Crimson (The Silver Series Book 3) (21 page)

“
They need to stop shooting
at people I care about,” I replied grimly. I met Mouse's gaze from
across the room. He watched me, his eyes wide and
unreadable.

“
Just because they're
silver doesn't mean they can't kill you,” Meg said, her tone
distracted as she examined the bullet wound in my chest. “An inch
to the right and your heart might not have fared so
well.”

“
He didn’t want me dead,” I
said quietly.

“
I don't think you gave him
a chance to aim,” Jaze replied. His tone was strange and I looked
up to see a serious expression on his face. He met my gaze. “You
really do need to start taking care of yourself. You have things to
live for, you know.”

“
So does Mouse,” I
said.

Jaze opened his mouth to say something, then
shut it again. He watched Meg for a moment, then sighed. “I suppose
you’re going to the labs?”

“
I don’t have a choice. If
he has my sister, I’ve got to get her out of there.” My throat
tightened at the thought of seeing her again; it was hard to think
rationally.

“
And if not?” Jet
questioned, his dark blue eyes intent.

“
Then I’ll kill them all.”
My voice was expressionless, but my heart pounded at the
thought.

Jet shook his head. “You’re not a killer.” I
started to protest, but he put a hand on my shoulder and met my
eyes. “You might be brave and crazy, but you’re not a killer. You
can’t do this alone.”

I wanted to argue, but knew he was right. I
took a painful breath and blew it out. “Okay, then what do I
do?”

“
You find your sister and
let us do the rest,” Jaze said. He gritted his teeth as Nikki
wrapped a bandage around his arm to slow the bleeding from the
knife wound so it could heal.

I bit back a gasp when the needle-nosed
pliers-like tool Meg held opened and latched onto the bullet in my
chest. She pulled it out with a satisfied smile, then bathed the
wound in antiseptic. “How do you find me?” I forced out.

“
We could just follow you.
That wacko can’t expect you to go alone,” Brock said from the
kitchen.

I shook my head. “He’ll only take one
person, and they’re serious about being followed. I can’t risk
losing Colleen again.”

“
We could use a tracker,”
Mouse said.

He held my eyes for a moment, then looked at
the floor. “It’s how they found you before. Maybe we could use
their technology against them.”

The thought brought a smile to my lips.
“Perfect.” I looked at Jaze. “Do you think Charles can help us
out?” Meg held bandages on the bullet wound in my chest while Taye
taped them down.

“
Can’t hurt to give him a
call,” Jaze said. “I think the Hunters might have something we can
work with. If we know where you are, you can give a signal and
we’ll bring our army down on top of them.”

Jet nodded appreciatively. “The element of
surprise might give us the advantage.”

He left with Jaze, Nikki, and Brock while
Meg finished the bandaging job. “Try not to move for a bit,” she
suggested. “Give it a chance to at least start healing.”

“
I don’t have time,” I
argued.

She rolled her eyes. “Let the others do the
leg work. You need to rest, especially if you’re actually going
through with your fool-headed plan.” She handed back my bloody
shirt and passed me the cup of water Taye brought. “Werewolves are
so bad at taking care of themselves.”

“
Tell me about it,” Taye
replied, nodding her head toward the others in the
kitchen.

They both turned to leave, but I grabbed
Taye’s hand. A knife of pain stabbed through my chest and I held
the bandages and fought to breathe. Taye turned back, her eyes
bright with concern. She eased me back on the couch, her hands
gentle. “How’s Grace?” I managed to get out.

“
She’s sleeping,” she said
with a small smile. “She’s not hurt, just scared.” Her eyes met
mine. “She’s mostly worried about you.”

“
Tell her not to worry.
I’ll be fine.” I took a drink of the water she gave me, then
grimaced at the pain of swallowing.

“
Right,” Taye said, her
tone doubtful.

I met her gaze. “I don’t really have a
choice.”

Her lips softened into a sympathetic smile.
“I know you don’t.” She stood and turned to go, then paused. “Just
take care of yourself, for Grace’s sake.”

