Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,18
return for you.”
“What does he mean if it leaves my skin?” I whispered to Kes.
Kes whispered in an irritated tone, “If you remove it. For instance, if you do something stupid like wipe it off with your sweatshirt sleeve, or wash it off while showering – if anything removes it. He’ll know. We won’t be able to stop him from taking you away.”
What right did these things have to claim anyone? We had rights, too! Humans spent centuries establishing our own kingdoms in the forms of the lives we were carving out, and then these Zodia woke up and stomped in here and erased everything that mattered in a matter of hours. To them, our belongings, our homes, our families, our very breaths meant nothing. They were in for a rude awakening when they realized how hard we would fight to get our lives back.
“Fair enough,” Aries replied casually, examining his loin cloth in the light. The slight curl of his upper lip said he found it lacking. I mean, he looked amazing in it, but it was skimpy.
Aries’s eyes snapped to mine.
Um… if this is going to be an Edward Cullen situation where he can read my thoughts and I don’t have the shield thing Bella had going on, this will be awkward.
He didn’t say anything, just watched me.
Taurus said something to Aries, who immediately stiffened. Then the bull glanced at me and ticked his head in my direction, continuing whatever he was saying. Aries let out a threatening string of words before Taurus barked an ominous laugh that promised he wasn’t giving up so easily, then disappeared.
I let out a pent-up breath and tore my eyes from Aries to survey the area around me. The graveyard was surprisingly intact. A few headstones were overturned, but Kes quickly righted them. All the thundering must have just been them… against the ground.
They were like Titans, but real, awake, and angry.
“Mom and Dad are okay, though, right?” I asked Kes, finally regathering my thoughts now that Taurus was gone, letting the worries seep back in.
He swallowed thickly, his Adam’s apple rising and falling. “They should be.”
Mom was born September twenty-eighth. “Mom’s a Libra.”
Kes nodded.
Libra was the woman with the scales. That meant she was reasonable, right? She seemed like a gal who appreciated justice and balance. “Can you bring her here? What about Dad? Does Taurus have him? Can you protect him, too?”
He closed his eyes. “Aries owed me a single favor, a right. I’ve claimed it for you, and now have nothing with which to bargain. But I can check on them.”
I glanced at Aries, alarmed that he was still staring at me. While it was unnerving, part of me wondered what he saw. What he thought of me. What he thought of his blood on my skin.
The two exchanged words in the lyrical language I wished I knew. Kes’s tone was grave and it set my teeth on edge. I was about to ask what they were talking about, whether he would go find Mom or Dad first.
Kes gave me a quick side hug and nodded to Aries. “Take care of him?”
My brows shot up. “Me take care of him? How?”
“He doesn’t know this world.”
Well, news flash. Neither do I anymore.
He blew out a long breath. “You could take him to our house and let him borrow some of my clothes, for starters.”
First of all, no. Aries was way more muscular than Kes. No offense. And secondly, “You said home wasn’t safe.”
“If Aries is with you, everywhere is safe. Do not remove his mark and do not leave his side.”
I narrowed my eyes at Kes, but he disappeared before I could argue.
Aries studied me from a few feet away. I wondered if I could trust him, and waited to see if he’d attack me now that Kes was gone. With those muscles, he could snap me like a twig. I knew that much. He’d barely ‘batted’ me in the mausoleum and managed to send me flying.
Maybe he’d just erase his marks and let Taurus come and claim me after all.
“I won’t harm you,” he finally said. “But, now that I’ve pledged myself to you, you’ll have to come with me.”
“Go with you where?” I asked.
“To where I will resurrect my kingdom,” he gritted in irritation.
“You’re cranky? Well, so am I. Your kind just woke up and imploded my world, so first, I have questions. I don’t understand any of this.”
His brows pinched. “How many questions do you have?”