How to Rattle an Undead Couple - Hailey Edwards Page 0,25

she would do something like this to insulate herself.”

“Ah, no.” Corbin rubbed the back of his neck. “She built it for three: you, baby you, and Grier if your mom couldn’t get there in time.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he couldn’t picture that phrase coming out of his mother’s mouth, but the intent behind it… Yes. She would think in terms of protecting her son, and her grandchild, with merely an afterthought for his wife’s safety. As much as he wanted to believe it was a testament to her belief Grier could protect herself, he knew his mother too well for that. Her attention was laser focused. On him. And soon, on LJ. “Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”

“I love Grier, I do, but we both know if I told her there was a secret hidey-hole under her city that she would be the first in line to go explore it.” Genuine concern pinched his features. “I hated skirting the truth with her, but it’s a long way down, and it’s hard walking.”

“You’ve been there?”

“Twice.” He rolled a shoulder. “It makes for a good rendezvous point.”

Corbin was meeting his mother at her estate, which meant he was meeting someone else there. “Boaz?”

Hand to his nape, he rubbed the base of his neck. “No.”

Waiting for details, he gave Corbin a full minute before grasping he had shared all he intended.

“Grier will want to know about this.” He cast his gaze up the stairs. “I promised her no more secrets.”

Besides, the situation with Corbin made it good common sense to let her know where he was going and with whom in the event he was wrong about the reason behind Corbin’s twitchiness.

“The strain could induce labor,” Corbin said gravely. “It’s my understanding that baby isn’t coming out the way God intended. Do you really want to risk it?”

Safety concerns aside, Linus had almost lost her to his lies once before. “I have to tell her.”

“Tell her, or ask permission?”

“This is her city.” Linus ignored the dig to his masculinity. “They’re one and the same.”

“Linus—”

“You heard the man,” Lethe growled at Corbin. “Grier isn’t just your mommy, she’s the Potentate of Savannah. Give her some credit. She’s pregnant, not a moron.”

Hands held up in surrender, Corbin backed away from the angry gwyllgi.

“That said…” Lethe fixed her stare on Linus, “…I would call her from the car.”

The nuances between an outright lie and omission often blurred for him. His upbringing was mostly at fault for his willingness to erase lines in the sand when it suited him, or when it protected others, but Grier was his wife.

All other titles aside, he valued husband most, and he owed her his absolute loyalty. She had stuck by him, in no small part because of his vow to share everything with her going forward and to do his best to explain the things from the past he had no choice but to keep from her.

“I’ll be right back.” He took the stairs at a clip and entered their bedroom without knocking. “Grier…”

“I heard.” She was snacking on chips, watching the TV they had bought for their room for when she required bedrest to recover from the day’s exertions. “You guys should really work on your inside voices.”

The wraith at her side, passing her a candy bar, didn’t meet his gaze.

“You sent Cletus to spy on me,” he realized. “Why?”

“I might have been worried about you.” She set her snacks aside. “You hold a lot in when you get worried. I don’t think it’s a conscious choice. It’s reflexive. I get that, but I wanted to know if you were taking this harder than you let me see.”

There wasn’t much he could say to that. He tended to withdraw during times of stress until he could cope with the issue or, better still, solve the problem entirely. He thought, perhaps, he ought to be irked she had eavesdropped on him, but her drive to watch over him was matched only by his to protect her.

With dawn on the horizon, he itched to get moving. “You don’t mind me going to the bunker?”

“Corbin’s right.” She waved the chocolate bar at him. “I would only slow you down, and I don’t want to discover the miracle of drugless childbirth. I want the drugs. All the drugs.”

Smile twitching on his lips, he backed toward the door. “You shall have them.”

“I am sorry I was being sneaky.” She tore the candy wrapper into tiny pieces. “I hate being left behind, but