Page 42 of Blood Brother Cursed

“Ok, I lost my father and my brother, so I’m not going to hold any stock in you saying that quantity is more than quality of relationships. I’ve never been close to anyone else, so—" She threw her hands out to emphasize how she felt.

“And I’m sorry for that, but I—"

“Phoenix.” She moved over to him and took one of his hands, then sat back on her heels. “I’m scared, too. It may not be a curse exactly, but I understand how much it hurts and how it’s easier to believe that being alone is better than losing someone.”

“Then you should know it’s not worth it.”

“No, I don’t know that. And I don’t feel that anymore. When I met you, you upset me and pissed me off. I hated the fact that you wanted to help because I didn’t think youcouldhelp me. You very quickly proved me wrong. Now, I want to help you.”

He looked up at her. “I don’t want to get you killed.”

“So,” she shrugged, “just stay with me until we figure something out.”

“There’s no guarantee that will keep you safe.”

“Are you kidding me? I have a dragon shifter who can control other people’s minds. I honestly don’t think that I could be in better hands.” She moved forward between his thighs and wrapped her arms around him. “Please don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

She felt his body relax, and then he wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her into his lap. He then rested his head in the crook of her neck and nuzzled her. At first, Astrid giggled because it tickled, but his smell soon made her relax, and she began to kiss the top of his head. For a while, they just held each other.

His voice sounded sad as he said, “You still have work to do, don’t you?”

“I don’t have any equipment.”

He pulled away and looked up at her. “It’s probably outside. Why don’t you get dressed, and we’ll go get it.”

Astrid slipped a robe over her lithe body, and as soon as she was covered, he lifted her into his arms. He carried her out of the room and into a huge hallway with high ceilings. Astrid started paying attention to the place, and she finally asked, “Where are we?”

“One of my homes. It’s built not too far from the base, but they don’t know it. The place is kind of like a bunker since it’s underground.”

“So, how do you get stuff here?”

“I run a big company. Did you never… never mind.”

“No, don’t start that again,” she said and squeezed his shoulder but quickly became distracted. “Holy cow, you are solid. That is some very… I hope I’ve always got a front-row seat to this show.”

He laughed. “Well, until we figure out this curse, I—" Phoenix stopped. “They’re getting ready to move. Something’s up.”

“What do you mean? Who’s getting ready to move?”

“The people who attacked you. The facility is preparing to deploy a small group off base, and that means that they probably have found someone else.”

“How can you know that?”

Phoenix didn’t respond as he turned and ran back down the hallway. He placed her down carefully. “Get dressed. We have to go.”

“Go? What do you mean?”

“In that last set of notes you sent me yesterday, there was something that matched what Evander said the last time I saw him.”

“I thought he talked about the curse.”

“No, the whole reason that we were meeting. I’ll explain while you dress.” Astrid was perplexed but did as he said. Phoenix finished dressing as he explained, “I met your brother when he was jogging around town. He bumped into me, and I gave him a snarky response. He gave me such a sincere apology that I felt bad. He wanted to buy me a coffee or something because he had caused me to drop my breakfast on the pavement, and I knew I shouldn’t, but I accepted. I could tell he was a shifter, and he wasn’t from the area.”

“How could you tell?”

“His accent was much thicker than yours.” He gave her a wistful smile as he said it. “I figured it would be one coffee, then he would be on his way, but we chatted a bit after leaving the bakery.”

“The same one where I met you?”

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