the thing back to Cynthia, who shoved it back in her pocket.
“It means that you have the blood of the Were inside you or the bite from our Packmaster would have been the last thing you knew on this earth,” Alan stated.
“You have the blood of the red running in those veins,” Slash added and Lawrence nodded.
“And you just slipped underneath the radar for turning,” Adi said. “How old were you when David chomped on ya?”
Truman felt a small smile form on his face at those words. “I was closer to fifty-one than fifty,” he admitted.
Adi gave an appreciative whistle, turning to Slash. “Has anyone ever...?” Her pale brown brows rose slowly.
Slash shook his head. “If anyone's ever been changed after fifty, I've not heard of it.”
“What does it mean?” Cynthia asked, looking between them all.
“He's more red than we speculated...” Slash said.
Lawrence was back to looking at Truman, who backed away from everyone. What did his lineage of red matter?
“Is that a bad thing?” Cynthia asked Truman's internal question out loud, one eye on Truman, who was the only link to her past besides Jason and Julia.
“It could be...” Slash said.
Lawrence's gaze went from curious to speculative in an instant. “Very.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Julia
“I can't leave you,” Scott said, his forehead pressed against Julia's. When he stood next to her like this... touching, he couldn't conceive of leaving her. Not with the two he told her she'd have to consider marrying.
Besides himself.
And of course, technically she was already married to Jason. That just bit his ass about a hundred different ways.
William and Jason were just beyond the bedroom door, the jagged glass doorknob winking its displeasure in the sunlight. Its fractured presence was the only audience to his goodbye.
Julia felt like someone was amputating a body part without a tool, just a slow and painful rendering of flesh and bone.
Instead of the million things she wanted to accuse him of, she asked instead, “How long?”
Scott closed his eyes against the warm breath of her words at his neck, sick to his stomach at the next hours without her. But a bright spot appeared and he smiled, because some facts couldn't be altered. No amount of deceit and manipulation would work. “Not long. Now that we've melded, to be separated longer than a few days will cause a problem. It goes against everything we know as Combatant to endanger the Queen.”
Julia pulled away, her hand coming to his jaw and he grabbed it, holding it against the stubble that peppered it, the cleft at his chin a shadow below his smile.
“Then why go? It's stupid. Jason hates me and William... well, that won't work.”
“Jason doesn't hate you. But he needs to get his shit in one sock and stop beating you up every time he's near you. I think William,” and he looked straight at Julia, “I hate it- hate.” His intense brown eyes darkened like a storm finally arrived. “I believe he would do anything but cause you harm. He manipulated my sister... took blood from a Singer under thrall... to get to you. No,” Scott shook his head, “he's Singer enough to cast thrall on one of us, Singer enough to breed with and now sovereign over the Southeastern Kiss?”
Julia felt like crying. “I don't have to do this. I can just be with you. Only you.” Though Julia felt the tug of her heart that was still Jason. The meld swept her love for him aside like an errant current but it didn't erase the memories.
Scott gripped her face inside his hands, the length and breadth palming it. “I don't want you to be with anyone but me. That's why I have to let you go... it isn't want, it's what's right.”
“What—what is right?”
Scott buried his lips against Julia, the brutal kiss at once tender, deep and savage. Julia responded like a flame to a struck match, wrapping her arms around his neck and he picked her up, arms twining around her waist.
Julia came up gasping for air, her
“It means that you have the blood of the Were inside you or the bite from our Packmaster would have been the last thing you knew on this earth,” Alan stated.
“You have the blood of the red running in those veins,” Slash added and Lawrence nodded.
“And you just slipped underneath the radar for turning,” Adi said. “How old were you when David chomped on ya?”
Truman felt a small smile form on his face at those words. “I was closer to fifty-one than fifty,” he admitted.
Adi gave an appreciative whistle, turning to Slash. “Has anyone ever...?” Her pale brown brows rose slowly.
Slash shook his head. “If anyone's ever been changed after fifty, I've not heard of it.”
“What does it mean?” Cynthia asked, looking between them all.
“He's more red than we speculated...” Slash said.
Lawrence was back to looking at Truman, who backed away from everyone. What did his lineage of red matter?
“Is that a bad thing?” Cynthia asked Truman's internal question out loud, one eye on Truman, who was the only link to her past besides Jason and Julia.
“It could be...” Slash said.
Lawrence's gaze went from curious to speculative in an instant. “Very.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Julia
“I can't leave you,” Scott said, his forehead pressed against Julia's. When he stood next to her like this... touching, he couldn't conceive of leaving her. Not with the two he told her she'd have to consider marrying.
Besides himself.
And of course, technically she was already married to Jason. That just bit his ass about a hundred different ways.
William and Jason were just beyond the bedroom door, the jagged glass doorknob winking its displeasure in the sunlight. Its fractured presence was the only audience to his goodbye.
Julia felt like someone was amputating a body part without a tool, just a slow and painful rendering of flesh and bone.
Instead of the million things she wanted to accuse him of, she asked instead, “How long?”
Scott closed his eyes against the warm breath of her words at his neck, sick to his stomach at the next hours without her. But a bright spot appeared and he smiled, because some facts couldn't be altered. No amount of deceit and manipulation would work. “Not long. Now that we've melded, to be separated longer than a few days will cause a problem. It goes against everything we know as Combatant to endanger the Queen.”
Julia pulled away, her hand coming to his jaw and he grabbed it, holding it against the stubble that peppered it, the cleft at his chin a shadow below his smile.
“Then why go? It's stupid. Jason hates me and William... well, that won't work.”
“Jason doesn't hate you. But he needs to get his shit in one sock and stop beating you up every time he's near you. I think William,” and he looked straight at Julia, “I hate it- hate.” His intense brown eyes darkened like a storm finally arrived. “I believe he would do anything but cause you harm. He manipulated my sister... took blood from a Singer under thrall... to get to you. No,” Scott shook his head, “he's Singer enough to cast thrall on one of us, Singer enough to breed with and now sovereign over the Southeastern Kiss?”
Julia felt like crying. “I don't have to do this. I can just be with you. Only you.” Though Julia felt the tug of her heart that was still Jason. The meld swept her love for him aside like an errant current but it didn't erase the memories.
Scott gripped her face inside his hands, the length and breadth palming it. “I don't want you to be with anyone but me. That's why I have to let you go... it isn't want, it's what's right.”
“What—what is right?”
Scott buried his lips against Julia, the brutal kiss at once tender, deep and savage. Julia responded like a flame to a struck match, wrapping her arms around his neck and he picked her up, arms twining around her waist.
Julia came up gasping for air, her
Similar Books
