nothing to scoff at, but she did anyway. She looked at the rope they had just come from.

She played back the moment in her head, and realized that he had followed her right off the roof. He leapt off the roof to grab her and the rope. She looked back at him flabbergasted. “You jumped off the roof.”

He didn’t answer. He was still breathing pretty heavy.

She came up to him and pointed vaguely to the edge of the roof. “You just jumped off the roof after me. You could have died.”

His face was marred with confusion. He wasn’t being cocky about his feat. He honestly had no idea why she was surprised. The risk of jumping off the building meant nothing to him. His task from the moment he saw the danger was to save her at any cost.

She came at him hooking her foot behind his and shoving him with her good arm. “Cori?” He windmilled for a half second before bending his knees to drop on his butt, instead of flat on his back. “What are you…?”

He didn’t finish that statement. She dropped down on him, and used her good hand to unbuckle his gun belt. After a brief moment of shock, he returned the favor by assisting her with hers. The black pistols fell away, and she bit her lip struggling to undo his pants.

He pulled her face down to his, and kissed her. His hands slipped down over her cargo pants and offered her some abatement in her frustrations. She moaned trying to beg him for so much more than that.

She wished her arm were functional so she could properly rip his clothes off. She was not nearly as patient as he was in that department. Months of her waffling sexual appetite and reluctant compliance to aggressive advances were biting her in the ass now. She didn’t want to make love right now, she wanted to…

“Ahem.”

2

Cori’s lips froze. Ethan’s did too. He had obviously heard the same unwelcoming interruption. His hand slipped from its goal and she groaned for new reasons. They broke away from their lip lock. Ethan’s teeth grazed on her lower lip as they did. A consolation prize for the time being, but hopefully a promise as well.

She looked up at the intruder as she pushed away from Ethan’s chest. “Belus,” she announced partly as an accusation. “Please, tell me your interruption is not an attempt to get back at me.”

“Ethan has a visitor. Danato wants him downstairs right away.”

“It couldn’t wait until we were done walking the dragon?” she asked.

Belus eyed her position on top of Ethan. “We don’t want to keep her waiting. She needs to leave on the same the truck she came in on.”

“She?” Cori felt her defenses rise as she removed herself from Ethan. “Sophie?” Cori asked as she glanced down at Ethan. He seemed just as confused by the female visitor. He looked to Belus for the answer as well.

“I haven’t met her before today. Just come downstairs, so we can get her out of here.”

“I need to take Cori to the infirmary first,” Ethan said as he rose and dusted off his butt. He picked up his weapon and handed Cori hers. The pistols were a new addition to their wardrobe. After the transmorph incident, Danato gave them permission to arm themselves. Danato and Belus still didn’t arm themselves, but Cori wasn’t about to stand on tradition when she was usually the one in danger.

“What happened?” Belus looked her over settling his eyes on the obvious slump in her shoulder.

“I tripped,” Cori said with bitter sarcasm.

“She dislocated her arm,” Ethan said firmly reprimanding her with his militant gaze. She looked away. She hated being reminded that she had to be good, by the same man who loved it when she was bad.

“What happened to cause that?” Belus demanded more information.

“She got caught up in the ropes,” Ethan said.

“We have detailed instructions on the do’s and don’ts of this procedure, Cori. Perhaps you should read them again,” Belus drawled stone faced.

“I almost died, you cantankerous ass!” Cori flailed her good arm. “Not that you would bother to sidestep my rotting corpse!” She turned away as soon as she said it. She didn’t want to show him how much it hurt that he had no consideration for her safety other than the paperwork that it might cause.

She clenched her jaw and took in a few breaths to calm the anger that was threatening to transform into the emotion it was blocking. Ethan grabbed her hand, but she shook her head and moved away. He was never a good vaccine for her blubbering, slobbering, pathetic reactions.

“I’ll take Cori to the infirmary.” Belus stated. “You get down to the office.”

Ethan looked back at her to see if she would be okay with that. She wasn’t, but she nodded anyway. After he left, she gathered her strength to face Belus. She turned around, but he was gone. “What the hell?” She mumbled. She wondered why such a point made if he was just going to leave.

She headed to the stairs leading off the roof. When she reached the door, it opened and Belus offered her passage through. When they reached the elevator, it was just opening. She realized he must have run down to hit the button so they didn’t have to wait forever for it to arrive.

She stepped inside and he followed, pushing the button for the animal level, where the infirmary was held. She was far too familiar with the wretched place. She never seemed to be free of it. If she made it a month without going there, it was likely going to be saved up for a long stay later.

She leaned against the wall and tried not to think about how extremely uncomfortable it was for her to be alone in an elevator with Belus. He had never been the easiest man to start up a conversation with, but she did remember a time when they had bonded briefly over tequila. Regrettably, her betrayal during the elemental escape put a stop to anything resembling friendship between them. She respected him and wanted to earn back his trust, but his antisocial personality made it impossible for her to know if she was making any progress.

Ever since she had been designated Ethan’s second, he treated her like the scum on his shoes. He barked orders at her, with no hint of appreciation when she complied. Minor mistakes were pointed out immediately and major achievements were outright ignored. She was in Belus’s own personal boot camp. However, his efforts to make her more disciplined and dutiful were only driving her to buck against his authority.

