Bad Blood (Book 4 of The Warden series) (28 page)

“Clean those gouges on your neck,” she said with a “no duh” attitude. “Do you know what germs are carried on hands and under fingernails?” He didn’t, but he could guess it was some pretty nasty ones. “If you can brave a fight with an alpha male, you can handle a wound scrubbing.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he muttered before bracing for the pain.

He had hoped that she might show a modicum of sensitivity to his pain, but she brusquely scrubbed each of the scratches without remorse for the grunts of pain he pinched behind his lips. He was certain this was some kind of punishment for something, but he wasn’t sure he had done anything to deserve this treatment.

When she finished she patted the renewed hemorrhages with gauze and wrapped a bandage around his neck, making him look like a whiplash victim. She taped off the bandage and looked him over for more injuries. “Anything else?”

“I don’t suppose you have an aspirin.”

She pulled a small pack of pain pills from the pile. It was the single dose that they stocked in hotel vending machines, but it was better than nothing. She went back into the kitchen and brought back a bottle of water for him to down the tiny pills.

She watched him gulp down the remainder of the water with gusto. He finished with a pleased exhalation that was usually reserved for soda commercials and laid his head back to imagine the pills taking effect on his throbbing head.

He was certain that he should refrain from sleeping for a while, but closing his eyes was a necessity. Even the dim light of the candle seemed unbearable. If he had any memory function left when this was all said and done, he would have to remember not to head butt anyone ever again.

“I was impressed by you,” Leona said. He had hoped she wouldn’t talk, but he wasn’t rude enough to tell her to shut-up. He grunted in response. “Cori always did have good taste in men.”

He didn’t respond to that. If she was hoping to bait him into being jealous of a dead man, she was barking up the wrong tree. Ethan may have had issue with Cori taking up with Vince over him at the time, but from everything she had told him about their relationship, it was vital for her to have been with him.

The benefit of dating a werewolf was their understanding of your emotions. Vince had been able to accommodate for Cori’s fears, irrational or otherwise. He always knew when to push her, and when to back the hell off. It took Ethan far more trial and error to get to that point, and even still, he had to make demands on Cori’s honesty. Her insistence on keeping secrets had to be resolved before he could be sure that his efforts to pacify her anxieties were building new trust and not just maintaining it.

“Did Cori tell you about her and Vince?”

“I know all about Vince,” Ethan said.

“I bet there is one thing that she didn’t tell you.” Her voice hinted at a smile. She was getting a little too much amusement from this conversation.

“Cori has told me everything there is to tell about her and Vince without getting into details that would be too uncomfortable.”

“Oh, I know, Ethan. I’m sure she is very honest with you, as she should be. A good wife should always tell the truth, and a good husband should always lie.”

Ethan wanted to look at Leona. He wanted to see if he was right about the smug smile that he assumed went with that statement. He knew better than to ask what it meant, but that didn’t stop her from expanding.

“That’s how I know Vince loved her. It was the least he could do to not tell her the truth.”

“He didn’t tell her he was going to die because she would have been too guarded with him. She has long since forgiven him for that. She appreciates everything that the relationship offered her, despite the regrettable ending.” Leona’s chuckle took hold in her throat and turned into a villainous chortle. He at last opened his eyes and lifted his head to glare at her childish revelry. “What is so amusing to you, Leona?”

“That was only one of his secrets.” Leona leaned back on the couch with him and put her arm behind him. She fiddled with his hair all the while smiling at her secret. “Oh, Ethan, won’t you please ask me what it is? I can’t stand monologues. I like everything I do to have a partner.”

Her smile was more than just villainous. It was venomous. Whatever the words were, she wanted to spill so badly, they were going to sting. He didn’t want any part of it, but it was too late for that. He had taken the job. Part of that job was interacting with this psychopath.

Even with the image of her breast freshly in his mind. Even with the caring mothering she showed to Lynnius. Even with the glimpses of her character under Callin’s gaze. He hated her. He was certain there was more to her than she showed the world, but that didn’t matter to him.

In life, all that mattered was the side you showed. People want to believe that at heart, everyone is a good person, but even if that were true, why would it matter. What purpose does a good heart serve if the person you’re interacting with is complete ass hat?

“I can’t believe you’re going to make me say it without a lead up. How unsatisfying?” She put her hand on his chest. He looked down at the offending hand debating whether or not to move it. Since she left it on his chest, he decided not to react to her attempt to make him uncomfortable.

“Just say it, you overdramatic hack,” he seethed.

“Well, that’s not exactly the verbal foreplay I had in mind, but it will get me there nonetheless.” She winked. “Cori as you know poisoned me so I couldn’t procreate with her man.”

“Yes, a gutsy move that I’m sure she’s proud of.”

“As am I,” Leona added losing her smile. “I was so impressed with her audacity that I kept my promise to never see her again. Well, until now, but I think even the sternest of promises have an expiration date, especially, when my baby is the issue at hand.”

“I think Cori was impressed with you too. She respects strong women. I think in a strange self-defeating way, she actually likes you.”

“I like her too,” Leona said it as if she needed it clarified before she continued. “She would have made a wonderful fem-wolf. If only the story books were right about werewolf bites.” She chomped her teeth and smiled at Ethan.

Ethan gave a small smirk even though he knew there was more to come. Leona stretched her body not unlike an animal with all four limbs stick straight. When she relaxed, again her belly rolled over to touch his side. Her arm reached around behind him resting on the couch. She had just pulled the yawn move that men did to women at the movies.

She looked down at her belly overlapping his hand. She patted her belly. “Big tummies are a small price to pay for such a big payout.”