I nodded and she left the room.

***

Grace looked so small and fragile on the
bed. I thought she was asleep and turned to go, but she opened her
eyes. “You can't trust him,” she said softly.

“
I don't.” I walked to the
bed and knelt down next to her. “How are you feeling?”

“
Like I was hit by a
truck,” she replied. She moved gingerly and gave a wry smile. “Only
I think a truck wouldn't hurt as bad.”

I smoothed the hair from her forehead,
hesitated, then traced my fingers across her soft cheek. A tingle
ran up my arm at the touch of her skin. I closed my eyes and put my
lips where my fingers had been and brushed the skin softly. Her
scent filled my senses and drove out any worry of what was to come.
The pain from the healing bullet wound receded to leave only the
feeling of her skin and the sound of her breath.

She reached up and touched my cheek, then
turned her head so that her lips met mine. Her fingers tangled in
my hair as her lips pressed softly into mine until my breath was
hers and I knew only the feeling of her kiss. When she stopped, her
taste lingered on my lips and each heartbeat begged me to take her
in my arms and kiss her again. I took a deep breath, reminding
myself that she was recovering from the silver and needed to
rest.

“
You stopped?” she asked,
her tone lightly teasing.

“
You’ve been through so
much.” I tried to ignore the way my breath caught at her voice and
the smile that touched her lips.

“
I love you,” she
whispered.

I stared down at her. The moonlight from the
window stole softy across her face and lit the curve of her smile
in its gentle glow. Her fingers, so delicate, traced soft patterns
along my cheek as she felt the plane of my face. I turned my lips
to her palm and kissed it softly. “Can you feel how much just being
with you completes me?” I asked in an unsteady voice. “I'm the one
who's lost without you.” I swallowed. “Without you, I'm more than
blind. Everything I see, feel, or hear is muted when you’re not
there to experience it with me.”

She sniffed and I looked up to see tears
running down her cheeks. “I don't want you to go.”

“
I'll be alright,” I
promised.

She shook her head and buried her face
against my chest. “How do you know?” she asked, her voice soft.

“
Because I have too much to
live for.”

She sniffed again, then tipped her face
toward me. “You mean that?”

I nodded. “Most definitely.”

She wiped her tears away. “What if she's not
there?”

My heart clenched away from the thought. The
promise of seeing Colleen again was too much to hope for. “It's
probably just Tannin's way to get me back. She couldn't be
there.”

“
Then you go into a trap
willingly?”

“
If it means stopping him,
yes.”

She sighed. “I guess you're right. I don't
want anyone else to go through what we did.”

“
Kaynan?” Mrs. Carso called
up the stairs.

I touched Grace's cheek one last time. She
grabbed my hand and held it for a moment, then gave a sad smile and
let go. “Return to me, Kaynan.”

“
I will,” I
promised.

***

Mrs. Carso handed me a plate of lasagna that
smelled so good my mouth watered, then escorted me back to the
living room so that I would rest while I ate it.

She sat down on the easy chair and made sure
I finished the meal, a worried look on her face. “Did you have a
good visit with your parents?”

I nodded and swallowed a bite. “Far better
than I could have expected.” I studied the remaining pieces of food
on my plate. “They're amazing.”

I saw her smile out of the corner of my eye.
“I'm glad.” Her eyes tightened thoughtfully. “How about your
girlfriend?”

I looked at her. “You knew about Renee?”

She nodded. “Grace told me.”

I fought back a smile. “Girls talk about
everything, don't they?”

“
It's one of our best
qualities,” she replied with a small laugh. “That and not
listening.”

It was my turn to laugh. I took another
bite, then said, “Renee was with another guy.”

“
You don't sound too upset
about that.”

I looked up and met her smile. “I'm not,” I
said honestly.

“
I'm glad, for both of
you.” She rose from the chair and straightened some movies next to
the television, then turned to leave the room. She paused before
she went through the door. “Kaynan, we've really enjoyed having you
here. Our home is always open to you, just take care of yourself
out there.” Her eyes met mine. “Your parents deserve to meet
Grace.”

