Alpha Warriors of The Cause - Tamara Rose Blodgett Page 0,67
any joy left for me—until you were revealed to me. Do not take that from me, Beth.”
Beth pulls away, with a hard heart that's growing soft as the rough edges of the life she has lived to be Reflective are shaved off.
Maddie stands silently beside her.
Beth shouldn't take time for this. But she can't help herself. “Tell me about my mother.”
Gunnar steps away, turning to face the woods. The trees benignly stare down at them, and Beth suppresses a shiver.
“Lucinda was on a scouting expedition to our sector and was disguised as a man.” He chuckles then adds, “As though a Bloodling could not easily scent a female.” His lips tilts, and Beth can see the memories of her mother play over his face. His expression darkens.
“She was taking surface samples. And of course, finding nothing that reflects. It was during a time when the great Papiliones thought they could man all the sectors through hopping alone. Back when they presumed their species to be the only one capable of jumping.”
His hands fist, and the beginnings of resentment leak into his tone. “I planned to kill her. She was, after all, a Reflective, and as such, not welcome in our sector. How dare the mighty Reflectives of The Cause jump here and take samples from our world as though we are their personal lab experiment?”
“What happened?” Maddie asks. Beth gives her a sharp look, and she blushes, casting her eyes away.
“I crept closer, employing every bit of natural Bloodling stealth…”
“She made you right away,” Beth guesses, and he gives a solid nod.
“She said, ʻNo closer, Bloodling, if you value your manhood.ʼ”
Beth smiles.
Gunnar does, as well, cupping his testicles. “She had the flat end of her ceramic blade holding my…” He lifts himself and Jacky gives a low whistle of sympathy.
“Ouch, man.”
Beth's smile fades.
“Then we looked at each other, the blade fell away, and she allowed me to touch her. I swear, I wanted only to feel what a Reflective felt like.” The silence eats his words. “I did not know.”
“Didn't know what?”
“What she really was.” Gunnar looks at each of them, making an irritated sweep of his hair as he secures it at his nape. “Lucinda said, ‘It's you.’ She said it as if she'd been waiting for me there by the lake, instead of having snuck in the back door of our sector.”
“Her timepiece,” Beth whispers.
He nods. Flinging his hands apart and fluttering his fingers as though spreading dandelion seeds in the wind. “Gone.”
“So her soul mate thingy just blew up when you showed up with all your coolness.”
Gunnar's brows come together.
“Yes.” Beth looks at Jacky. “If she was ticking down and her soul mate was near, there'd be no holding it back.”
Gunnar gives Beth his full attention. “I did not know of this. I only knew that she was my enemy no more.”
“Was she kindred blood?” Maddie asks.
Beth turns to her. Though her face flames, the girl’s eyes remain steady on Gunnar.
He lifts his chin, answering her question head on. “Yes.”
“How did you find that out? You give her the fang treatment?” Jacky asks, jerking a thumb toward Maddie.
“I never asked. She came to me like a lamb to the slaughter, walking right into my arms with all the trust in the world. As though…”
Beth leans forward. “As though what?”
“As though we had always been mated.”
“And then you took her blood,” Jacky states.
Gunnar nods.
“You got the whammy.” Jacky punches his fist into his open palm, and Maddie and Beth jump at the slapping sound inside the unnaturally quiet forest.
“If you mean I knew she was my kindred blood? Immediately.”
“So why didn't you know about me?” Beth asks and is proud she doesn't sound like a whiny female.
“Our mating was in secret. Lucinda's time was not at an end as a Reflective, and I could not keep her safe here—so far from reflection and so deep I would have had to hide her among my people, and with all the responsibilities of my station. We found time when we could.”
“Apparently enough time,” Jacky says, giving a pointed look to Beth.
Gunnar doesn't look embarrassed by Jacky's crude implications. Instead, he grins at Beth. “She had the ability to skip to whatever sector she wished. Whatever time. She obviously jumped—”
“And interfered with time.” Beth pauses for a suspended moment then recites, “Twelfth: Disturb not the continuum.”
Jacky wanders away, edging toward the border of where the trees give way to shrubs and a graveyard rises to a gently sloping knoll.