Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Her head jerked up. She slowly straightened. “Why?”
He detested the suspicion in her voice. “Shylah, last night I told you I loved you. It wasn’t bullshit and I didn’t say it because we’re both infected. I told you that because it was the truth. I don’t lie as a rule, and I damn sure will never lie to you. We made a pact and I’m going to honor it.”
“You can’t trust anything Whitney says to you.”
“Believe me, I’m well aware of that. I agreed to be psychically enhanced but that wasn’t the only thing he did to me.” He had been furious, and it had just proved to him all over again that no one could ever be trusted. Now, he was oddly grateful. He liked the fact that his woman was his perfect match, or at least seemingly so.
He didn’t have the spider strain, but clearly it wasn’t as strong in her as it was in Cayenne. Shylah made use of her ability to spin silk, but she wasn’t compulsive about it. He’d seen beautiful lacy curtains, all made of silk, hanging all over Trap’s bedroom. There were silken streamers hanging from the ceiling. Cayenne often wrapped herself in silk and rested away from the team, her gaze on Trap, every cell in her body tuned just to him.
“I have a few things to say to Whitney.”
“I have nothing to say to him.”
“It may be the last time you ever have the chance to tell him what an asshole he is.”
She turned away from him and started up the stairs. “I have no desire to give him that kind of satisfaction. He’s heard it his entire life, and it just makes him feel superior. If you feel the need to talk to him, by all means call him.”
She stood at the door, examining the silken lines that crisscrossed in the very functional pattern of the funnel-web spider. Frowning, she ran her finger down the door. “Someone’s been here, Draden.”
He came onto the porch immediately, stepping right behind her, close, so his larger frame covered hers. Just in case a rifle was trained on them. He touched her shoulder. “Ease around to the southern side of the building. There’s more cover there. Act like you’re looking for more breaks in the web.”
She didn’t argue with him, she jumped off the porch and made her way around the corner of the building. Draden took his time examining the door. The silken lines were broken, snapped off when someone had opened it. He glanced back at the lines on the stairs. Not a single one had been broken. Someone had known not to disturb those webs.
He stood slowly. Joe? You close by?
There was a long silence and then he felt the presence slide into his mind. Waiting for the two of you to come back. I came by earlier, opened the door and looked inside.
There was another hesitation, and Draden’s alarm went off.
I’m sorry, man. Trap says both of you are infected, but he says you’re fighting it. He wants more blood ASAP.
In terms of fighting it, what does that mean?
He says your immune systems are working overtime and the virus is being killed at a rapid rate. You both are fighting it off actively.
They had it. Both of them. They carried that death inside of them. It was an eerie feeling. So, you’re saying we’re both carriers. He hated that even more. The idea of being responsible for infecting anyone, even his enemies, was abhorrent to him.
That’s not what I said. Just get inside and get me some blood. You know how obsessive Trap is, he wants it like yesterday. He’s been at me all night.
“Shylah, it was Joe. Trap sent him for more blood.”
You go on inside and stay away from the windows.
Her voice sounded warm and sweet like honey. Wild honey. His breath hitched. You don’t have a knife up against my commanding officer’s throat, do you?
Of course not. I have a gun pointed at his head. He doesn’t know it. I was careful to stay out of sight.
He knows it. Joe’s a GhostWalker, just like we are. Nothing gets close to us without our knowledge. For God’s sake, woman, you’re going to get my ass thrown in the brig.
You’re too trusting. If orders came down from the top to kill you, don’t you think he’d do it? He would in a heartbeat. We’re dangerous to everyone.
No, Shylah, he wouldn’t do it. Joe’s my friend. I don’t trust many people, but I do trust him. I’m going inside. Come and join me. You’re giving me a hell of a hard-on and I can’t do anything about it because we’re both infected with this nasty virus.
There was silence. Too long. He paused, hand on the door. I should have said, our bodies are fighting it off. For the first time he let himself really breathe. Really think there was a possibility to live. Joe’s a tolerant man, sweetheart, but no one likes a gun on them.