Brace’s chest rumbled, but he didn’t say anything.
Colton reached back and snatched up his little pixie mate. “Got more than enough naked thoughts with this one. I don’t have any room for more.”
Lucy gave me a wink from where she was tucked under his arm. “He’s not even kidding. It’s like a B-grade dirty movie up in there.”
Colton and Brace exchanged one of those boy looks, where they were like silently high-fiving each other or something. I guess men are the same, no matter their age or world of birth. Okay, Walkers didn’t have a world of birth, but they came from somewhere. A collision of rocks or something. Either way, they still thought about sex every five minutes.
Five minutes is not exactly right, Red. Brace’s rumbly timbre suddenly had my own thoughts turning sexual. When it comes to you … it’s more like sixty seconds.
Damn, not that time, mate. Not the time.
His chuckles were as squirm-worthy as his husky voice. My tinge of red lust was washed away the moment we stepped into the steel, stone and wooden building which was at the back of the docks. Right before the parking lot.
It was a single-level structure, weathered from the constant lashing of salt and the elements. The first room we entered was large and welcoming, sofas scattered around and pictures adorning the walls. I ran my eyes across them, noting the way each was a timeline of events which had been held here over the years. The latest was a yacht race, and the date on the gold plaque was 2037. Shit, it was 2037 already?
The overweight coastguard waved his hand toward the couches. “We’ll need to interview you in small groups. Those waiting their turn can sit here.”
The vast majority of the girls stumbled their way across and sank into the soft depths. Weariness wore heavy on their features. I knew most of them weren’t any older than me, but time on the streets had aged them. Chrissie and Eva remained standing and apparently the six of us were the first group. We followed the human. The other guards remained behind to keep an eye on the girls.
“We stay long enough to make sure that the females are safe here and then we have to go.” I kept my voice low as we stepped down a carpeted hall. “Chrissie, will you and the girls be okay? I know we’re leaving you in a strange place, but at least it seems a lot better than New York.”
She drew herself up taller, almost matching me in height. “The girls will be fine. They’re survivors, and you’ve done more than enough to give them a decent chance at a life. But I want to come with you, to fight this battle. I need to do something … if I don’t the pain will kill me.” Her desperation was clear.
My insides churned as I bit into my bottom lip. It was an unconscious motion, one which I rarely did any longer. But I was feeling all the feels right then for Chrissie. There was no way I could bring a human with me into a Seventine battle. I would not see her die under my watch.
“I wish I could bring you with us, I really do. But this is dangerous. Beyond dangerous. And as kickass as I know you are …” I had absolutely no doubt about her abilities. You couldn’t survive on New York streets without incomparable skills. “I won’t take that risk with you.”
“It’s my risk to take,” she shot back at me.
Words I’d used myself just today with Brace.
He grinned at me, as if to say, ‘See, sucks when you’re trying to protect a stubborn, hotheaded woman.’
I stuck my tongue out before facing the fiery human again.
“I know it’s your risk, Chris, but there’s one thing that can’t be debated. You’re human. Walkers are tough. I’m fragile compared to them, and humans are fragile compared to me. You don’t stand a chance in this battle, and I won’t watch you die.”
I was immovable on this and, one day when her pain wasn’t so great, she would understand why I couldn’t let her suicidal tendencies push her into something beyond her abilities. Had she already forgotten that we had just rescued her from a dock filled with gangers and smugglers who wanted to do God knows what with her? And those enemies were only human. The creatures that the Seventine controlled were so beyond her worst nightmares.
Especially the zombies – freaking zombies.
“Move it!” The sharp words were barked at us from inside the room down the hall.
We’d stopped following the man, and he wasn’t happy about it.
Chrissie threw me a look saying that this conversation wasn’t over, but we remained silent as we filed into the small, white-walled space.
It was set up like an interrogation room: table in the center, chairs on either side. He gestured for us to sit, which Lucy, Chrissie, Eva and I did. The two men stood behind us. There weren’t enough chairs for them, but they’d have stood anyway.