Page 19 of Happily Undead in Dark River

He made a low, sad noise in his throat. “Yes.” He squeezed me so tight, it was like he was trying to draw me into himself. I snuggled against his chest, my heaving breaths drawing his scent deep into my lungs.

Brody returned, lifting me from Tex’s chest. “I can walk, you know?” I protested weakly.

He nodded. “I know, but why deprive myself of the chance to hold a naked Raine in my arms?” I rolled my eyes but wrapped my arms around his neck. He carried me like a baby to the bathroom. The tub was so filled with bubbles that when Brody put me in, I was hidden from head to toe. The warm water loosened my tight muscles, the heat chasing the chill of grief from my bones. Judge appeared at the door.

“Brody. Walker called. The Vampire Nation is less than an hour away. The Council has called an emergency meeting. He wants you and me there. X should stay behind, not all Council members were impressed with his pledging.”

No one mentioned Tex. In this fight, he was cannon fodder. Brody hesitated, “Did you tell him about Raine?” Judge shook his head, and I understood why. Walker needed to be 100% focused on this right now. Me and my dead drama could wait until we were all safe. I pushed softly at his thigh. “Go. This is important to your Pack and ours.”

His jaw flexed but he nodded. He leaned down and kissed me softly. “I’ll be back. Call me if you even think you might need me.”

“I will. I’ll be fine. Tex and X will be here.”

Brody raised an eyebrow. “That's what I’m worried about. I trust the Pup with my life, but the Brit?” He screwed up his nose and it was adorable.

I looked at my Alpha. “My gut says I can trust him. I’ll be fine. Go.”

He nodded once, and turned, shedding the playful lover persona, and the power of the Alpha filled my little cabin. Judge watched him go, then looked down at me. “You okay, Rainey Day?”

I nodded. “I will be.”

He leaned down and kissed my head. “I’m going to do my best to make you happy, okay? I never want to hear you cry like that again.”

I gave him a lopsided grin. “No promises. Now go. Walker needs you guys.”

Judge left too, and I slid further down into the bubbles. It felt like someone had their hands in my chest, gripping my lungs. I couldn’t take a deep breath. Tex walked in, his nose twitching. He was still naked and glorious in the soft bathroom light. He counted the steps to the bath under his breath, reaching down with his hands to find the edge. Then he hopped in, making the water slosh over the edges. His legs slid either side of mine, bubbles clinging to his cheeks making him look like a very naughty Santa Claus. It was so ridiculous, I had to smile.

“Come here, Rainey. I need you in my arms.” Luckily the bath in my cottage was one of those huge old clawfoot tubs that you could basically swim in. I crawled through the water toward him, turning to sit between his thighs, spooning my body against his and resting my head on his chest. He kissed my temple. “I love you.”

“Me too.” I closed my eyes and pulled myself out of my own head. I stopped thinking about everything that had happened, all that I had lost, all that I could possibly still lose. Instead, I thought about the heat of the water encasing my body, the way the bubbles tickled my skin. I thought about the strength of Tex’s arms, the vibration of his chest against my back as he hummed a song under his breath. My body began to relax one muscle at a time.

By the time X strode into the bathroom like he owned it, I was basically boneless. I double-checked the bubbles were keeping me reasonably decent.

X held a tray in his hands. It held a steamy cup of tea, a couple of slices of toast, a glass of milk and the huge block of chocolate that I kept stuffed in the back of the cupboard because Tex had a sweet tooth and would have devoured it all in a day. Apparently, there was no hiding things from X though.

He folded himself to the floor with ease that should have been impossible for a man that big. He picked up a piece of toast and held it out to me.

“Eat.”

I lifted my hand to grab a piece of toast, but he moved it away. “Your hands are wet. I’ll hold it.”

So I took a bite of the proffered piece of toast and blushed. It felt too intimate to eat from his hand. But it also felt right. I felt Tex inhale behind me, and I knew what he was smelling right now. Desire.

His hand slid up my body to rest on my stomach lightly. “Describe X to me?” he whispered, and I looked at X’s startled face.

“He’s big,” I said, holding X’s eyes. “He has a lot of tattoos and scars. A big scar down his jaw, like he’s only just missed getting a knife to the jugular. His jaw is sharp, just as sharp as yours. He has three big black roses on the column of his throat, a skull, a knife and something sinuous peeking up from the neck of his shirt. He has startlingly dark eyes, but when he’s this close, I can see they almost look like molten dark chocolate. His nose is crooked like its been broken and reset too many times.” I stopped, clearing my throat. “His shoulders are huge, about twice the size of even Judge’s. He must be like seven feet tall.”

X chuckled low. “6”6 actually. I’m not a giant.”

I disagreed but okay. “There’s not an ounce of extra flesh on him though. He’s all corded muscle like he spent his time lifting cars before he was turned. Or working out a lot. He is 0% body fat. He looks like death walking.” I smiled. “But when he drinks tea, he lifts his pinky finger out straight.”

Tex laughed softly, more a sensation than sound. X scowled at me. “It’s correct table etiquette, Love. It’s not my fault you Americans drink like you are slurping from a bucket.”

He held more toast out to me, and I obligingly took a bite. I couldn’t read his thoughts in his dark eyes, but his face was stoic. He could have been feeding a llama at the zoo, rather than a naked girl in a bath.

“Want to tell me about your family? Sometimes, telling people about them keeps them fresh in your mind. Some vampires will tell you its best to forget, but you’ll always feel the emptiness where they used to be, so I always thought it was better to keep them alive in your heart. Tell me the good and the bad.”

So I did. I told him what she looked like, the soft, floral dresses she liked to wear in summer, and her favorite fluffy angora sweater for the winter. I told him about the time she caught me kissing Tex behind the big oak tree in the backyard, making the boy in question laugh and tighten his arms around my torso. I told X about how much she had loved my father, that I’d sometimes catch them dancing around the living room or making out like teenagers on the couch when I was supposed to be in bed. I told him about how she cooked every day for six weeks for the construction worker who lived by himself across the road and broke both arms in a worksite accident. I laughed about the time she accidentally hit another car in the carpark at Walmart and drove away instead of giving them her insurance, until her guilt had driven her so crazy she’d gone back and waited at the car she’d dinged in the car park for four hours until the person came out so she could explain.

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