“
Thank you,” I replied.
“She deserves to meet them. They'd pamper her like their own
daughter.” My throat tightened and tears touched my eyes. I blinked
them away and turned back to the food to hide the sudden rush of
emotion.

Mrs. Carso's footsteps hesitated at the
doorway. “I promised your mother I would take care of you as if you
were my own son.” Her voice softened. “I never could keep Jaze from
putting his life on the line for others.”

I looked at her and she blinked away her own
tears. “But I remind him that he has to take time out to just be a
teenager. You and Grace deserve that, too.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and
nodded. “I owe her a good life. Hopefully after all of this is
over, she'll be able to live without the fear of them finding her
again.”

“
That would be good for
both of you.” Mrs. Carso left me to my thoughts.

I set the plate down on the coffee table and
hissed in a breath at the stab of pain that ran through my chest. I
settled back on the couch and rubbed the bandages, hoping it would
heal quickly but knowing I didn't have time to wait for it to close
properly. I shut my eyes and took several testing breaths. Meg said
that the bullet had broken at least one rib and bruised the others
around it. They made it harder to breathe, which could be
detrimental to our plan.

A footstep brushed the carpet. I pushed down
the unfamiliar instinct to jump up and defend myself and merely
opened my eyes and turned my head toward the sound. Mouse stood at
the doorway, his arms folded, then down at his sides, then his
hands clenched behind his back as though he didn't know what to do
with them.

“
Hey, man.” I pushed up
slowly to face him.

Mouse shifted nervously, then took two steps
toward the couch. “I-I don’t know how to thank you for saving my
life.” His voice was soft and unsure, his eyes troubled.

I shook my head. “You don’t have to thank
me. You’ve been there for me. I was just repaying the favor.”

He dropped his eyes to something metal he
held in his hands. “I haven’t done much.” He crossed the last few
steps to the end of the couch and held out the object in his hands.
“I’ve been working on this for a while.”

I leaned forward and took it, breathing
through my teeth against the pain in my chest. It was much easier
to ignore it when I was fighting for my life or planning
rebellions. Sitting still made it almost unbearable.

The object looked like a simple panel of
steel about two inches wide and a few millimeters thick. At one
end, two razor-sharp blade edges came out of the metal to make a
smooth, deadly knife.

“
This is amazing. Did you
make it?”

I met Mouse’s eyes and was surprised to see
him smile. “You think it's just a piece of metal with blades at one
end and you’re amazed.” He chuckled. “I’m a bit deeper than
that.”

He shocked me again by sitting on the couch
next to me and taking the metal back. He glanced at me. “Can I, uh,
see your arm?” he asked hesitantly.

I held it out. He hit it with the metal and
before I could flinch, it wrapped around my wrist like one of the
slap bracelets that used to be popular when I was in grade school.
The blades slipped back inside so it looked like a seamless metal
band.

“
See, and it locks, so no
one can take it off you if you don’t want them too.” He pushed on
both sides near where the blades hid and I heard an audible click
before the metal sprang back out into a flat line with the blades
out. “The best part is that it’ll fit even if you phase into wolf
form. You don’t have to worry about losing it!” He looked at me
with an expression of excitement at his creation.

“
That’s amazing,” I
repeated, at a loss for a better response. I slapped it back on my
arm. It fit securely and the seam was practically invisible. To the
casual observer, it would look like just an armband. I put my
fingers where he had shown me and the band snapped straight with
the blades open. I ran a finger along them. The metal was very
strong and the edges as sharp as a razor.

“
Tempered stainless steel,”
he explained, thrilled by my obvious appreciation of the gift. “It
won’t rust or tarnish as long as you keep it clean.”

The thought of going back to the labs
unarmed had unnerved me more than I cared to dwell on. Being able
to sneak a weapon in relieved some of the tension in my shoulders
and I sighed. “Thanks, Mouse. This’ll help more than you know.”