Amy Lane Little Goddess 03 Bound

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

survived the loss. Barely, but she survived. She even grew stronger. Her
heart's too big for just one beloved especially one who has to spend so much
of his time with his people so I share her with another, except it never
feels as though we are sharing because she gives us everything with every
breath. And she doesn't see it. Good men love her, fine sidhe, beautiful
vampires, heartbreaking shape-changers and she doesn't let us down." It came
pouring out of him, praise for Cory, frustration that he couldn't be home for
her, and Funky Man lay still in Green's arms and listened.
"Funky Man likes humans, he said after a quiet moment when Green's heart was
too full to speak. "Humans love Funky Man like sidhe never could.
Green grimaced, there in the dark. "We can be a cruel species, he said
harshly.
"Not you, Green man," Funky murmured, yawning, and Green wondered how hard it
must be to sleep on the streets, how many years of exhaustion had haunted the
battered Funky Man. "You're all that is good. Be here in the morning, Green
Man?" And the pleading note in his voice hurt to hear. "Don't be no dream of
Funky Man?
"I'll be here," Green reassured, and with that, Funky Man faded into a sweet,
deep sleep.
Green couldn't claim the same. His mind drifted to Cory, and although he was
weak from helping her earlier, and it got harder and harder to move in and out
of her mind, he visited her bed, where she lay snuggled with& he had to smile.
With everyone, as it seemed. Even Max had climbed in, and Nicky had spooned
him as naturally as if he'd been Green himself. Scary night, Green thought
sadly. It had been a scary night, an awful sight for all of them. For Bracken
and Cory and Renny, it had been a night of cruel memories resurrected in the
most brutal of ways. He would call in the morning, he thought, kissing her
brow with the unsubstantial presence that he was. He would call her and
disappoint her, and she would hear about Funky Man and say "Of course you have
to stay, beloved.
And he would miss her even more.
CORY
Aversions
The alarm went off at six and I was the only one who moved. I started off by
shoving at Bracken until he groaned. "Wha'th'fu?" and I said "School." And
then I shoved him into the wall so I could crawl out between Renny's
overgrown-tabby-sized body and his own oak-tree sized one.
Renny surfaced from under the covers (she had ended up with the comforter
drawn completely over her head while the rest of us had our heads lined up on
the pillows like children) and said "School? Are you fucking kidding me?
Page 73
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"It's Tuesday we haven't even had these classes yet!" I urged, heading towards
the bathroom. "If we don't go today, they're going to drop us.
"Aw crap, she said at the same time Nicky muttered "Oh Jesus, Cory," and then
I heard a thump and a "Shit!" and figured he'd forgotten that he was on the
end of the bed and fallen off.
I turned around at the bathroom and saw Nicky crawling up from the floor to go
use his own shower and Renny moving quietly out of bed so as not to disturb
Max, and I smiled. "Bracken?" I said.
"Ugghhh&
"Do you realize that the only people left in that bed right now are you and
Max? And that one of you is naked?
There were two more thumps and a "Oh& oh& ewww& ickkkkk!" And a "Oh, Jesus, shit
Cory, did you have to bring that up!" And suddenly the two men were standing
up and facing each other with eyes that were completely awake but brains that
were obviously catching up.
Renny turned around at the bedroom door saying "Which one of you big strong
men just squealed like a little girl?
"I think that would be the bi-sexual one, I said dryly, raising amused
eyebrows in my beloved's direction.
"Oh crap," Max said, blinking with disbelief at Bracken's naked body, "Don't
you have to put a red flag on that thing if it's not in the garage?
"Be careful little man," Bracken answered with grim amusement, "Or it will
reach out and touch you.
"You win. You're obviously the, uhm, bigger man." And with that Max flashed an
ironic grin at me and turned to follow Renny out the door, leaving me laughing
softly and shaking my head.
"Feel better?" I asked Bracken as he moved in for his morning hug.
"About what? he asked complacently, and I laughed some more and raised to my
toes so I could wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss.
"About the amount of testosterone in your ego," I replied, after a touch of
his warm lips on mine. I was only partly facetious now, and Bracken's
expression grew dark.
"What happened after Phillip opened the door? he asked, seriously.
"You looked at the blood and disappeared," I answered in kind. I did him the
courtesy of not hiding how worried I had been. "The blood was& contaminated.
Poisoned. Obscene. I can't explain it any better& you know what real blood
looks like and this wasn't it.
"Where did the blood come from?" Bracken asked, and I had to blink twice.
"You don't remember anything? No, no, obviously not& " I shook my head, started
over again. And found it was harder to say than it had been to see. I
swallowed, took a breath, swallowed again, and said, "He'd exploded. Chris
Williams there was no bone shrapnel, no& " I'd seen them when a vampire had
exploded on me, when Green had killed the men who had killed Adrian& "No sticky
bits& it was just blood&
Bracken closed his eyes. "Ah, Goddess& he moaned, and his arms came around me
crushing me against him like he could protect me even from the memory, and I
knew suddenly that I'd been waiting for Bracken or for Green so that I could
fall gently apart about this. I'd been strong last night. I'd led our people.
This morning I got to tremble like Jell-O in an earthquake.
"But it was bad blood. It wasn't clean or powerful& it wasn't even& human or
were or anything anymore." And now I was cold, and only Bracken could warm me.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't there for you. I'm so sorry&
"It's not your fault, beloved. It wasn't anyone's& " I sniffled, and knew I had
to pull myself together. We had to leave, and I had to check on Ellen Beth and
I just couldn't do this. Not right now. "The blood fought back, I said after
a vulnerable moment, and I was pissed off enough about this to pull my spine
up and stop shaking. "Nicky was there, and Green was in my head, but it put up
a hell of a fight whatever the fuck it was, it tried to zap me back.
"The blood?
"Whatever was in it," I amended. "But it pissed me off.
Page 74
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Bracken smiled, a small smile, and I knew that he was having his own reaction.
We all remembered, we all had dreamed about it, we all woke up with the cold [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

pobieranie @ do ÂściÂągnięcia @ ebook @ download @ pdf