Her insolence caused him to seek out Danato’s support for appropriate punishments. That, in turn, put a rift in
their
relationship. Since Ethan was caught in the middle of all three of them, he was doing his best to mediate, but in the end that just added to the number of men trying to dictate how she behaved.

The doors graced them with a
ponk
and he stepped out of the elevator. She stopped in the doorway. “There’s really no need to accompany me. You can go to the office with Ethan and Danato if you want.”

Belus perked an eyebrow. “Thank you for the permission, but Ethan would probably like a report when I arrive.”

Cori rolled her eyes and moved to allow the elevator doors to shut behind them. “Fine.” She walked on to the infirmary entrance. Belus opened the door for her and they moved through the short galley waiting area to the nurse’s station that hub-capped the lab rooms, exam rooms, and windowed patient rooms.

The ever-poised medical staff erupted into a frenzy of arguments. She wasn’t sure what the specifics were, but evidently, the staff had been placing bets on when she would be back again. Once they had settled on who owed whom a shift cover, she was placed in a tiny windowless exam room.

Belus joined her and leaned against the wall rather than utilize the small chair designated to guests. She situated herself on the exam table. She knew no one would be in a hurry to come check her. She was familiar with the routine: muscle relaxants, pain meds, yank, scream, sling, “have a nice day”—and in her case—“come again soon.”

She unzipped her jacket and attempted to slip it off her shoulders, but with one-arm dead, she couldn’t get it off either arm without the help of the second. Belus came over and waved her off the table. She slipped off and knelt before him. He slipped the jacket off her and placed it on the chair.

He touched her shoulder, checking the position. He might have been debating whether to twist the arm back into the socket himself. He was familiar with the procedure, and despite what he admitted to, he had the strength to do it.

Instead, he stepped away from her and leaned back against the wall. “You want to say anything more to me before the surgeon gets in here? You might as well get it off your chest now, while we can still blame it on the pain.”

Cori shook her head. She wasn’t going to fall into his trap. “I don’t want to fight with you, Belus.” She rose up and shifted herself back onto the exam table.

“Your history says otherwise.”

“Don’t bait me. I never wanted you for an enemy. You took that position up all on your own.”

Belus didn’t respond to her accusation, but his chin jutting forward in disapproval. “What is a Cactus Toad, anyway?” There wasn’t any sarcasm in the question. She waited to see if it was an opening for another attack, but he tipped his brow waiting for her answer.

“It’s a succulent.” His brow furrowed unfamiliar with the terminology. “It’s like a cactus, but it doesn’t have any needles.”

“I understood the cactus reference, but one without needles doesn’t seem to be much of an insult.”

Cori looked him over, wondering if his punishment for her insult had more to do with offense than ire. “It has a pretty bloom. Unfortunately, the flower smells like rotting flesh. Flies will actually lay eggs in the petals because they think it’s dead meat. It’s a lovely plant…” Cori broke from his stoic gaze. “…but damn if you don’t regret getting close to it.”

Before Belus could respond, the doctor’s arrival liberated them from the conversation. He blew in with the speed and indifference of a politician. Equipped with trivial chitchat and a passive aggressive undertone, he examined her shoulder. She did her best to stifle her yelp as he manipulated her shoulder into its socket, but the pain was greater than her pride.

The doctor pulled a bottle of muscle relaxants and pain pills from his jacket and tossed them to Belus. He explained all the instructions to him instead of her. She didn’t waste her time explaining to him that her ears weren’t dislocated. With her sling in place and sexism taking the place of her good patient lollipop, she slipped off the table and headed back out of the infirmary.

Belus arrived late to the elevator holding a paper cone cup of water and two pills for her to take. Given the residual throbbing pain from the relocation, she didn’t pretend to not want or need them. She took the pills and downed them with the water.

She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was until the cup went dry before here thirst was slaked. She crushed the cup, and looked around for a disposal shoot. Belus took the cup from her and jogged it over to one.

The elevator
ponked
while he was gone. She thought about jumping in and pushing the button before he could get back so she didn’t have to endure the long silent ride, but propriety left her standing in the doors to keep them open. He jogged back and followed her in.

The descent of one floor seemed to take twice as long as five floors had. She was starting to suspect that the elevators had a life of their own. She would have to consider taking the stairs when she wasn’t mortally wounded.

She thought at some point Belus might make a comment regarding the definition of her insult, but he was content to lean on the wall ahead of her keeping all eye contact unavailable. When the doors opened, he led the way to Danato’s office. He didn’t look back to see if she was keeping up, nor did he slow his pace. She didn’t need any such assistance, but it was just another difference between the way he treated her, verses Danato and Ethan.

When she made it to the office, he was holding the door for her. She slipped her pistol off her hip and placed it next to Ethan’s in the bin Danato had installed next to the door. He didn’t want guns in the office at all. The phrase he used was, “you
can’t
bring guns into this office.” Either way the implication of an ass ripping upon dispute was conveyed.

She stepped into the office and smelled the fragrant perfume of their female guest. Despite the floral nature to the perfume, the small room magnified the mannish undertone of musk. She could feel her legs go weak and the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as she remembered the last time she had smelled that combination.

Ethan and Danato barely glanced at her as she entered the room. The woman, sitting with her back to Cori, wore a dark gray business suit that clung to her ass like leather. The business inappropriate short skirt had slits up the sides to add focus to the chiseled legs that extended from the hems.