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“The time for discussing the finer points of it is over. Was there a specific part you didn’t understand?” I caught my own tone, and my cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry. That was a lot harsher than I meant for it to be.”
“Since when do you apologize for having a bad attitude?” He smiled, keeping his words from having a sting to them. He was right. I wasn’t always the nicest person, especially when I was pushed to my limits.
I was well beyond my limits now, and we were about to leave the safety of the penthouse and take to the uncertain streets. If I was honest with myself, I didn’t think everyone who left would make it back at the end of the night. Death was a shadow looming over us all, and no one was safe from it.
“I don’t want to leave here on bad terms with you,” I said. Our conversation earlier had been a positive one, and not just because he’d agreed to divorce me. It was the first time in over a year we’d been in a room together and I hadn’t wanted to punch him in the throat. That was progress for us.
“I’ve never wanted to be on bad terms with you.”
I scoffed.
“Believe it or not, but it’s true.” He grabbed my wrist. “I think you should stay here.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I don’t think you should come.”
“You’re out of your damned mind. I’m not hiding out here while everyone else is out there risking their lives. This is my plan. Did you honestly think I’d go Hey, Lucas, great idea, why didn’t I think of that?”
“I think I like your anger better than your sarcasm.”
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of anger in my sarcasm.”
We both sighed, a response we tended to have a lot around each other.
“I’m concerned for the pack. If you, Desmond and I are all putting our lives on the line, and the worst should happen, I don’t know what will be left for my wolves, and that frightens me.”
I don’t think I could remember the last time Lucas had admitted to being scared of something. It made me soften towards him slightly. “Then we’re going to have to make sure at least one of us makes it back so this pack still has a king.”
“Or a queen.”
I grimaced. “A king.” I hoped when this was all done the pack would be short one queen, at least until Lucas found himself a new mate.
“I had to try.”
“No one can ever claim you didn’t.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Things below had gone from bad to worse while we were busy hatching plans indoors. Even the few short blocks between the hotel and council headquarters were now thick with jostling bodies. It was like stepping outside during rush hour, except these commuters were corpses.
Holden—my designated vampire—stood next to me in the lobby entrance as we surveyed the situation. The air was thick with heat, and it was doing nothing to help the stench coming off the dead. An extra day had caused advanced decay to set in, especially with those who’d been hastily prepared for burial.
The bodies themselves were looking worse too. Exposure wasn’t doing them any favors, and many of them were showing advanced signs of decomposition. Skin peeled away from their faces and arms, leaving exposed teeth and bone.
“Now they look like zombies,” I observed.
“They didn’t look like zombies before? When they were, you know, the walking dead?” Holden asked.
“You’re the walking dead. They’re like movie zombies now.”
“Firstly, I take offense to that statement. I’m too pretty to be called dead, thank you.” The cheeky wink he gave me buoyed my spirits. I guess our time with the vampire council had showed him there were bigger enemies for us to worry about than each other. For the time being, at least, we were on friendly footing.
It would make the next part of our journey a lot easier.
“What’s second?” I asked.
“They’re the same dead they were yesterday. They might have scarier faces, more like zombies or what have you, but they’re still not zombies. They’re meat puppets at best.”
