Page 3 of Blood Moon
“Shit.” Braden ran his hand through his thick hair. “I swear to God, if we are dealing with another fucked up situation, I’ll kill a wolf.”
“Would you guys stop acting like that with the shifters? I’m so sick of having to say that to all of you. We need to think, and I probably need to talk to Cole—he’s always anal about this shit anyway. The minute you all started getting testy with the shifters again was when things started changing in me.”
“You’re right,” Braden said, helping me up. “Come on, maybe Cole has some warlock connection or something down here that we can hit up for answers.”
We walked into the kitchen, where Cole was cooking up a glorious, five-star meal with Aria at his side.
“Aria, baby,” I said. “Come to momma.”
“Mom, I’m cooking with Uncle Cole,” she said in a way more adult tone than I liked. Why couldn’t my little girl stay little? Why did these supernatural genetics have to kick in and age her at lightning speed?
“Listen to that mouth of yours,” Zane said, pecking my cheek with a kiss and moving to snatch his daughter in his usual fun way of bringing her into some acrobatic move and into his arms. “You sound like your mother.”
She giggled, and for a second, we had little Aria back. “Daddy, stop,” she giggled out through his tickling.
“You need to watch your tone when you’re speaking to your mother, young lady,” he said, walking out of the room with her, giving me a wink on the way out.
“This shit is making me crazy,” I said. “Cole?”
“Yeah, doll?” he answered over his shoulder, studiously working on his gourmet breakfast.
“Something’s not right.” I slipped in behind him, needing to wrap my arms around the vampire who made me feel most secure when things started to go out of balance.
He ran his free hand over mine that was clasped against his waist, feeling the warmth radiating from his bare skin. “What’d Logan experiment with on you this time?”
“She’s serious, man,” Braden’s deep voice cut through Cole’s relaxed cooking zone.
Cole shut off the burners. “Get in and make your own plates,” he said before looking at me. “Babe, what’s going on?” His green eyes probed through my soul like they always did.
“Braden seemed to practically smell the disgusting odor of lactic acid that built up in my arms after mine and Logan’s night.”
Cole cocked his head to the side. “I’m not scenting anything different from you.” He inhaled deeply, and a confused, almost surprised expression crossed his face. “Damn, your blood hasn’t smelled this potent since—”
“Our first encounter,” Braden finished for him.
“What’s going on here?” Nakia asked as he began to pile on mounds of bacon and other meats that Cole always cooked for the shifters’ carnivorous appetites.
“Don’t worry about it,” Cole dismissed him and cupped my chin in his hands. “How are you feeling now?”
“Like I can barely walk.”
“You and Logan had a lot of fun last night. We all heard it and practically slept on the beach to get away from it,” Bren said with a laugh as he walked in, eyeing the breakfast spread.
“Fuck off,” Cole used a lethal tone on the second shifter to walk in. “You wolves just eat and leave us the hell alone.”
“She’s our girl, too, vamp,” Zane’s alpha tone reverberated in the room. “What’s wrong, Elle?”
The alphas—Cole and Zane—were strangely going against the bond that had formed between all of us, and I could feel the closeness of our group shifting slowly.
“Something’s not right with Elle,” Cole said, his voice calmer now that Aria waltzed into the room, holding Logan’s hand. “She’s actually more human than the super-juiced-up lifeblood we had before all that shit went down,” he said, looking at Zane, who was watching us intently.
“Not in front of Aria,” I demanded. “We promised we wouldn’t expose her to all of this until the time is right. I’d like my daughter to be a halfway normal supernatural kid when she starts school.”
“That’s the thing,” Cole’s lips pursed, taking my hand and leading me to the outdoor lounge area. “Something’s up with chipmunk too.”
“God,” I smeared my hand over my forehead, trying to inhale the salty ocean breeze that always calmed my nerves. “We can’t go down this road again. I’m not ready for it. I want peace. Why can’t I just have a fucking break?”
Zane walked out and nodded toward Logan. “Keep Aria with you, and let Cole and me talk to Elle.”
