"I didn't say all that because what was the point? We had people bleeding, banged up, had barely made it out of that Philly shit alive. I've never been this Neteru thing I am, my ass just got out, you were driving this thing so fast I wasn't sure what was going on, and every time I protested, people were telling me about some three phases of seven that I had to deal with, security precautions of hallowed ground - aw, kiss my ass!" He stomped his foot and let out a primal yell. "I'm tired! I've been cooped up, and me and my boy was just going out for a minute."
He was breathing hard. She smiled and allowed her gaze to slide down his abdomen.
"My bad," she said quietly. "Yeah, I remember that first real flux. Another month and - "
"Don't f**k with me, D. I can't take it."
"You're gonna be all right," she said, and turned and walked back toward her house.
"How you know?" he said, not moving but very concerned.
" 'Cause along with fangs, you have an erection that won't quit." She released a sly laugh and looked over her shoulder at him.
"Something like that can make a brother crazy if left unattended too long," she said with a wink.
He still didn't move.
She turned around and faced him, a wide smile gracing her lush mouth. "I asked you what had been on your mind... the real underlying emotion, and you started talking all this rhetoric about everything but what was really on your mind."
"This past coupla days... girl, it's been real bad all of a sudden... like before - almost as bad as the old blood hunger." That's as much as he was willing to tell her at the moment. He could feel her attempt to lock with his mind, but blocked it, not wanting the invasion into his personal thoughts.
"I remember those days," Damali said, smiling. "Okay, stay mad."
"You wanted your space, sis - you got it." He would not be moved.
She inhaled sharply. "You smell real good, too. Remy, bar smoke, and all. I'll be up for a while, if you change your mind." She gave him a sly grin. "I never said I never wanted to see you again... I just didn't want to live together, right through here."
He closed his eyes as another hard shudder of desire passed through him. He ran his tongue against his teeth, but the fangs were gone. The only evidence left of the aberrant spike was the throb in his groin. He wasn't sure which pissed him off more - the loss of fangs, the throb, or her. "Listen," he finally said. "That still don't change the fact that I hate Arizona."
"Never said it did," she said in a husky voice. "I ain't too partial to the location, but it is what it is - can't be too far from the team, and they're sitting ducks out in the cities off hallowed ground, especially Yonnie and Tara, who can't cross - "
"I know, I know," he said, holding up his hands, defeated. "I need to go somewhere and lay down." He rubbed his abdomen as the slurry of Remy Martin chasing martinis on an empty stomach began to gurgle within it.
"Walk me back to my house and I'll give you a lift."
"Don't bother. I need air, anyway." Carlos shook his head, held it high, and resumed his broken path down the dark road. Pride had a stranglehold on him, even when he was half drunk. He was not going to be led around by his dick, no matter how much he wanted to be with her. Those days were over. There were just some things that he wasn't going for, and being told what to do all the time by her was one of them. If he couldn't make it to his house, he'd sleep on the porch swing at the family house and call it a night.
"Back there in Philly," she said, calling out into the darkness behind him, "that was an early apex spike brought on by your birthday and the battle of your life."
"So what! It'll pass! Just like everything else!" he yelled back, each footfall stomping the road harder.
"Come May or June, I'll hunt you down myself for a hit, mad at me or not, baby... damn, if that's what you're trailing now."
Her warm laughter sent another shudder through him, but he kept walking.
CHAPTER THREE
Damali sighed with frustration as she went back into her house. She paced through the small dwelling and slid her gun across the weapons room table. This whole life was crazy. She peered around what should have been a cozy den or family room. A daggone crossbow was mounted near the door, hand grenades and semis on a desk. An Isis dagger held by a wooden stand lay in wait where a letter opener should have been if things were normal. Every man on the team was bugging in one way or another. The sisters seemed to be holding their own for now, but she wondered how long that would last.
The only male who had a perpetually sunny disposition was Big Mike - but that was probably because he'd figured out how to be AWOL 80 percent of the time, regularly claiming he had to escort Inez to Houston to visit her child. While that was true, she also knew that the getaways doubled as conjugal visits, since Mike was supersensitive to sound traveling and his business being public.
Damali lifted her hair off her neck and laughed sadly. She could definitely identify. What she wouldn't give right now to let her voice rent the place... or hear Carlos's deep, low-decibel thunder.
She shuddered, nearly feeling the vibration as she remembered it. Didn't he know by now what he meant to her? If after all they'd been through he didn't get it, then what could she tell him that would make a damned difference? He'd have to figure it out on his own.
But in the meanwhile, whew. Just seeing him all messed up and fluxing... maybe she would call him. Pride goeth before a fall, and her man was fine. It had been too long since they'd been in sync. Privacy had been a hard commodity to obtain. Now she had that and he was squandering the gift. Damali glanced around the room and left it, seeking something to munch on.
She opened the fridge and stood in the dim light it cast within the darkened kitchen, hoping something good would strike her, as though just looking at the shelves might materialize whatever her palate craved. What did she want? Her hands were on her hips, her brow knit in thought. What did she want, what was good in here? She had a refrigerator full of food, and didn't want a danged thing in it.