Ethan shook his head. He didn’t want to say it, but he couldn’t resist. Some part of that chivalrous charm that Danato had practically force fed him, was irrepressible. “It’s a beautiful transformation, nothing to be ashamed of.”

She smiled warmly at him. “Well, don’t you just make a girl feel good? Would you like to touch it?”

Ethan shook his head and she laughed. “You said it’s beautiful, but you won’t touch it?”

“Leona…”

“I’m not asking you if you want to touch me Ethan. I’m asking if you want to feel what a pregnant woman’s belly feels like. You seem a little new to the baby thing. It can’t hurt to familiarize yourself with it.” She rolled up her shirt and patted her belly.

Ethan nodded his head and reached his hand out. He paused just before touching her, wondering what this scene would look like if Cori walked in. He rationalized that it would look like her very uncomfortable husband was touching the belly of her arch frenemy. He proceeded to touch her stomach.

He chuckled. “It’s warm.”

“Of course it’s warm. It’s not an alien.” She laughed. “Press your fingers in, he might kick back.”

“Won’t that hurt?” He asked.

“No.” She shook her head.

He pressed his finger into the belly. The tension was different than he expected, firm surface resistance, but yet a pliable liquid center. A pregnant belly was one big water balloon, or a very small waterbed.

His fingers felt something hard when he dug into a different part of her belly. “Wait. What was that?” He looked at her, but she only smiled. He pushed in again and the hard knob pushed back on his fingers. He gasped. “Is that a foot?” Leona nodded.

All underlying thoughts about what Leona was going to tell him were gone. All that mattered was that the little knob inside of her was someone’s foot. A baby, a real live baby was inside there waiting to be introduced to the world. He wanted that. He wanted Cori to want that. If she had been there at that moment, he would have taken her upstairs and made love to her just to jump-start the endeavor.

He laughed and sat back away from Leona’s stomach so he didn’t take his liberties of poking too far. “Thank you, that was…enlightening.”

Leona nodded. “I thought you might appreciate that.” She leaned into him and kissed him gently. He didn’t back away partially out of shock, and partially because it just seemed rude, since she had just presented her belly for exploration.

She pulled away and smiled at him. It was a genuine warm smile. It reminded him of the way she looked at Lynnius. It was the way he knew she wanted to look at Callin, but refused to allow herself to.

She kissed him again, but only a short simple kiss that didn’t give him time to push her away and didn’t give him room to object. By the time, she came back for the third kiss he was stuck in mid thought. He wondered if this was what Cori felt like in the face of her enemy. Frozen and unable to make a decision.

He was kissing her.

Ethan didn’t understand how he had gone from hating her, to touching her belly, to making out with her. His mind was stuck in a repetitive cycle of thoughts. He hadn’t kissed anyone except Cori in forever, so the newness of her lips was appealing. He didn’t like the way her lipstick tasted, but the mint on her breath was just that extra touch that made a strangers kiss more acceptable.

When his mind came around to the guilt that he was feeling, his little shoulder angel was screaming at him to just stop kissing her. The little devil was stunned into submission. He couldn’t believe what was happening either.

Was Cori right? Was this woman a seductress? She had to be; he wouldn’t let her freely kiss him for this long otherwise. How long had it been?

Why the fuck was he still kissing her?

He was enjoying it, that’s why.

With that thought, Ethan shoved Leona away hard enough to make his point, but not hard enough to be concerned with how he was treating a pregnant woman. He looked her over and felt a flood of shame. She had no concealed skills of seduction beyond that of simply being a woman. He was just a man, allowing his brain to prattle on unintelligibly while his lips continued to cheat on his wife.

He took in a deep breath to calm his mind and refocus his thoughts on how much he loved Cori. How much he wanted to be with her now, instead of this tyrannous fem-wolf. Leona stayed quiet while he did. She probably expected him to find a way to bury his moralities temporarily so he could fuck guiltlessly like most cheating men did.

He could see now how pompous he had been in assuming that his love alone would keep him true to Cori. That wasn’t enough. Danato was right, a man’s body often worked against him. He had to not want her at all, if his defenses were going to work.

“Are you sure, Ethan? I would hate to leave you aching this far along.” She reached out to grope him, but he grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t.” He tried to sound mad, but it came off as a plead. He shoved her hand away. He was only beginning to understand the trouble he was in. He was alone in a house with a fem-wolf that wanted him. He couldn’t simply leave, she would stop him. He couldn’t resist her, she was too strong. A flash of heat hit him as he realized he was about to be a date rape victim.

49

“What were you going to tell me?” Ethan asked hoping to change the subject long enough to think of someway to either escape from her or completely knock out the function to his lower body.

He eyed him carefully, considering her options before speaking. “Colloidal silver is a very painful poison. It won’t kill a werewolf, but it’s the equivalent of food poisoning; it continues through the body as an irritant for several hours. A strong enough dose could put a werewolf down for a couple days. I’ll spare you the details of my gastrointestinal distress, but suffice it to say that I spent the remainder of the day in and out of the facilities.”

Ethan tried not to smile at that, but it sounded like a practical joke. He imagined that the pain of it was still not amusing to Leona. When her eyes narrowed, he bit back his lips to hide his amusement and cleared his throat. “I imagine there are few people who couldn’t empathize with that experience.”

“Cori worked so hard to get me to back off that I promised to stay away from her, but for all her forethought and consideration she never thought to ask me to stay away from Vince,” Leona chimed in the amusement of that statement.

Ethan narrowed his eyes at her. She was once again overjoyed with her nearly spilled secret, nearly dished gossip, and nearly dropped bomb. “What did you do, Leona?” He hadn’t wanted to help spin her satiric yarn, especially when he knew it was only going to hurt Cori in the long run, but he needed to know what it was Vince had kept from Cori.