I steeled myself, straightening my spine. “It’s my risk to take, and we have no choice.”
“Red …” That one word from Brace held a hint of warning. He was not going to be easily swayed on this.
I switched to mental fighting. We were drawing way too much attention.
Brace, you know that we have a responsibility to all of the humans stuck in this hellhole. They’re here because of a war which has nothing to do with them. Probably because Lallielle picked New York City as the place to stash me. I won’t run in fear any longer. I must be strong enough to fight. Even in our minds my words were rushed. We have to do this.
I could feel his hesitation, the warring inside which demanded he protect his mate at all costs.
You’re too innately good, Red. I can’t always trust you to put your well-being first. Mine … Lucy’s … basically anyone else on the seven planets, yes, but not your own. You let Chrissie punch you because of some sense of guilt and responsibility which isn’t yours to wear. He was totally killing me right then with his unwavering devotion. If you can’t put yourself first, I’m going to do it. Every single day of our very long existence.
I was opening my mouth to argue further, but before I could, some of Brace’s fierceness faded. He lowered his head before reaching up and rubbing at his temples. And then, strangely enough, the fight left him. He dropped his hands, and reached out to lace our fingers together.
My words to Colt are coming back to haunt me. I won’t try and change you, sweetheart, but if at any point I think the danger is too real, I’m pulling the plug and I don’t care how much you complain.
Neanderthal, I teased him.
Dude was about five seconds from clubbing me and throwing me over his shoulder.
He chuckled. They were on to something, those cavemen, keeping their women in line.
I groaned. You did not just say that. Wait until I tell Lucy.
His mirth dried up pretty quickly. Lucy wasn’t just in possession of a sharp mind and smartass mouth, she was also quite devious if she thought you needed a lesson.
“So what do we do to break the barrier? How do we find enough power?” I spoke out loud, knowing it was time to include the others.
Eva and Chrissie looked confused.
“Did we just miss something?” Chrissie asked. “You were disagreeing and then everything went silent for some weird staring contest and now you’ve resolved the argument without any cursing, fighting or growls. Where’s the real Abby?”
I felt the corner of my lips turn up. I might have been a tad hotheaded in my younger years. Although, Lucy always took the prize on that one. Thinking back, it was kind of amazing we had stayed friends for so long. We should have known then that we had something more going on than a normal girl bond. We almost never fought, we had each other’s back; it was everyone else who copped it.
“We can communicate mentally with our mates,” Lucy said.
Chrissie continued to stare at me. She was still barely even acknowledging that Lucy was there.
“Do you have a problem with me, Chrissie?” Lucy looked tiny as she moved into the other female’s personal space.
Everyone here towered over the pixie and I knew she’d be missing her wings.
Brown curls bounced as Chrissie shook her head. “No, Lucy, I don’t have a problem with you or Abby anymore. I just find it hard to remember that time when we were held by … that bitch-face … Olden. You were hurt worse than the rest of us, and seeing you reminds me of that and … Chandra.”
She’d finally said her name and there was so much pain laced through that one word. No one here could ever doubt that it still killed her every day, and probably always would. Eva looked a little surprised. Something told me that none of the vigiladies knew very much about each other. They were secretive. But the half-Walker’s expression was softer when she stared at her former leader, and I sensed a kindred empathy there. Eva had lost people too.
I tried not to think about Chrissie’s words. Lucy’s torture by Olden was something which made me pissed off and cry-baby all in the same breath. Especially since the evil-bitch had been hurting her to try to pry information about me from her. Olden had known that torturing Lucy was the worst thing she could have done to crush me. The unlocking of Lucy’s pixie side had banished the physical scars, but we all knew the mental and emotional ones were much harder to remove.
Words continued to flow from Chrissie, like she’d broken the dam and now that it was out she couldn’t stop it. “They say time heals or at least helps, but to me, Chandra was more than my friend.” She hesitated for a split second. “I loved her.”